[what's up wednesday] It’s All Good

Everything is up! My mood, my blood pressure, my stress level. OK, that sounds bad. But we’ve got the big graduation open house for our younger daughter this weekend, and I’m told the attendee count could get as high as 200. Holy moly. But meanwhile, last week was lovely. Here’s what I’m happy about.

1. A Leaf Can Be… is on the NCTE Notables list! Whee! Attending NCTE last year and taking part in the Notables session for BookSpeak was one of the highlights of my year. That’s one to check off on my list of writing dreams for the year!
2. Check out the beautiful vase my daughter Annabelle painted for me for Mother’s Day!
3. I got to spend time revising A Rock Can Be…, which will be my third Can Be… book! (Water Can Be… comes out in 2014.)
4. I got official notification that BookSpeak is on the shortlist for the Beehive Award – Poetry Category (Utah’s children’s choice award). Fun!
5. And look at the shirt my husband, Randy, designed and ordered! And Mother’s Day in general was wonderful, full of family, thoughtful gifts, and a delicious Italian dinner at Biaggi’s.

I don’t think weeks get much better than this–ok, except for the grad party stress. So, how was your week?

[what's up wednesday] Taxes, Wonder, and Failure

I’m trying something new here, a short roundup called What’s Up Wednesday, in which I share 5 miscellaneous things from the previous week. Here goes:

1) A Leaf Can Be . . .  is in the Scholastic Book Club Imagine & Discover flyer (perfect for Leaf), which features science and math books for k-2. Yippee! (Sorry the pic is sideways!)

2) After about 15 hours of prep, I turned in my tax stuff to my accountant–yay! Waiting impatiently to see if I owe money. Hey, this means it’s almost time for my annual income blog report. Coming soon…

3) I’m still floating about the Cybils, of course, and I’m cheering extra hard for Wonder. This is my favorite kind of novel–a flawed but likable kid battling huge obstacles. Fifth-grader Auggie, with a severe facial deformity, is going to public school for the first time. Do not miss this beautiful, funny book. (Longer thoughts at Goodreads and Amazon.)

4) There was a fun segment on NPR’s Morning Edition in which Neil Gaiman shares his favorite movies and television shows.

5) I’ve had so many wonderful surprises lately for both Leaf and BookSpeak, and I appreciate all your support and cheering! I think I’m going to post soon about some recent failures, too, just so you see both sides of the writing life:>)

[Poetry Friday] Cybils!

Well, my head is still spinning from the lovely news yesterday that BookSpeak has been given the Cybils award for Poetry! I had a specific book in mind that I thought would surely win it. When I got up at 5:30 and turned on my laptop, all was calm. Email: normal. Facebook: Normal. Then I saw a post from Pamela Ross on my Timeline that said, “Get up so we can hug you. {{}}” Wait. What? I went to the Cybils website, and there was my book, in the Winners list. Holy cow.

So that I’m not flouting the Poetry Friday tradition of sharing an actual poem, here’s “Skywriting.”

Skywriting

 Line after line                                                       of inky black birds

forming the flocks                            that shift into words.

Page after page of            tales winging by

singing a story         against a

white  sky.

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I chose that poem to share because I feel like it takes all of us, flocks of writers and readers and teachers and dreamers, to make books what they are.

A huge part of what makes this award so astounding is the quality of all the Finalists. I’ve mentioned all the other Poetry Finalists that are picture books (links below).

In the Sea, by David Elliott (and here)
UnBEElievables, by Douglas Florian
Water Sings Blue, by Kate Coombs
Last Laughs, by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen (and here)
National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry, ed. by J. Patrick Lewis (and here)
and Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses, by Ron Koertge (not a picture book and sort of out of my coverage zone)

See why I was so proud just to be a Finalist?

And then there are the judges. Look at this all-star list of poetry lovers:

Round One
Carol Wilcox Carol W’s Corner
Jone Rush MacCulloch Check It Out
Anastasia Suen Booktalking
Tricia Stohr-Hunt The Miss Rumphius Effect
Irene Latham Live Your Poem
Misti Tidman Kid Lit Geek
Mary Lee Hahn A Year of Reading

Round Two
Sylvia Vardell Poetry for Children
Ed DeCaria Think Kid Think
Renee La Tulippe No Water River
Diane Mayr Kurious Kitty
Linda Baie Teacher Dance

I know how much time and debate and passion goes into these choices. It’s incredibly difficult choosing a book every single person can get behind and agree with.

