Walking hours for water

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Have you read A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park? It’s been on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for 40 weeks as people around the world take to heart the lives of people in the Sudan who must walk for hours each day to get the water that sustains their lives.

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“Life in a Drop of Water”

Here’s a good video, from Chance of Science, to show when your class reads Water Runs Through This Book. “Incredible close-up photography features dozens of these amazing life forms, including amoeba, paramecia, euglena, rotifers, water bears, and many more.

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Enjoy the ride

Iowa roller coaster

In the middle of Iowa, in the middle of corn fields newly plowed,
is a wondrous roller-coaster.
A mysterious structure made for us to terrify ourselves.
Like life. Like the writing life.

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Speak Out: Water

Carrying water

Imagine, you turn on the faucet in the bathroom. No water. Same in the kitchen, no water. You ask your neighbor, what’s happening? No one has running water. Now you need to go to the bathroom. No water in the toilet to flush. You want to wash your hands. You are thirsty.

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Water-Write-Workshop

Rain Stick Making

To begin a conversation between children and water, I presented my Water-Write-Workshop to teachers and parents at The Leonardo Museum, Salt Lake City. The workshop was held right in the middle of the museum’s amazing, inspiring water exhibit. We were surrounded with images, sounds, and words about water.

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Da Vinci’s Respect for Water

“…the body of the earth [h]as its ocean, which also rises and falls every six hours with the breathing of the worlds.” —from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

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Make your own soap

lye soap

In No-Name Baby, Sophie’s family depends on lye soap they make themselves. What was it like to create such a staple before store-sold soap became so common?

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Tucson Festival of Books

Glenda Armand and Floyd Cooper

I had a lovely experience again this year at the Tucson Festival of Books. So well organized and so many people to talk with about BOOKS!

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Remembering Rose A. Tahe

Rose A. Tahe

I first met Rose when she was a student in a graduate level children’s literature class I was teaching for Northern Arizona University on the Navajo Nation. I wondered why Rose was seeking special certification in reading when she already had her master’s degree and probably was near retirement age.

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Celebrating PLA 2016

Sylvia Vardell and Nancy Bo Flood

I had a wonderful time visiting with librarians, the vitality of the book world, and presenting about poetry with Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. And then there were the other authors I met, the rock stars!

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Welcome to the wide world of cowboy boots

Rodeo entrants choose steel-toed cowboy boots for maximum protection against large-hoofed animals. That’s just the start of the many differences in cowboy boots. Different boots are made for different cowboy…

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Hawaii knows rodeo!

Ever since writing Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo, I’ve been amazed at discovering so many rodeo hotspots I had never imagined. The 24th  Panaewa Stampede Rodeo graced Hawaii’s Big…

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Celebrating cultural connections, diversity, picture books and poetry

With Sylvia Vardell, Janet Wong and librarians Ally Garcia and Marianne Follis, I was part of the “Cultural Connections: Celebrating Diversity with Picture Books and Poetry” presentation at the Public Library Association conference in Denver in April 2016. Sylvia and Janet are poetic wonders I’m proud to team with.

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