Spring has Sprung! And some BIG announcements!

Happy Spring, everyone!

There's much news to tell.

First of all, Farmer Tantoh Nforba was granted his visa and we are currently on tour! Thank you to EVERYONE who wrote to the Embassy and Ambassadors on his behalf, including Senators Tina Smith, Tammy Baldwin, and Congressperson Mike Gallagher. You can follow some highlights on my Facebook and Twitter pages, and in this Highlights Foundation post. Visiting with tens of thousands of students has been incredible so far!

Secondly, my two spring books have now released. I Am Farmer: Growing an Environmental Movement in Cameroon hit bookshelves in February, and Nine Months: Before a Baby is Born released April 23. 



How exciting that both were very well-received, and Nine Months has received four starred reviews, plus reviews in publications like the Wall Street Journal! Click here to learn more out Nine Months.

Thirdly, I've just heard the news that Little Libraries, Big Heroes (publishing on September 3), is a Junior Library Guild Selection! This is a very special picture book biography about the formation of Little Free Library, and I'm glad to honor the late Todd Bol and his legacy through the publication of this book. Please take some time to read more about it here.

Fourthly, my editorial debut is also this fall! Thanku: Poems of Gratitude is my first official foray into editing a collection of poetry by 32 children's authors and poets. The cover reveal went live this month on the We Need Diverse Books blog, and I'm so glad that the royalties of this book will benefit WNDB. The cover from Marlena Myles is just stunning. I can't wait for this book to reach homes and classrooms on September 3. So much to be grateful for.

Lastly, and certainly a gigantic piece of news, is that I am the newest intern at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency! Erin Murphy Literary Agency is a leading U.S. children's book agency that focuses on connections—between writer and editor, story and reader—as well as on helping clients build their careers and grow as artists. Just take a peek at their client list! I'm honored to get to learn the ropes from a great group of people, and I thank them for welcoming me.

Although some of my agenting duties won't begin until June 3, I'm excited at the opportunity to explore what wearing an agent hat is like.*** All agency-related emails must be sent to intern@emliterary.com, and not my personal email.*** 

***BIG IMPORTANT NOTES: Interns do not acquire clients. Do not send me queries (but you may send donuts). I'm essentially an office assistant, waterboy, paper pusher. Also, other people might read the emails you send me so keep it professional. Also, it's been fun, but I am no longer offering my freelance services in terms of paid critiques or mentorships to avoid conflict of interest. Click here to read more.

I AM FARMER Book Tour Update - Spring 2019

I AM FARMER Book Tour Update - Spring 2019

It's hard to believe the time is almost here for the release of this book! But before that happens,

TANTOH needs your urgent help.

On November 15, 2018, Tantoh Nforba Dieudonne went to the U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon to get his travel visa for the tour. The interviewer, without even looking at a single page of the book or his invitation letter, quickly denied his application, without a refund of any fees paid. Without getting much into details, there is much suspicion that the decision (made by a single officer) is largely due to political situations and prejudices within Cameroon that have nothing to do with the book or Tantoh's fulfillment of the requirements.

The GOOD news is that we can all do something to help. In fact, there are many things we can do. This isn't the first time someone in our industry has been held up by our immigration or border patrol (remember when something similar happened to Mem Fox?), but there is much hope that ordinary citizens can get this overturned in Tantoh's case. Please consider taking a few minutes to do one or more of the items on this list. We can turn a negative story into a positive one, so that Tantoh can still travel to the U.S. and inspire tens of thousands of elementary-aged students that, "No matter where you come from, you are never too small or insignificant to contribute to the long-term sustainability of our planet.”

We can't wait to see those smiling faces when Tantoh walks into gyms across America this spring!

Action items:

• Tweet or post on social media your support for Farmer Tantoh, along with the hashtags #IAmFarmer and #GrantHisVisa
• Share this video about Farmer Tantoh with friends and followers, so they may see the great work he is doing to bring clean drinking water to kids and beautiful gardens to the landscape
• Call, email, or write a letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Henry Barlerin (scroll down for contact info and a letter template)
• Call, email, or write a letter to Cameroonian Ambassador, Mr. Henri Étoundi Essomba ((scroll down for contact info and a letter template)
• Call, email, or write a letter to your U.S. Senators and/or Congresspeople (scroll down for contact info and a letter template)
• Contact your local media to cover the story—especially if you live in WI, PA, VA, MD, CT, NY, WV where Tantoh will be speaking at schools in Spring 2019 for the tour
• Reach out to any of your contacts who might be able to help (e.g. immigration lawyers, government leaders, non-profit organization heads, influencers, celebrities)
• Request an advance NetGalley copy of the book I Am Farmer: Growing an Environmental Movement in Cameroon and leave a review on NetGalley and/or Goodreads to show support
• Donate to Save Your Future Association (SYFA)
• Pre-order a copy of the book (although we hope to overturn the decision, we are concerned that if Tantoh isn't able to travel, it could mean a loss of book sales—a percentage of which is slated to support his charity—so your pre-orders mean more now than ever)
• Contact Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul if you have other ideas to for how to help

Letter Templates and Addresses

(Please feel free to customize or personalize each letter to maximize your impact!)

