Launch Party for I’M NEW HERE, by Anne Sibley O’Brien: September 19th, Portland, Maine

It’s my great pleasure to pass on information from the author/illustrator Anne Sibley O’Brien regarding her new book, I’M NEW HERE. Anne and I worked together to expand her school and library speaking bookings. She traveled to Seattle, the Philippines, and beyond meeting with children and educators to discuss issues of diversity, privilege, and peace. Her most recent picture book is about welcoming new people everywhere. (An important thing when the news is full of refugees seeking new places to call home.) If you live in the Portland, Maine area, I hope you’ll try to attend Anne’s book launch on September 19th, 2-4, at the Portland Public Library. If not, purchase the book at your local independent book seller and find out more about the book on Anne’s website.

FROM ANNE:

I’m excited about my latest picture book, I’m New Here, about 3 immigrant children. It’s been getting some wonderful attention, including a starred review in Kirkus and a mention in the August 23 New York Times Sunday Book Review!

The launch will celebrate National Welcoming Week – http://www.welcomingamerica.org/get-involved/national-welcoming-week-2015/

I’m New Here Launch Party

Rines Auditorium, Portland Public Library

Saturday, September 19

2:00–4:00 p.m.

The event is a film premiere for the book trailer/video teaching tool, starring Hall School elementary students talking about being new and being welcoming. There will be a red carpet, flashing bulbs, and photo ops, as well as snacks from Portland’s multicultural markets.

Lots more info here: http://www.imyourneighborbooks.org/2015/09/08/im-new-here-celebrated-for-national-welcoming-week/

Please stop by if you’re available!

Thanks,

Annie

www.AnneSibleyOBrien.com

HotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Charles Ghigna and Lee Bennett Hopkins

I love this tender and expressive poem by Mr. Ghigna and hope you do too. Thanks as always to the amazing blogger Jama Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup! Happy #PoetryMonth.

Jama's Alphabet Soup

Double your oven mitts, double your fun! (A natty flame-proof suit wouldn’t hurt either.)

Charles Ghigna (“Father Goose”) is an award winning poet, author, speaker and nationally syndicated feature writer.

Tea time in his Alabama tree-house (photos by Debra Ghigna).

☕ Cuppa of Choice: “I love tea! I drink a cup of hot green tea nearly every day. One of my favorites is Uncle Lee’s 100% Organic Green Tea. I brew two tea bags in a cup of hot water and sometimes add a squeeze of lemon. I also love to play Tea Party on the porch with our four-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte Rose. She always makes sure I hold up my pinkie just right.” 😉

☕ Hot Off the Press:Springtime Weather Wonders Series (Hail to Spring!, Raindrops Fall All Around, Sunshine Brightens Springtime, A Windy Day in Spring (Picture Window Books, 2015).

☕ Visit Charles Ghigna’s Official Website

☕ ☕ ☕…

View original post 172 more words

Poetry Friday: The Squirrel

All of my poetry has been about winter these days and honestly, I’m sick of it. So I’ve been scouring my files and found this haiku that made me laugh. Perhaps it will make you think of another season. Perhaps it will make you laugh too. The illustration is my own from the book FUFU AND FRESH STRAWBERRIES written by Caitlin Lowell and Charlotte McDonald, Telling Room, Portland, ME.

The Squirrel

by Anna E. Jordan

Trashcan gargoyle.
Frozen. Thus, invisible
to stupid humans.

Poetry Friday Roundup Schedule: January – June 2015

Wow! What a wonderful blog list. I hope you’ll join me for a journey of many months of poetry. Be sure to like, retweet, and post about poetry!

Jama's Alphabet Soup

Join us for Poetry Friday!

Share anything poetry related — original or favorite poems by others, poetry book reviews, musings, teaching ideas, videos, even song lyrics! Read Susan Thomsen’s article at the Poetry Foundation to learn more. Leave your link with the designated host each week.

January
2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
9 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
16 Irene at Live Your Poem
23 Tara at A Teaching Life
30 Paul at These 4 Corners

February

6 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
13 Cathy at Merely Day by Day
20 Linda at TeacherDance
27 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

March

6 Robyn at Robyn Campbell
13 Laura at Author Amok
20 Catherine at Reading to the Core
27 Jone at Check it Out

April

3 Amy LV at The Poem Farm
10 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

View original post 115 more words

Nica Style

So it’s 2am here in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and the music is pumping! Okay, the music is pumping and I’m in bed not sleeping. I just shoved orange foam things in my ears and found a George Winston radio station on Apple Radio to try and get some shut eye. Chances that might happen? Doubtful.

This is unfortunate since I’m trying to rest up from the 28 hour journey that got me here. A 12:30pm bus from Portland to Boston Logan. A 5pm initial flight to Fort Lauderdale followed by a four hour lay over. The second flight left at midnight and arrived in Managua at 3 am. (Did I mention I won’t fly Spirit again if I can at all help it?) I got a few hours sleep and a great breakfast before I was in a very bouncy truck with two other young women and our intrepid driver Norman zooming through the Nicaraguan countryside. We zipped by a “chicken” bus (an old school bus now used to move everyone and all their stuff) and a tractor trailer that had dramatically driven off the road–probably due to the haphazard and reckless passing that goes on. That said, who wants to be behind a slow going donkey and cart, or truck with passengers jammed in the truck bed? Not Norman that’s for sure.

