It's a Beautiful Day, Brethren

Quick. What did your last two podcasts discuss? Mine? Comedian Kevin Hart talking with Jerry Seinfeld and the other? An interview with Bono and the Edge. Kevin and Jerry spent some time talking about the brotherhood/sisterhood of the comedian world. Reminded me of my book people. Lifelong friendships gained almost instantly. Hence the brethren. And well, today, was just a "beautiful day" connecting with my book people family.

My Sibert honor winning co-host, Steve. I knew Fallout would get a sticker today. My good friend, Alicia, chair of the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults committee. Proud to call you my friend and co-presenter extraordinaire. My Sibert Smackdown mentor and now honor winner, Melissa. Former fifth grade now retired teacher, Mr. Reischer, who texted me at 4 in the morning sending me positive #ALAyma vibes. Jayce from Fort Worth who texted when Too Bright to See won Newbery honor reminding me that I called that early on. Jacquelyn from Alabama who was thrilled for Watercress and extra excited for Starfish because she knew it could be YA. Val, the stranger I met 15 years ago who suggested I get my school library degree, and texted tonight asking if I liked the Newbery winner. Newbery honor Rajani who has been on Author Fan Face-off, had a virtual visit with our Red, White and Whole book group and just has the most infectious smile and laugh (I imagine she has a beautiful permagrin happening now). My teachers and colleagues who know today is "my day." From getting excited themselves (and making posters and t-shirts) to helping me sticker the ice cream sandwiches to being photographers and videographers, they may not all be book people but they my brethren. My mom, who read and adored Fallout and watched the awards live this morning. And the latest member of my sisterhood, 4th grade teacher Galiah from Queens, who I met over Twitter and now are classes are meeting virtually tomorrow to debrief the Sibert awards. 

Now that the sun has set over this beautiful day I need to make a reading decision for the after. A 2022 book I missed or a January 2023 contender?

Take a Hike

My son Zack, the Z in the YouTube channel, RTWJAZ, and his best friend, John (the "J") decided in the late summer that they wanted to attempt the 46 Adirondack high peaks and document each hike through their videos. I was thrilled with the idea because since they will need adult accompaniment I happily volunteered to join the challenge as well.

As of late September, we got two down. Woohoo! Only 44 to go. I'm not afraid of the road more or less travelled and excited for this new adventure ahead of us. Video #1 below 👇

Warning: This video will get you singing Imagine Dragons and craving to be on top of the world, too.

Hike 

In the very early days of lockdown, I heard about this new book, Hike by Pete Oswald. His book birthday was approaching (March 17) so, I sent him an email and asked if we could virtually celebrate together.  He graciously declined since he was very busy (remote teaching, deadlines, etc) but appreciated the support. So here we are nearly eight months later and I'm still celebrating and thinking about this gorgeous, wordless picture book.  It would be the perfect gift for anyone looking to embrace a walk in the woods, not necessarily the high peaks, with someone special.

Check out this interview with Pete: http://www.letstalkpicturebooks.com/2020/02/lets-talk-illustrators-130-pete-oswald.html

46 Leaps

Zack, John and I each have a scratch off map of the high peaks.  It was satisfying to take that penny and scratch off Cascade and Porter.  Here are the photos from my leap log.  Goal: 46 leaps on 46 peaks.  #46leaps46peaks

Cascade Mountain: Peak Leap 1 of 46

Porter Mountain: Peak Leap 2 of 46

Notice the sneakers and old backpack. Yes, I'm still a novice.  Any guesses on what's on my Chanukah list? 

See you on the other side of March.  We've decided that as much as the boys might think they could hike now, it's probably not too smart to make #3 a winter hike.  But if we get a bunch scratched off by this time next year. Maybe?

PS:

Do you follow Kate Messner on Twitter or Instagram? She posts so many beautiful Adirondack photos. She was also a recent guest on the new video show Steve Sheinkin and I host, Author Fan Face-Off, answering questions on Breakout, a book that is set in those awesome mountains.

#AuthorFanFaceOff 1

A few weeks ago one of my favorite nonfiction writers and friend, Steve Sheinkin, reached out to me about a new video series idea he had.  I was intrigued...An author and a young fan battle it out on questions about a favorite book written by said author. A leap worthy concept and am thrilled to be part of the team!