Sample Letter Template to Ambassadors (click to download MS Word file)

Mr. Henri Étoundi Essomba, Ambassador

Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon 

3007 Tilden Street NW, Suite 5M 

Washington, DC 20008

mail@cameroonembassyusa.org

Phone: (202) 265-8790

Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin

U.S. Embassy Yaoundé

Avenue Rosa Parks / PO Box 817

Yaounde, Cameroon

Phone: (+237) 22220-1500

consularyaounde@state.gov

Sample Letter Template to Senators/Congresspeople (click to download MS Word file)

To find out who your local representatives are, check out this website.

For more about the book, visit this page.

For news about the current political situation in Northwest Cameroon, here is one overview.

Let's turn this story into a positive one.Thank you for your support! Merci beaucoup!

Sincerely,

Baptiste Paul & Miranda Paul, co-authors

Recap of 2017-2018 School Year: Busy With Books!

The 2017-2018 school year was so incredible, it's taken me months to settle down and write about it! Here we go...

In 2017, I had three hilarious fiction picture books published:

Blobfish Throws a Party (illus. Maggie Caton)

Blobfish went on to win several schools' Battle of the Books competitions, and even caught the attention of Scholastic, who ran a Blobfish giveaway! Happy to report it's selling in the US, Canada, and Australia. Available here.

The Great Pasta Escape

(illus. Javier Joaquin)

The Great Pasta Escape won a nomination from the Washington State Childrens' Choice Awards, so it's on the list there. Happy reading! If you're a Washington state teacher or educator and you'd like me to do a Skype author visit with your students, I'd love to (They're FREE!). I'd also be willing to come out there in person—Washington is one state I've not been to yet.

Are We Pears Yet?

(illus. Carin Berger)

In September, Are We Pears Yet? released and it's been really fun to watch some young classrooms act it out. Did you know that my teacher resource page (at mirandapaul.com) has dozens of lessons, activities, and worksheets related to the books? Thanks to the help of Carrie Charley Brown, I was able to get even more resources for educators up on my website over the past year. Enjoy immersing your students in these wonderful extension activities.

UPDATE: Recently, I got the news that Are We Pears Yet? won the Award of Excellence from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries! I posted about it online at my Facebook page.

As usual, I visited many schools and libraries around the country—and world—over the past year. I even got to go as far as the England, Italy, and United Arab Emirates for the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival. Via Skype, I got to visited students from Canada to Hawaii to Tokyo! (So happy to learn that Water is Water is up for a Sakura Medal in Japan, too. Wow!)

This spring, our family also became a two-author household as my husband's debut picture book released into the world to great acclaim. Check out THE FIELD, by Baptiste Paul and illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara.

Later in the spring, my debut co-authored book came out. It's called Adventures to School, and I wrote it with Baptiste. So within the span of a few months, he's got TWO books out. We are certainly busy in this household, but we love making books for kids.

With so much excitement, our family is making plans to take a real camping vacation and a couple of day-trips in July and August. It will be nice to take a little R&R time before we head back out to visit schools in the fall, when my new book releases!

Check out MIA MOVES OUT, a sweet and silly story about a girl finding her place (literally and figuratively) at home. Illustrations by Paige Kaiser. Release date: October 16, 2018.

Looking ahead to next year, I'm already excited. I've got FOUR new picture books coming out.

I AM FARMER - Feb. 1, 2019

NINE MONTHS - April 23, 2019

LITTLE LIBRARIES, BIG HEROES - Fall 2019

THANKU: POEMS OF GRATITUDE - Fall 2019

You can visit my website to learn about them. All four are incredible projects that have been in the making for years and each holds a special place in my heart. I think that teachers, science lovers, and librarians will find them especially relevant for their students as well.

Thanks again for all the support. I probably won't be blogging again this summer. But I do send out a newsletter if you are on my list. If you're not getting my newsletter, please consider it. I post that once per month, as compared to this sorely neglected blog. It's the best way to get news, updates, writing tips, and teacher resources. Here's the link to sign up. 

Happy summer, everyone! See you next school year!

The Paul Family touches hands together in Congo Square (New Orleans).

The Old Boys' English Canon (And How to Change That) by Miranda Paul #KidlitWomen

The Old Boys’ English Canon

By Miranda Paul

Starting March 1st, we’re celebrating Women’s History month with 31 days of posts focused on improving the climate for social and gender equality in the children’s and teens’ industry. Join in the conversation here or Twitter #kidlitwomen and access all the #KidlitWomen posts this month on our FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/kidlitwomen/

I’m a former English teacher. 

