Dare the Wind

Dare the Wind was recently named a Junior Library Guild selection!  I'll post the full list of 2014 JLG selections when it's available, but I'm honored that my fourth picture book is also my fourth JLG selection!

You're Never too Young to Find a Dino

Barnum Brown started fossil hunting when he was just a young boy.  Similarly, there was a story in the New York Times recently about a 17-year-old boy who made a great fossil find, too.  Kevin Terris uncovered a baby dinosaur (nicknamed 'Joe') in 2009 while he was on a school field trip to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.  He found the most complete specimen of the tube-crested Parasaurolophus.  You can read the full story of Kevin's discovery here.   Another article includes an artist's impressions of Joe, so you can see what he may have looked like when he roamed the earth about 75 million years ago.  It's never too soon to start hunting bones!

One More!

I just learned that Barnum's Bones was also selected as a 2014 Rhode Island Children's Book Award Nominee!   What a wonderful honor from one of my favorite states!  You can check out the complete list of nominees here.

Dare the Wind Will Be Blowing In Soon!

My newest picture book, Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud, is coming soon!  It will be published in February 2014 by Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar, Straus & Giroux and is illustrated by the wonderful Emily Arnold McCully.  Dare the Wind is based on the true story of Eleanor "Ellen" Prentiss, the first woman to navigate a clipper ship from New York to San Francisco.  Ellen not only completed the trip, her daring 1851 voyage set a world record for speed, too! 

Ellen was a fascinating subject to research and write about, particularly since she was a Massachusetts girl, raised in nearby Marblehead.  What fun to walk the same cobbled streets that she did!  I'll be posting more in the coming months about Dare the Wind's voyage from concept to picture book.

More Good News for Barnum

Barnum's Bones was recently honored by being named to the 2013 Maine Cream of the Crop List.  Barnum was also named a 2014 New York State Reading Association Charlotte Award Nominee and a 2013 Virginia Jefferson Cup Award Honor Book.  Be sure to check out all of these lists for other great books to read, enjoy, and linger over!

Bozeman Schools Celebrate Buffalo Music

I was thrilled to learn that the Bozeman Schools Foundation recently selected Buffalo Music for their Links to Literacy program.  The program distributes over 550 books to Bozeman first grade students, teachers, and school librarians in an effort to encourage parents and students to explore books together and read out loud.  This year, the program partnered with the One Book One Bozeman program on a buffalo theme and selected Buffalo Music to complement the One Book One Bozeman selection, Last Stand: Ted Turner's Quest to Save a Troubled Planet, by Todd Wilkinson.  I'm honored that Buffalo Music was chosen to be part of such a wonderful program.  Thanks, Bozeman, and keep reading!

Barnum on Bank Street

Barnum's Bones was recently selected as a 2013 Best Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education.  You can view the complete list here.  Barnum is listed in the age 5-9 category.  Thank you, Bank Street!