We stopped part way to pick up two of our surf instructors who had gone to market. They were so young and full of zest that I ignored my growing car sickness for another half hour or so. Finally though, I had to cry “uncle” and ask to pull over to get some lunch and a break.

The rest of the drive, was better with something in my belly. The land opened to numerous sorghum fields and a wind farm. A volcanic island rose majestically from the middle of a giant lake (I’ll get you names when it’s not 2:30 am). Skinny dogs, horses and cows continued to line the roads but we also saw a wedding and other celebrations.

In San Juan del Sur at last, we found our bedrooms in the Chica Brava Surf House, and had quick orientation so we wouldn’t miss sunset. Good thing too. It was absolutely beautiful. Coral skies over grey ocean with boats silhouetted black on the horizon. We toured the town, ate tostones (fried mashed plantains) and drank Mojitos with fresh mint, then had gelato. I fell into bed at 8:30.

The music has isn’t shaking my bed quite so much. Oh. Wait. I spoke too soon. Anyway, I’d better try to sleep again. We start early tomorrow with our surf board assignments and surf safety and theory. My goal? Get a consistent pop up by midweek. Pictures of the Board Room and surf house when it’s light. Hasta mañana.

Buy Books for Black Friday

I promise that soon, I will get my act together and write a blog post of my own. Until then, enjoy this fabulous list of book recommendations for your Black Friday list from Ingrid’s Notes (for whom I am thankful). Happy Thanksgiving!

Ingrid's Notes

Black Friday is at the end of the week. As writers I highly suggest we forget the newest gadgets and support other writers. Buy books! Give them as gifts. Buy them for yourself.

But BUY BOOKS!

If you need some suggestions, here are some great books that came out this year by my friends:

MIDDLE GRADE (ages 8-12):

The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #2: Terror in the Southlands by Caroline Carlson

More pirates, more magic, and more adventure in the second book of the Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates series! Caroline Carlson brings the unceasing wit, humor, and fun of the first book in the series, Magic Marks the Spot, to this epic sequel. Fans of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and Trenton Lee Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society will love this quirky tween series and hope to join the VNHLP just like Hilary!

The Great Greene…

View original post 1,631 more words

veterans, thank you for your service

As a Navy spouse for 20 years I know the challenges facing military families and thank our women and men in uniform for their service. Take a look at this wonderful post from Jama’s Alphabet Soup!

PiBoIdMo Day 7: Jennifer Arena Uses the George Stanley Idea Generator (plus a prize!)

Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)

0093_Arena_ by Jennifer Arena

When I was an editor at Golden Books, I was lucky enough to work with many wonderful authors, but one who stood out for his good humor, his generosity, and his absolute joy in writing for kids was George Stanley. Around Golden, we had a nickname for him—Captain Hook, because, more than any other author we’d worked with, George had a knack for coming up with books with hooks, books that kids really and truly wanted to read based on the idea alone.

The first book I edited of George’s was Ghost Horse. It had a horse . . . who was a ghost! What’s cooler than that? The second book was Snake Camp, about a snake-phobic kid who accidentally gets sent to a camp for snake lovers. Both were brilliant, attention-grabbing ideas that kids were sure to like. (And they did!)

My boss and I…

View original post 621 more words

Perfect Pairs by Melissa Stewart

Here’s a wonderful new book from nonfiction writer, Melissa Stewart and Maine teacher Nancy Chesley with whom I worked at one point in my teaching career. I love the “wonder” prompts that begin the lessons and I love the combination of nonfiction and fiction texts for science students. Thanks to the Nerdy Book Club blog and Melissa Stewart!

Nerdy Book Club

After writing more than 150 science books for kids, I finally decided to try something a little different—a book for teachers that brings together science and ELA instruction. My co-author Nancy Chelsey and I worked on Perfect Pairs: Using Fiction & Nonfiction Picture Books to Teach Life Science, K-2 for three long years, writing and testing and then re-writing each lesson. So you better believe that we’re thrilled to finally see it in print.

The story behind the book traces back to 2006. That’s when I began to realize that some children connect more strongly with nonfiction books, while others gravitate toward fiction. As a result, I started pairing thematically-similar fiction and nonfiction children’s books and developing innovative content-area activities with the books as a centerpiece.

Here are two great articles I read as I was just getting started:

Camp, Deanne. “It Takes Two: Teaching with Twin Texts of…

View original post 401 more words

Wee Bits of Happiness

I was going to write a list poem about all the things that make me sad, but I got about four topics deep and it was too much to take. There has been a lot of sad recently– both personal, and global. I’m finding out that grieving my divorce is a longer process than I expected. It makes me silent. It makes me cry. It makes me angry. It makes me doubt myself. And then something small will snap me out of my grief, and I think that maybe it’s gone.

Wee Bits of Happiness

The light through autumn leaves.
The smell of baking banana/nut bread.
A newly mopped floor.
Cut flowers on the dining room table.
A call from an old friend.
A rockin’ sweat-filled Zumba class.
The disgust in my sons’ eyes when I show them moves from said Zumba class.
Looking forward to a camping trip with my youngest.
Knowing all the names of my students without looking at the roll.
Reclaiming my name.

Creative Chaos can now be found at http://www.annaejordan.com. Join me while I find and write about wee bits of happiness.