I am humbled and delighted that BookSpeak ended up being that book this year. And I’m also grateful to everyone celebrating with me, those who tread the writing path or put books into kids’ hands or share reviews or Like books on websites. Or who simply love books and poetry. Kids’ poetry needs all of us! OK, I hear exit music playing and feel the hook approaching. But…I am thrilled and I am grateful. Thank you.

.Linda at Teacher Dance has today’s Poetry Friday roundup – enjoy!

[15 Words or Less Poems] Sparkle & Cybils!

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. BookSpeak has been given the Cybils award for Poetry! I am so honored that my peeps–poetry book-lovers of the kidlitosphere–chose BookSpeak for this, especially when all the Finalists are such fantastic collections/ anthologies that I love. (And I’m super thrilled that Wonder, which I just read, won the Middle Grade category!)

OK. Deep breath. And now–back to our regularly scheduled programming! :>)

Photo: Janet Fagal

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

Today’s beautiful image comes to us courtesy of Janet Fagal, who was lounging down in Florida when she captured the magic. Here’s what this image makes me think of:

1) Fairy dust
2) A polka-dotted jellyfish
3) Fireflies at our family reunion

And here’s my poem first draft:

Family Reunion
Our conversations twinkle
like fireflies,
sparks in darkness
of busy lives
–by Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

[My Writing Life] I’m In the Journal of Children’s Literature!

I don’t think I ever had a chance to share this last fall. The NCTE‘s Journal of Children’s Literature featured one of my poems!

I was so excited that they wanted to share a poem from BookSpeak!

Part of what made it even more pleasing was that the other poem shared in that issue was by U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis! It’s from Pat’s brand new book, When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders (Chronicle, 2012). That’s a fantastic, powerful book, and I’ll share a poem from it on a Poetry Friday after I work through the CYBILS Finalists.

Just knowing that my poem had the privilege of being put in front of so many educators was such a blast–and in such excellent company, too!

[Poetry Friday] CYBILS Finalists!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate it, and that everybody had a terrific New Year’s. I am sick with the flu and wasn’t planning to post today. But, I’m so excited that BookSpeak has made the shortlist for the CYBILS Poetry category–what an honor! So I wanted to share this list of all 7 finalists, along with links if they’ve appeared on my blog.

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BookSpeak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas (me!). Can’t tell you how proud I am to be in this list. I’ve blogged about BookSpeak tons and won’t subject you to more links!

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In the Sea by David Elliott  – I shared a bit of what I love about this book (though no poem from it, which I will rectify soon!) here.

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Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen – I shared two poems here and one more here.

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Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge – I just read this one recently and haven’t posted anything about it yet. I love Ron’s dark and creepy creativity! (I confess I wanted more likable main characters, though.)

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National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar! compiled by J. Patrick Lewis – I shared one poem here and another poem and the teaching guide here.

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UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian – I read this recently at the bookstore but haven’t posted yet, though I chose a favorite poem to share–soon!

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Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs – What? I haven’t blogged about this book? I picked it as one of my 5 Favorite Poetry Picks of 2012 for a fall book conference and was sure I’d shared it here, too.

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Clearly, I need to share some poems from these fantastic books. I’m off to make some notes on my blog calendar!

At the blog For Those Who Know, they are donating one CYBILS Poetry Finalist to a local school library. Go comment to vote for which one they should donate!

Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme has the Poetry Friday roundup today–enjoy!

[My Writing Life] Fun at Vegas/NCTE

I’ve blogged about generosity at conventions, “Is it worth it for a writer to go to IRA?” (or any of the big conventions), setting goals for conventions, and following up afterwards. Now, I just want to take a minute to share some of the fun I had in Vegas. You can hover over images to see the caption (or click if the caption is a longer one). It was a fantastic trip, and I’m really grateful to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for sponsoring me so that I could go. Getting to attend when BookSpeak was on the NCTE Notables list was something I’ll always remember, I know!

Randy and I take a gondola ride at the Venetian.

Chorizo fonduta to die for

At Emeril’s–where Randy had seafood and I had amazing pancetta mac and cheese.

Across the street

We stayed at the MGM Grand.

