That Was Then... This Is Now

I was privileged to visit the delightfully treed, copiously gardened, wonderfully architectured, hidden away gem called CA (Colorado Academy) for two days this week to meet, greet and teach kiddoes from itty bitty Pre-K's (My gosh tiny human beings are cute!) up to fifth graders.

The first day was full of assemblies, storytelling and workshops and the second day was full of creative writing workshops with excited, involved, engaged and FUN students!

I love the energy children bring to writing! It is SO much fun to work with their ideas of WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and WHAT and to mold it into a fun picture book stories while they buzz about the room coming up with VERBS that will activate the sentences and story!  There is nothing more refreshing that seeing something appear out of a child's imagination and then to see it bloom and flourish into a story someone might actually want to read in a book!  Magical this job of mine!

FIVE years ago I visited CA for the first time and wished I could go back to school.

It was a beautiful Autumn day and we all decided to do some pictures.  I took a picture with the little children pictured and was presented with a great photograph to remember the day by.  

As I was going through my bulging school files over the summer I came across this picture and thought it would be fun for the folks at CA to see the kids as they were "back in the day" and my host, the AWESOME Allison Peters (librarian), set out to find them to take another picture.  Only one was not at the school any longer.  
 

SO, that was then... 

This is NOW! 

I would say for the first time in a photograph in a long time, I am the least changed of all.  That is a nice thing when the days, weeks, months and years seem to slip by.

Perhaps I'll catch up with them again in five years when they are in their last year at CA.  Now that will be some picture, huh?

A Librarian's Lament

I just got back from the library, where I am using old school tools (the best kind, real books made out of paper products) to research my upcoming Gargoyle book. I found one book I really liked, but sadly the last person to check it out must have been eating Cheetos while using it, because there were so many orange finger prints on the tops of the pages, that I got a bit grossed out and decided to buy it instead.




Anyway, it got me to thinking about a poster I made with John Woods Jr. and one of my favorite librarians in the whole world (Wendy Jo Woody) some years ago when we were promoting our first poetry book in elementary schools, There's A Fly On My Toast!, and I thought I would post the poster here for all to see.



Click on the image and it will get big enough to read well.
IF you like it, please feel free to use it, especially in a library!

Here is the text to the poem, since the image seems a bit small to read:



A LIBRARIAN’S LAMENT

I spend so much time selecting books.

Those special one’s that make kids look,

“I LOVE TO READ! THESE BOOKS ARE GREAT!

PLEASE ORDER MORE. I JUST CAN’T WAIT!”

And yet, sometimes, I become disturbed.

The way they treat books gets me perturbed.

When I look down in the book return,

what I see there can make me burn!

This book has water damage, torn pages, too!

The spine is loose! Oh, where’s my glue?

And right there damaged is another

“That wasn’t me, that was my brother!

He used it once to stop the door.”

The whole book’s bent, and here’s one more…

“The dog chewed it, then the dog got sick.

Puked on this book. Oh, yuck! Oh, ick!”

“I was eating lunch, my sandwich fell

into the book, so hence the smell.”

Salami in a book’s just not good.

They don’t treat ‘em the way they should.

Look, someone’s written in this book,

“I was taking notes and didn’t look…

Oh, by the way, that book won’t float,

I tried it out with my bathtub boat!”

How did this one happen? I must ask twice.

The pages are warped, no longer nice.

“I was balancing it upon my head,

to see if I was poised, but instead,

the book fell off and landed hard,

into my muddy, snowy yard.”

SO PLEASE, DEAR STUDENT, HEED MY ADVICE,

CHECK THE BOOK OUT, BUT TREAT IT NICE.

A BOOK IS TO BE READ, NOT EATEN BY DOGS.

A BOOK IS TO BE PONDERED, NOT SUBMERGED LIKE FROGS.

A DAMAGED BOOK IS SAD INDEED,

“TAKE CARE OF ME”, I HEAR THEM PLEAD.

IT’S NOT A BALL TO USE IN PLAY,

IT’S NOT A TABLE FOR FOOD TO LAY,

IT’S NOT FOR BATHTUBS OR WATER AT ALL,

IT SHOULD NOT BE TORN, PLEASE HEAR MY CALL.

TAKE CARE OF THIS PRECIOUS BOOK,

SO OTHER STUDENTS CAN HAVE A LOOK.

HANDLE IT LIKE IT WAS YOUR OWN,

PLEASE DON’T MAKE THE LIBRARIAN GROAN.

I GUESS I’VE SAID WHAT I WANTED TO,

BE NICE TO THESE BOOKS, OR I’LL BE BLUE.