Greetings book lovers! I am excited to be back at LA Times Book Festival for the 4th time. The festival is Saturday and Sunday, April 22nd and 23rd at the University of Southern California in Los Angles. You will not really get to meet Bummer the bighorn sheep! But a full-size replica of a bighorn sheep will be ready to meet readers of all ages. Come visit my booth and purchase your personalized autographed copies of all my books. Plus, don’t forget to bring a camera/phone

Do you remember the first time you read one of Dr Suess’s beloved books? Perhaps it was The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham that mesmerized you with its whimsical rhymes and words. Right now my favorite is the Lorax. Every year on March 2nd, we take a moment to celebrate this master storyteller on what would have been his 113th birthday! Whether it's your own memories or creating new ones with your family, find ways to honor the creativity, fun, and joy that is all thi

A couple of days ago I woke up to a snowy world outside. All through the day it snowed off and on. It left a blanket of snow all over the yard. Here in Boise, when it snows it generally melts off by the end of the day. Not so with this snow it has stayed. Two days later it was snowing again. It was so beautiful to sit here looking out the window and watching as the snow lazily fell out of the sky. The whole world looks softer as if I am looking through a gauzy curtain. I

I have just finished my newest book and it has gone through the editing process by JoEllen Claypool. Now it is in the proofing stage, back to my home so we can go over it again with a fine tooth comb before we send it in for publishing. This process has been very exciting, fun and a builder of ‘Background Knowledge’ for me as an author. It is designed around introducing 12 Christmas Picture Books to be read as a family throughout the Christmas Holidays. I put in background

My passion is to instill an awareness and knowledge in parents, extended family, teachers, home school community and anyone participating in the children’s journey of becoming lifelong readers. From my email blog on “Helping Children Become Lifelong Readers, I wrote, “Many times parents cease to read to their children after the children learn to read. It is extremely important to still take time for these type of reading aloud sessions. Children’s listening vocabulary is mu

Because my passion is to instill an awareness and knowledge in parents, extended family, teachers, home school community and anyone participating in the children’s journey of becoming lifelong readers, I want to talk a little about Family Read Aloud Sessions. From my email blog on “Helping Children become Lifelong Readers”, I wrote, “Taking the time to read aloud to your children 15 minutes a day is one of the most important activities you will do for them. Think about it, j

READING ALOUD 15 MINUTES A DAY is one of the most important activities you can do with your babies. I have two baby great grandchildren in my family one is about 6 months old and the other one is just a few weeks old. We can see the physical development that is occurring in both of these babies. What is not quite so evident but just as important is their brain development. Of course, one of the best to help that brain develop is reading aloud to them. In fact you can even

This year, President Biden proclamation reads: “Each February, National Black History Month serves as both a celebration and a powerful reminder that Black history is American history, Black culture is American culture, and Black stories are essential to the ongoing story of America — our faults, our struggles, our progress, and our aspirations. Shining a light on Black history today is as important to understanding ourselves and growing stronger as a Nation as it has ever b

November is National Navtive American Heritage Month. When I received this information by messenger from my publicist Peggy Washburn, I was inundated with a ton of memories. In 1972 I was hired by the Blackfoot School District to work as a Team Leader in a Federal Program initiated by Idaho State University. Our lab site was to be The Fort Hall Elementary School, which was located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. I was the team leader of 5 interns completing their c

Everyone, even we adults, can enjoy reading a good picture book. The older students can benefit from books such as biography picture books. They can get the same background knowledge from a picture book as they get from an encyclopedia and have a lot more fun while reading. A picture book speaks to our visual sense and our hearing sense. I would like to encourage you to try these books with your older students. Let them choose what they want to read from a wide variety of