On and off for nearly a decade, I had the extraordinary pleasure of digging through school library closets for class sets of titles deemed relevant to a state curriculum for teenage students. Sometimes I got a choice. Here are as many of the “choices” I can remember from the three schools I taught at between 2003-2013.

(I want to note that this is not a commentary on the merits or talent of the authors or titles mentioned.) 

Night by Elie Wiesel

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

1984 by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Othello by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard

The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer

The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

One does not need pie charts to recognize that this list is dominated by male authors. But if you haven’t read the titles on this list, you might not recognize how many of these:

1. Have an all-male (or nearly all-male) cast of characters
2. Have an all-white (or nearly all-white) cast of characters (and are by white authors)
3. Have an all-cis (or arguably all-cis) cast of characters
4. Are historically-set—in politicians’ or royals’ residences, boarding schools, battlefields, or labor camps
5. Include female characters who are non-important side characters, the love-interest, hysterical, sisters/mothers tied to their gender role, societal outcasts, or symbols of evil
6. Were published long, long ago
7. Are lauded as the “best of the best” or “classics” and have won awards, favorable reviews, and literary prizes.

When teaching in between larger novel or drama units, you can imagine how much material I tried to incorporate in my lessons—possibly a futile attempt to balance such numbers. Poems, short stories, nonfiction essays, etc. were the genres I had more choice in selecting, and whenever I had the chance to add in a short story or poem by or about a female or a person of color, I did. But do these short pieces stick with students? Do they carry the same weight as spending weeks discussing a novel or play?

Back when I was a high school student, I went through my high school career without having to read a single female-authored novel or play for class. (Sadly, I couldn’t even imagine reading a book at school with an ENTIRE cast of females, or a book by or about a non-binary person or LGBQTIA content.) Even in middle school, the only female-authored book we read as a class was Lois Lowry’s The Giver—which features a male protagonist. We spent a lot of time on Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, which left me hungry and it’s probably why I spent all of my babysitting money on Lurlene McDaniel and Diane Hoh series books, and read a tattered copy of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan twice before graduating high school.

Now that I have two middle graders, things are better, right? Here are the class reads they’ve come home with so far:

Holes by Louis Sachar

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Petey by Ben Mikaelsen

While I’m relieved they still do individual choice reading in middle school, I don’t have to do the math for you on the all-class reads. And although they read a wide array of contemporary novels by and about women (especially women of color) at home, the fact is that what gets presented to them in school is (consciously or unconsciously) interpreted as notable by society as a whole. More academic. More literary. Better. Important. And these titles get thought about, discussed, studied, written about, and absorbed by our students—who then grow up to become our society and form its culture and rules, both written and unwritten. What does this imbalance tell our girls? Or, perhaps of more consequence, what does it tell our boys?

What really baffles me is that I’ve only ever had one male English teacher throughout middle and high school. Truly, it’s females telling their students that these all-male (mostly white cis male) books comprise the literary canon worth a lot of our time and study.

Are you an English Language Arts teacher? What can you do about this?

1. Do the math. Take a look through your Department’s cupboard. Statistics are power.
2. Speak up. If your collection is lacking in representation for women, especially women of color. Whether that’s speaking up to your administration or your students, ask them what they think? Maybe this can become a topic for the next 5-paragraph essay you assign.
3. Make a case for new books. Choose contemporary. Choose diversity. Read the other KidLitWomen posts for an awesome array of titles you might want to plead for. (And, if budgetary restraints are an issue, don’t forget that the We Need Diverse Books Scholastic Flyer offers low-cost paperback versions of many diverse books. There’s also crowdfunding, and children’s authors are some of the most generous contributors to teachers’ Kickstarter and GoFundMe campaigns.)
4. Supplement, supplement, supplement. If you’re locked into a set curriculum of novels or longer works, but have choices for smaller pieces of literature or mini-units in between, choose works by women (especially women of color), or transgender and intersex authors.

Although smaller works don’t always get as much time or attention, the right poem at the right time could have a big impact on the right kid. Just like Marcie Hans’s “Fueled” opened my 14-year-old eyes with its words that completely related to a girl with almost no friends but a big love of nature.

Fueled

Fueled

by a million

man-made

wings of fire-

the rocket tore a tunnel

through the sky-

and everybody cheered.

Fueled

only by a thought from God-

the seedling

urged its way

through thicknesses of black-

and as it pierced

the heavy ceiling of the soil-

and lauched itself

up into outer space -

no

one

even

clapped.

--Marcie Hans

Now that I’m the author of several environmentally-themed and poetic books for children, it’s astonishing to look back on small moments like this. If you’re a #KidLitWoman, you already know how tiny moments of inspiration were all we girls had to grab on to. 

