150 Best Ks Books, THE BRAVEST OF US ALL goes digital, Kansas sesquicentennial and Book Festival

Dorothy Gale, Amelia Earhart, and Marsha Diane Arnold.  What do we have in common? We're all from Kansas!  Today Kansas is celebrating some of its "children" and stories at the Kansas Book Festival in Topeka.

It's an especially wonderful festival as this is also the year Kansas is commemorating its sesquicentennial.  The Kansas State Library selected 150 "Best" Kansas Books in celebration of 150 years, so this adds a glow to the festival, especially in my eyes as two of my books made the list.  Thank you Kansas librarians.

My parents' family, grandparents' family, and great-grandparents' family spent many years farming and surviving on the Kansas plains.  They knew dust storms, tornadoes, crop failures, and tornadoes.

Both of my books were inspired by my Kansas roots. Prancing, Dancing Lily, the story of a cow who doesn't fit in with the herd, was inspired by my father's Ayrshire dairy herd.

Helping my father feed an Ayrshire calf on "the farm".

The Bravest of Us All was inspired by my Grandmother Krehbiel's storm cellar, which she and her family used not only for root vegetables and laying hens, but to seek shelter from storms and tornadoes.

Check behind my father and that chicken to see my grandmother's storm cellar.

Illustrator Brad Sneed and I are delighted The Bravest of Us All is now available in digital form.  You can find the digital storybook "app" for the iPad and the iPhone on  iTunes.  Enjoy the story, all about tornadoes, sisters, family, fear, and courage.

Find the Kansas Book Festival at: The Kansas Historical Society, 6425 SE 6th Avenue, Topeka, Ks from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., today, September 24th.

150 Best Ks Books, THE BRAVEST OF US ALL goes digital, Kansas sesquicentennial and Book Festival

What would you like to know?

So far this year, I've been booked at two conferences - as a speaker for the California Reading Association in November (http://www.californiareads.org/) and as a speaker/teacher/consultant at David Greenberg's amazing week long Oregon Coast Workshop (http://www.occbww.com/) next July.  I would love my readers input!


For CRA, I'll mostly be talking with educators.  My talk will be about the honorable and dishonorable in children's literature.  I plan to talk about my and other authors' work and about the changes in the publishing world.  What would you as an educator like to hear about?


My presentation and workshop in Oregon will be mostly for aspiring writers.  I'll be talking about writing picture books, but haven't decided on the specific themes yet.  It will be mostly nuts and bolts plus, I hope, lots of fun.  What do you as an aspiring writer want to hear about?



Thanks for taking part in my little survey!


I like to think of my first book, HEART OF A TIGER, as perhaps my most "honorable" book.

What would you like to know?

Delightful morning Skyping with Kindergarteners in South Carolina

What better way to start the morning than Skyping with happy, enthusiastic kindergarteners.  So glad you enjoy my books.  Thanks to Mrs. Bean, the other teachers at Stella Maris School, and of course, the delightful kindergarteners.  Happy Reading!  (Photos to follow soon.)

Delightful morning Skyping with Kindergarteners in South Carolina

So glad ROAR OF A SNORE makes you smile, Maya

I just received the most gracious email from the Smedley family in Tennessee.  It's mail like this that keeps me inspired to continue writing for our precious children.  Thank you Bryon, Celeste, and sweet Maya for letting me share this with my Story Magician readers.

Just wanted to let you know that my daughter Maya (just shy of 2 1/2 years old) LOVES Roar of a Snore.  I have been required to read this to her every night at bedtime for over 100 nights straight. Needless to say, I have the story memorized.  She now reads about a third of the book to me when I insert carefully placed pauses in the dialog. Thank you for making my daughter so happy.

That last sentence is glowing inside my heart.

So glad ROAR OF A SNORE makes you smile, Maya