Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year
Social media. Some people love it. Some people hate it. And some people have mixed feelings. Sure, it can be a time suck, but it’s also a powerful tool for sharing ideas. I’ve learned so much from blog posts written by educators, Twitter conversations with teachers and librarians, and discussions within Facebook groups focused on […]
What a Great Idea!
Recently, Minnesota teacher Pam Patron Warren suggested an idea that I wanted to share with you. Pam enjoys using the readers theater scripts I’ve created to accompany many of my picture books, but not in the way you might expect. She uses them as paired passages with the book rather than as a performance. This […]
Expository vs. Narrative Nonfiction: Honeybees, Part 2
On Monday, I shared an expository passage about honeybees from my upcoming book Ick! Delightfully Disgusting Animal Dinners, Dwellings, and Defenses and talked a little bit about my process. You can scroll down to read it. Today, we’re going to continue our discussion of the differences between narrative and expository nonfiction by looking at a […]
Happy 10th Anniversary, Celebrate Science!
It’s hard to believe, but I began this blog 10 years ago this week. I’ve been posting three times a week (during the school year) ever since. That’s more than 1,100 posts in all! Over the summer, I took a look at many of my earlier posts. There are some topics that I’ve written about […]
Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Carole Boston Weatherford
Today we conclude the Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep series with a powerful essay by Carole Boston Weatherford. Thank you, Carole. Celebrate Science will be back in September. Since the debut of my first children’s bok in 1995, I have mined the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles. I do so because when I […]
Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Tanya Lee Stone
Today we continue the Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep series with an essay by author Tanya Lees Stone. Thank you, Tanya. I am on a mission to rid us of the term nonfiction. It is meaningless. Why do we describe an entire genre of literature by what it is NOT? It tells us nothing about what […]
Nonfiction Authors Digging Deep by Patricia Valdez
Today we continue the Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep series with an essay by author Patricia Valdez. Thank you, Patricia. When asked to imagine a typical scientist, most people picture a man with wild hair, like Albert Einstein, or with a bow tie and lab coat, like Bill Nye. A peek inside a laboratory today would […]
Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Carla Killough McClafferty
Today we continue the Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep series with an essay by author Carla Killough McClafferty. Thank you, Carla. Tragedy made me a writer. My fourteen-month-old son Corey died from a head injury after a minor fall off the backyard swing. Life as I knew it was over. I faced a crisis of faith […]
How Young Nonfiction Writers Can Dig Deep, Part 4
For the last few weeks, I’ve been describing a technique that I call “digging deep.” Inspired by the wonderful essays my colleagues have been sharing on Mondays throughout this school year, I’ve been discussing ways to make nonfiction writing unique and interesting. I began with this bit of information from the research file for a […]
Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by April Pulley Sayre
Today we continue the Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep series with a magical essay by author April Pulley Sayre. Thank you, April. My goal in life is to share wonder. My daily life is steeped in mud and toads and wildflowers and adventures in rain forests. So I guess when you ask about how writing and illustrating […]