MGM lobby

The Luxor

Body part art on the walls…

Pat Tillman Memorian Bridge

Hoover Dam – spectacular

At Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam – obviously

Before the New York! New York! roller coaster ride

During the New York! New York! roller coaster ride

Overlooking part of the strip

A few of the desserts I had at the Bellagio buffet

In the Bellagio conservatory

One of several indoor malls that used lighting and trompe l’oeil to make you feel like you were outside

In a mall

Fancy candies

Heading out to see the Beatles Cirque show

Outside the Venetian…I think

Gondola ride inside the Venetian

Some other couples on a gondola ride. Our gondolier had a wonderful voice.

On the gondola ride

Terry Farrell and Jonda McNair at a poetry session. Passionate poetry advocates!

Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Janet Fagal, Meghan Nuttall Sayres, and Claire Rudolf Murphy at Project Pie

Janet Fagal, Meghan Nuttall Sayres, Claire Rudolf Murphy, and me at Project Pie

I got an f&g of Follow Follow, by Marilyn Singer. It’s fantastic!

The great booktalkers/committee members at the Orbus Pictus Award session

Fun to see client Polly Carlson-Voiles’ Summer of the Wolves book on display!

Janet Wong and Akiko Morimoto

Leslea Newman at our session

Me at our poetry session

Irene Latham at our session

Mary Lee Hahn at our session

Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Mary Lee Hahn, Leslea Newman, Irene Latham, Janet Fagal, Janet Wong, Laura Purdie Salas–all from our poetry session

Janet Wong signs her Me and Rolly Maloo for me

Barbara Ward booktalks BookSpeak at the NCTE Notables session (video to come of that!)

We all wear pink in solidarity with organizer Sylvia Vardell’s breast cancer fight. Go, Sylvia! Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Mary Lee Hahn, Leslea Newman, Irene Latham, Janet Fagal, Janet Wong, Laura Purdie Salas–all from our poetry session

[Nifty Stuff] Book Cover Cookies

My husband is the best.

The box was marked perishable–always a good sign!

Each cookie is wrapped individually.

So cute!

Not sure why the yellow LEAF CAN BE… title didn’t show up very clearly! But it was still fun to see the gorgeous cover on a cookie.

I was surprised at how well all the details of STAMPEDE came out.

15% of proceeds benefit a cause of your choice–Randy picked education/literacy causes.

My happy plate of cookies.

A box arrived Friday marked “Perishable.” Oh, that can only be good things. Turns out Randy ordered me cookies (cinnamon shortbread!) from Baking for Good, an online bakery that creates treats and donates some proceeds to the cause of your choice. So check out the Snapshot Cookies Randy got me. It was a box of 12, with 4 each of BookSpeak, A Leaf Can Be…, and Stampede. And, just so I could give you a full report, I just ate my first one. Oh. My. God. Cinnamony, crumbly, frosted. What more could you ask for? Writing for kids just got even sweeter! As for Randy, he couldn’t get any sweeter. I am so blessed to have a husband who supports and encourages my children’s writing career in so many creative and appreciated ways.

Gathering Books Shows BookSpeak Some Book Love

Gathering Books’ current theme is Books about Books and the River of Words, and I was so excited with Myra’s lovely feature on BookSpeak Friday. Gathering Books gathers books (obviously) but also book lovers, and it really touched me to read her thoughts on BookSpeak and to see the Comments left there. If you didn’t visit on Poetry Friday, and if you have a moment, I’d love it if you stopped by. And while you’re there, check out all the other book-books they’re featuring! Thanks!

[Nonfiction Monday] Eureka!

 I am SO excited to announce that BookSpeak! Poems About Books (Clarion, 2011) was awarded a Eureka Gold Medal for excellence in nonfiction. This award from the California Reading Association is for every book that is not expressly fiction. Yay!

And Dare to Dream…Change the World (Kane Miller, 2012, edited by Jill Corcoran), a beautiful, inspirational anthology of poems about people who have changed the world, received a Silver Medal designation. I’m proud to be part of that anthology (in a set of paired poems that Kelly Fineman and I wrote) and doubly proud to be represented in the Eurekas twice!

You can read the entire Eureka list of 7Gold Medal Winners and 17 Silver Medal Winners here. Check it out–I’m sure you’ll find some fantastic nonfiction books to interest you.

Check out Capstone Connect’s Nonfiction Monday roundup and learn about some great books!