Girl Power x 66

The Meet Authors with Girl Power event last Friday at the Central Branch of the Howard County, MD, library was great. Organizer extraordinaire Barb Langridge brought together middle-grade authors Erica S. Perl, Elissa Brent Weissman, Shawn K. Stout, and me for a one-hour event with 66 kids, most of them girls aged 8 to 12. They came in glitter hats and football jerseys and sat on sleeping bags and talked with us about books and friendships and life as modern-day girls. I loved meeting them!

L to R: Erica Perl, Elissa Brent Weissman, Shawn Stout, Elisabeth Dahl

Classic Play's Genie Wishes Party!

Last weekend, my friend Jen Cooper hosted a GENIE WISHES book party sponsored by her blog, Classic Play. Her husband, Dave Cooper (the supremely talented photographer who took my author photos), documented this charming event. Here's one of the great photos he took.

During the party, we ate brownies and macarons and drank lemonade. We read from the book. We talked about friends and school and the difficulties that sometimes arise with both. And then the girls picked up their pens and notebooks and tried writing the blog entries they might write if they were elected to be their own class's blogger. Some even tried something else that Genie does in the book, which is to imagine what her name would look like in pictorial form.

To share the celebration with a wider audience, Jen and I decided to give away two signed copies of the book. For a chance to win, comment here by May 20, 2013. 

P.S. A word about Classic Play: It's the best blog I know of for parents of kids who are elementary-school-aged or younger. The posts are smart, real, inspired, and true. And the blog is gorgeous. Jen's an amazing blog-curator.

Congratulations, WriteBrain Kids!

End-of-year congratulations to WriteBrain Kids, a group of book-loving fourth and fifth graders at Baltimore's Govans Elementary School. I'm part of the team that spent an hour a week with them during this school year, reading books and writing everything from fairytales to apology poems. I loved every minute of it--even the minutes when they all talked at the same time. Well done, WBK!

Evergreen, Dressed in Blue

Last Thursday night, I gave the opening remarks at the Writers in Baltimore Schools launch of its newest anthology, Baltimore Triumphs. I'm so grateful to WBS's Patrice Hutton for inviting me to join in. 

For about an hour that night, Baltimore City school students--many of them fourth graders--took turns reading pieces in the Bakst Theatre of Baltimore's Evergreen Museum & Library. You know how certain architectural spaces are so majestic, they elevate everything that happens within their walls? Evergreen is like that, but honestly, the reading that night would have seemed majestic even in a ramshackle shed. The student readers showed real grace as they presented their work. Lisa Lance posted a great writeup of the night here, including photos.

As I was leaving, I snapped a shot of the mansion's facade--Evergreen, dressed in blue.

Genie's Birthday Giveaway

Today is May 1--Genie Haddock Kunkle's birthday. To celebrate, I'm giving away two signed hardcover copies of GENIE WISHES, one for you and one for a friend. Good luck!

I've never done a giveaway before, so I hope I did this right. If you have trouble, let me know!

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