Check out our pilot featuring fifth grader, Ace and author, Chris Grabenstein, as they go head to head answering questions about Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Go. Pause game. Play along. End game. How well will you do? 

We have many more episodes in the works. Stay tuned! And please, if you've got a pair to share, we're open to all suggestions!

BORN TO FLY

We don't wait very long to celebrate here at Castleton Elementary School.
14 days into the new school year and we had our first author visit on his book birthday.
Welcome back to CES, Steve Sheinkin!



Since the first day of school, we have been preparing for Steve's visit.  Between our "Born to Fly" Selfie Scavenger Hunt with Grades 4-6 to sharing and reading books from the Time Twisters series to "building" paper airplanes to writing and illustrating a Steve Sheinkin A-Z book to daily announcements, we were ready to take off when he arrived!





The visit flew by (yes, all puns intended). Steve signed books, entered the gym on our red carpet, shared stories and then enjoyed some pie and ice cream with my 6th grade Dewey Duty kids. And even though the visit is behind us now that doesn't mean we are going to stop reading Born to Fly. I'll see you at 2, Mr. Morse's class.

The rock star enters our Old Gym

We heard that Steve loves pie and cherry vanilla ice cream so that's what we had at our party.  Then the kids (thank you, Mrs. Warland for the awesome idea) wrote down ideas for names of pie that ties in airplanes, flying or pilots. Some of our favorites:

Pilot's Pie

Airpple Pie

Women's Air Derby Pumpkin Pie

Flypple Pie

Amelia's Apple Pie

Propeller Pie

 Airplane Pielots

 

Thanks Mrs. Fowler (7th Grade English) and Mrs. Squier (JR/SR HS Librarian) for stopping by!

You can't leave Castleton before you leap

PS: Want to know more about Steve's life? Check out this book we made in third grade:

 

The Steve Sheinkin Long Weekend

I am taking the liberty to declare this past Friday - this Tuesday the "Steve Sheinkin Long Weekend." There.  I've done it.  And here's why:

On Friday, Steve graciously took the 40 mile trip south to Maple Hill Middle School to meet with some very eager and enthusiastic readers.  The Steve Sheinkin planning team, which included the librarian. some teachers and even the principal, did an amazing job making the whole day great!  I was lucky enough to have some time to visit with both my former students and Steve.  It's always wonderful to see kids excited about reading and meeting an author.  It's easy for me to get kids excited about primary and early middle grade book creators but middle schoolers are different and the team managed to do it! There was no denying that these kids were excited to be in Steve's presence.

The Entrance

Steve was welcomed on Maple Hill's "Steve Sheinkin" version of a "red carpet", the grid iron (Of course, my camera batteries died right at the moment but here are a few anticipatory photos):

Lunch

If you read at least two of Steve's books in the past few months, you were invited to a special pizza lunch with him.  I envy the lucky kids who got to sit on either side and across from him.

The Presentation

Granted I was only able to catch a little bit of it, but I can tell you that the audience in the library was filled with attentive and interested listeners.  You received a ticket into the program if you read at least one Steve book in the past few months.  

Librarian, Mrs. Squier, introducing the special guest

Happy Book Birthday!

You can't have a birthday party without cake and Friday was no exception.  Happy Book Birthday to UNDEFEATED! So glad you could celebrate it a few days early at Maple Hill Middle School, Steve!

You now I had to ask these kids to leap for me! Not too bad for being out of practice!
Even Mrs. Squier got into it!

2:30 PM

Hands down Mrs. Karen Harris, retired fifth grade teacher, is Steve Sheinkin's biggest fan.  Look! Even he knows it!

Sunday's New York Times

I loved opening up my Sunday NYT Book Review to find this great review of UNDEFEATED:

https://nyti.ms/2jF9QFJ

I was so happy that I leapt!

Tuesday Pub Date

What is your plan for tomorrow?  I know!  Go out to your nearby Indie bookstore, pick up your own copy of UNDEFEATED and try not to tackle anyone in the process of buying the book and getting comfortable on your couch.