You know how dessert is the best part of the meal? Well, here's a sample of the "dessert" from my school visit last week!

(They're written on giant eggs, which is kind of hard to see in the scans and I know they're kind of too big, but I wanted to make sure you could read them)



This last one shows particularly well why doing a school visit at your own kids' school is like the cherry on top of that fabulous dessert!



Ha! I'll get right on that, Emma.

And yes, James, I think that's a GREAT idea!

And Cory, it does not surprise me one bit that you think that poor knight with his butt on fire is funny :) Now, funny guy, go write a funny story of your own!

And to everyone else, sorry I don't have room to post them all, but I loved every one of them!

BIG thanks to Mrs. Fisher's class for the package that made my day!

:)

As part of March Reading Month, my kids' school invited me to visit as a Real Author! They have been busily reading all month and hanging their stars on the walls. Each grade has a different color star- I'm so proud of all of them!



The visit was really fabulous and went sooooo well. I learned a lot too! The principal and the Title 1 teacher were willing to work with me and let me try out some new programs and do individual by-grade presentations. We even stretched it out over two days so no one missed specials (like GYM) or RECESS so I had a much more appreciative audience- ha!

All of the kids were wonderful, but I learned that my sweet spot is probably 2nd-4th grade- they really GET me and my humor and my book and they asked the best questions and could relate the best to my presentations. Okay, you're right, my twins are in 2nd, so that MIGHT have had something to do with it.


They were so proud to have me there it was awesome. Yay for supportive family!!

And THANKS Houghton Elementary- you will always be the school closest to my heart :) Keep up the good work!

But the very best thing happened two days later when my kids and I were shopping in Walmart and we heard some girls shriek (okay, it was more like very loud, excited chattering than actual shrieking, but the effect on me was the same!) to their mom: "Hey, Mom, look over there! It's Boni Ashburn! It's the presenter from school the other day. It's Boni Ashburn!! She's a real author!" And they were pointing at me too! Yes, it was hilarious and VERY cool. Celebrity For A Day! Ahhhhhh........ A girl could get used to that kind of thing!

:)

Betsy Bird has requested the impossible.

She wants me to narrow down my beloved picture books to a list of ten of the best. Not fair- it's like choosing my favorite child! I have gone back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I have listed, de-listed, re-listed and unlisted. Sigh. But, I have apologized to those who didn't make it, and I have congratulated those who did, and I reluctantly have a Top Ten.

But I'm also adding a Ten Who Missed By A Hair List :) Ha! Take that, evil Fuse #8 and your cutthroat ways.

My Top Ten Favorite Picture Books:

1. The Stinky Cheese Man And Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
2. Diary Of A Wombat by Jackie French
3. Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus by Mo Willems
4. Monkey With A Toolbelt by Chris Monroe
5. The Best Pet Of All by David LaRochelle
6. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
7. I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont
8. That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell
9. Henny Penny by Jane Wattenberg
10. Tadpole's Promise by Jeanne Willis

You'll notice I enjoy a rambunctious read-aloud :) And please note, That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown MUST be read in a bad fake British accent that gets progressively worse. It really works best that way.

And The Ten Who Missed By A Hair List:

1. Hungry Hen by Richard Waring
2. Snip! Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman
3. Wolves by Emily Gravett
4. I'm The Biggest Thing In The Ocean by Kevin Sherry
5. Jake Johnson: The Story Of A Mule by Tres Seymour
6. How I Became A Pirate by Melinda Long
7. Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
8. In A Blue Room by Jim Averbeck
9. Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
10. The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend
11. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

Yeah, that is eleven. So what.

Now, I'm off to send my Top Ten to Ms. Bird before the Wolves discover they were left off the first list and develop a hankering for Children's Author...

:)

I hate it when I miss someone's birthday. And I don't even HAVE MR. Fish's address to send him a card!

Quick, head over to Debbie Diesen's blog and wish him a belated Happy Birthday for me :)

She has a HILARIOUS meme posted in honor of the first anniversary of The Pout-Pout Fish.

It is so well done, you don't want to miss it. Great job, Debbie and Dan! And personally, I think Mr. Fish deserves to drive his sub.

:)

I've been working non-stop on my school visit program for the last few weeks in preparation for a special visit I have lined up. Next week, I'll be spending two days at my kids' school! I'm both very excited and very nervous because this one is different from the other visits I've done. At those, I didn't know anyone- audiences of complete strangers who saw me only as an "author". Easy.

These people know me! I'm Henry, Jack and Lily's MOM- how can a plain old MOM be interesting?? I've been there every school day for the past 8 years. I run the bookfairs. I'm just another regular adult around there. Egads. I mentioned I was nervous, right??

I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find entertaining photos and anecdotes to make myself appear more interesting. There isn't much- ha! But I did find something fun in a file folder this morning while working on my PowerPoint presentations. An early draft of Hush, Little Dragon!

