It seems like I have been non-stop traveling...because I have! I've been fortunate to be invited to visit many schools this spring, lately in Ohio and Texas. They've been wonderful visits, where lovely librarians have introduced me to the wonders of Metro MintWater:
(Really, this stuff is amazing. I am on a search to find it on the east coast!)Also, I was given the BEST complimentary gift to give to an author, an assortment of post-it notes in its own case:
(Oh, why did I not have you 6 months ago when I was revising my novel?)And I met the greatest bunch of students, including some Chinese-American twins!
(Ling and Ting, here I come!)But, one of my favorite parts of visiting schools is seeing how the teachers and librarians have used my books in the classroom.
Here, students researched the meaning of the Chinese zodiac animals (inspired by Year of the Dog):
Younger students wrote their own fortunes:
(One of my favorite ones read "Dogs gaurd you.")And gave Olvina different identities:
(Olvina as a karate master! Have to love that, maybe if then she wouldn't be such a chicken. Ha ha.)Many classes studied the similes that I wrote in The Year of the Dog. This I found particularly intriguing as I have been thinking about adding a Simile Workshop in my repertoire of presentations.
I particularly enjoyed this collection of student illustrated Year of the Dog similes:
Aren't those great? I keep taking photos and notes of everything, hoping to update the activities section of my website. But I haven't gotten around to it...I've been traveling too much!