Author Visits

One of the sweet surprises after my first book came out was being invited to schools to talk with students. As an author, I have the honor of visiting tens of thousands of students and educators each year!

Being a speaker was not something I expected when I started writing, but I love to travel and meet new people. Young writers are often enthusiastic when they discover travel can be part of being a writer.

Here are photos from my two most recent visits and a few from three of my favorite visits from past years.

Recently, I returned from a week of visits in Elko, Nevada. Frost on windows greeted me each morning. Glistening snow covered the Ruby Mountains.












End of the road. Kim was a wonderful tour guide, driving me to Lamoille, where aspen and cottonwood and beautiful country churches live.



















At first I wasn't sure how I'd survive the food in Elko County. The first two restaurants I checked out had specialties of "Coke Chicken" and "Moose Drool"! :-) But the Nevada educators were fabulous hostesses and came to my rescure. One evening, they treated me to a yummy Chinese dinner, another to a Basque dinner at the famous Star Hotel Basque Family Style Restaurant. Gifts included a food basket upon arrival, a Wolf calendar compliments of one of the teacher's daughters who shares my love of wolves, a book full of cowboy poetry (Elko is famous for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering (http://www.westernfolklife.org), and a Sage Elementary Dust Devil pin. Who could ask for anything more?!!




















When I entered Stoneridge Elementary, I was greeted by art at every turn! It's always a treat when students have read my books and expressed themselves through art, plays, and other activities.





















Even the parents got involved! Parent Jon Haupert, whose daughter attends Stoneridge, went above and beyond with a theatre for Lily and a beautiful rendition of myself as a child in a pasture with dancing cows all around! I love it!













MEMORIES FROM THE PAST:

Phillipsburg, Kansas, 2004 - A Fabulous, Big-hearted Community!

















































Tasis Dorado, Puerto Rico, 2005 - A Joyful, Colorful School!





























Branson, Missouri, 2006 - Art and Writing Activities Everywhere!



























Cynthia Mazat, a talented and energetic library media specialist, and I take pics as Joshua Summerhayes (The Pumpkin Runner) and Lily (Prancing, Dancing Lily).

Author Visits

The Galapagos

Was it a dream or was it the Galapagos? For forty years, I'd dreamed of visiting the Galapagos Islands, those faraway islands west of Ecuador. I finally made it last December, 2007. It was more than worth the wait!

I woke every morning encircled by pure nature. One morning, I looked out my cabin's window to see two sea lions, playing in the ocean outside our boat, the Integrity. Another morning I stepped out of the shower and saw a green sea turtle swimming alongside.

Charles Darwin sailed to the Galapagos on the HMS Beagle, in 1835. From his observations of plants and animals there, he developed his theory of evolution. The islands are volcanic; the flora and fauna evolved in isolation, so there are lots of strange and unique species.
Here are some photos of just a few.

Whoops! Those aren't strange and unique species...or are they?

That's Paul, our naturalist and guide, and myself sending postcards at Post Office Bay.

Post Office Bay was used in the 1800's by whalers to stay in touch with folks back home.
They left their letters in a wooden barrel; other sailors who were returning home took the letters with them to deliver.

There was no real postman; there still isn't.

My modern day shipmates and I left postcards too.

It can take months or years or forever for a letter to be delivered.

But my son got his postcard in Connecticut just one week after I left it at Post Office Bay!! Someone had picked it up at Post Office Bay and mailed it when they returned to their home in Connecticut.

The United States Postal Service can't do much better than that!

Sea lions! How I love sea lions!

We went snorkeling nearly every day.

Some of the sea lions thought we were new toys.

One afternoon, two sea lions twirled and swirled around us for nearly an hour.

Galapagos sea lions make very fun swimming buddies!

Marine iguanas come in different colors! They are the only lizards in the world that swim and get their food in the sea.

Boobies and frigates and cormorants. Oh my!



Boobies come in three colors in the Galapagos.
Blue-footed boobies.
They are as amazed as we are by their bright blue feet.







Red -footed boobies.
Red feet. Blue bill. Who could ask for anything more?

Nazca boobies.
Elegant in black and white.

The adult frigate birds
have a bright red throat patch,

but the juveniles are the cutest.

The flightless cormorant's eyes are a brilliant turquoise.

They have small wings and cannot fly. For hundreds of years
they've had no enemies on the islands, so there's been no need to fly.

Their necks are long, curved, and elegant, but when they jump
in the water, they remind me of a bellyflop, but with feet.

Splashing color
on the gray rocky slopes

is the Sally Lightfoot Crab.

Sally was the first animal
I saw when I reached the Galapagos.

And last, but definitely not least,

the animal the islands were named for -
the giant Galapagos tortoise.
Galapagos is a Spanish word for "saddle".
One kind of tortoise has a shell that looks
like a saddle. Thus the name "Galapagos".
The tortoise above is dome-shaped, not saddleback.

Ah! The Galapagos! Some things are worth waiting for.

The Galapagos

"Roar of a Snore" on "Just One More Book!!"
"Just One More Book" is a fun website with a thrice-weekly podcast that promotes literacy and, in their words, great children's books. I was thrilled they chose my book "Roar of a Snore" for their January 11th, 2008 podcast. If you'd like to hear their lively chat, which takes place in their favorite coffee shop, double click the play button (">" ) on the "Listen Now" icon at:
http://www.justonemorebook.com/2008/01/11/a-rhyming-bedtime-romp-roar-of-a-snore/