I'm generally a revise-as-you-go type of writer, so I type over early drafts as I'm working on them. Often I only have a few more "polished" versions left in various files and the really bad initial ideas disappear and are forgotten. Thankfully.

Sometimes, though, I misguidedly print them out, which is what I found this morning. For your reading pleasure, here's a stanza that just didn't make it past the first draft of Hush. I don't think I need to explain why- ha!!



Ah, pure poetry... Well, back to PowerPoint.

:)

I'm totally cheating on this blog post. I'm not posting anything original, I'm just sending you to a bunch of other places that have better posts than mine :)

Think of it as my way of saying, "I'm swamped, but I still love you!"

Nathan Bransford on dealing with frustration in the writing business. Truer words have not been spoken. Heed them!

Mother Reader on the benefits of reading picture books to kids. Kids of ALL ages. Don't stop too early!!! Some days I'd like to tattoo that on my forehead for people.

We've already thoroughly examined my love for Abe Lincoln Crosses A Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale by Deborah Hopkinson and John Hendrix. So I was delighted to find the Inside Story on the cover for Hendrix's next book, John Brown, on Chad Beckerman's blog. Fascinating stuff. Gee, that Abrams Books For Young Readers is some kind of genius company at picking projects, huh? :)

I made the short list of the Bookish Cereal Contest on ShelfTalker! You're right, Children Of The Corn Flakes WAS just too smart for it's own good- probably hard to illustrate too- ha! My ego apparently knows no bounds on a Lame Link-O-Rama...

Okay, that's all the time I've got. But I feel like I need to include at least one original thing. Hmmm.... Oh yeah, I have seen the future. The future of my dragons :)

The sketches for Over At The Castle, my next book, are AMAZING!!! THANK YOU, Kelly Murphy!!

:)

p.s. Is it 2010 yet??

It's blog tour week for Share A Story-Shape A Future and I can't think of a better place to spend time. You can find the whole schedule (with links) on their website.


Not only will you be able to read about children and literacy, which in itself is reason to attend, you'll also, I bet, stumble on some great new voices and blogs. I did- check out The Book Chook. Terrific blog!


Susan over there will be giving away a signed copy of my book, Hush, Little Dragon, on Wednesday in conjunction with hosting Read Aloud Day for the tour. I'm so honored to be a part of this effort.


I hope you make time to stop by and check out what they're doing- it will make the world a better place :)

Haha... no. I don't run.

I love a good run of picture books. I love highly-anticipated ones that really pay off like I HOPE they're going to do. I love enjoying books that come highly recommended from people whose taste in books I hope is still the same as mine. And I love books that come out-of-the-blue as unexpected pleasures.

And it's rare, really rare, to read so many books in a row that have been thoroughly enjoyable! Seriously, I am on a really good run:

Are You A Horse? by Andy Rash

Hilarious!! You have to love an absurd, silly premise to truly find the joy in this book. But if you can, the payoff is H-U-G-E here!! Just don't peek at the end until you're actually there or you'll ruin it. And you have to read it with a Western Cowpoke Accent! I'm buying this one :) Laugh. Out. Loud.




Between you and me, Kevin Henkes is kinda starting to get on my nerves. Does he have to get ALL the good ideas? Do simplicity and clarity and beauty and joy all belong to him or something??? Apparently, they do. Lovely, lovely book. I think I need to start channeling my inner-kevin-henkes on a daily basis...




Confession- I've never read Gertrude Stein. And smart/arty people make me nervous, so I thought I wouldn't like this book, what with it being about Stein and Toklas and Writing and Art and being illustrated by Calef Brown and all... but this, too, is a lovely book. I think it does exactly what it is supposed to do- it makes me curious about the subject and want to go read me some Stein. Right now. It makes me wish I was there, in the presence of genius and smartiness and artsiness. AND, it makes me want to go read this book again, out loud, again and again. It is flowing, fluid, mesmerizing beauty, and it tells you nothing about Stein but shows you everything about Stein at the same time. At least, I'm assuming it does, not having read her. Yet.

Now, go forth: have your own good run and tell me what you find along the way!

:)

If you ask me, the single most important thing you can do for your kids as a parent is to help them fall in love with reading.

Reading enriches your life, enriches your mind, feeds your soul.

Being a good reader makes school easier. It makes life easier!

Oh, yeah, and it's FUN!

If you read my blog, you are probably already on board with reading to your kids. And I know this is going to sound crazy, but not everyone reads to their kids. Life is busy, people are busy, they don't know what to read, they don't know where to start. There are a multitude of reasons, many of them valid, but all are obstacles that can, and should, be overcome.

Where do you start? Right here:



It's a blog tour happening NEXT WEEK which focuses on reading to children. It's being put together by some AMAZING people. Librarians. Teachers. Parents. Authors. People who care. They have practical ideas, suggestions, answers and solutions and you can bet I'm going to read every one.

Please, do your part and spread the word! At schools, libraries, daycares, playgroups... anywhere you can reach people who care for and about children.

Share a story. Shape a future.

:)