Let’s change that.

(Action item: Please comment below, sharing a title of an MG/YA novel by and/or featuring female protagonists that would make a good all-class read for kids in grades 7-12.)

On Stories, Sugar, and Being Disinvited

I rarely blog these days, but there is a story I've kept in my head for too long.

For years, I told myself I'd tell this story in public. One day. When I had the time. Or opportunity. Or courage. I don't know why I've held onto it for so long, but this morning, when Isatou Ceesay messaged me a series of photos, I knew it was time to share.

This week's news from Phil Bildner and Kate Messner, plus this past post by Meg Medina, and the photos mentioned above have cumulatively unlocked it. Thank you, Phil, Kate, and Meg, for helping me find courage and make the time. Here goes.

Nearly a decade ago, before I'd even sold my first book, I was working as an advocate for fair trade groups. Isatou Ceesay, the founder of a women's recycling cooperative in Njau, Gambia, was making a trip to the United States. I was tasked with finding her venues where she could share her amazing humanitarian, environmental, and women's empowerment projects, and perhaps solicit a few donations. (Anyone who has worked in the nonprofit or development sectors know how important securing funding can be.)

With the help of friends, I lined up a YWCA women's luncheon talk, as well as a youth group chat at my church and then a similar talk at another church. She arrived to the US, and the first two speaking engagements went well. When I got to the third church, a place I'd never been, things changed. Upon arrival, the Pastor told me she "needed a word" and led me up a narrow staircase to an office inside what I can only describe as a dimly-lit attic.

The Pastor closed the door. I swallowed. She pulled up my blog page on her computer screen, turned to me and said, "What is THIS?"

I blinked. I felt like a fifth-grader who'd been staring out the window and suddenly finds herself being called on by the teacher. What was what?

My confusion must have been obvious, because the Pastor pressed on. She scrolled up and down the page, reading it out loud. It was a post in which I had shared an event link from a local interfaith group. It had the details for an Eid celebration in a nearby city, inviting local people to attend the feast. My stomach began to knot up as I feared where this conversation was going.

"What is this Islamist stuff you promote? Are you Islamist? I just don't know if I can have your presentation in my church today." My chest tightened as she spoke. I felt trapped, unsafe. I feared for Isatou, who was waiting downstairs, alone.

The Pastor faced me directly. "I need to know that you have Jesus Christ in your heart," she said. "Or we can't continue. And I can't ask my congregation to donate anything."

I had a flashback to elementary school—when we learned about how our school, Holy Martyrs of Gorcum, got its name. I wondered what that last moment felt like for those martyrs, being questioned by an angry stranger who lacked the capacity to accept those who were different. I considered standing up and walking out, or giving her a piece of my mind. But downstairs was the leader of a charity I'd become passionate about, which needed the money this church had pledged to donate. I was also in charge of keeping Isatou, a Muslim, safe during her stay in my city. I was young, and wholly intimidated.

I fumbled through responding to the Pastor. I let her know that I was Catholic, and that our presentation contained no religion—Isatou's or mine—and that it was simply a recap of the efforts she was spearheading, especially recycling, helping young mothers, and sending local children to school. I told her that my blog would continue to showcase all kinds of multicultural events in our area, that I didn't help others because they were Christian, and how peace, justice, and acceptance of many cultures and religions were important to me.

I don't remember how many minutes passed, but finally she opened the door. I breathed out. We went downstairs. Isatou gave her presentation (without knowing any of this), and I listened to that Pastor deliver the angriest homily I've ever heard (she even threw VHS video tapes on the ground). After the service, we were given pastries and everyone mingled politely. I came to realize that a majority of those who attended this "newly founded" church were people who were vulnerable or impressionable in some way. Some had mental or physical disabilities, while others had experienced trauma or illness or were living in poverty. Some were either very young or very old. Many shared stories of how they wanted to belong. I began to boil inside at the feeling that this pastor was manipulating them down a path of hatred—both self-hatred and hatred of others.

I took the check, cashed it for Isatou's charity (which ended up sponsoring a few school children), and never looked back. I don't know why I kept this story mostly to myself for so long. Embarrassment, perhaps? This woman, and the kind of church she runs, aren't all that rare where I live. Heck, I'm related to people with similar fears and beliefs. I'm so tired from always being the activist, that sometimes I find ignoring things to be my way of self-care. It's not excusable. It's privilege. I know and acknowledge that.

Although I was only questioned, and not actually disinvited like Kate or Phil or Meg, this story matters because it's communities like mine whose children need to hear the messages of unity, empathy, and universality. Whose children need windows, not only mirrors. Whose children (and adults) need diverse stories and speakers to come and share their work at our libraries.

This morning, Isatou Ceesay messaged me photos. They were of burlap sacks of sugar, and dozens of smiling faces distributing it. She sent captions with a thank you, because I share royalties from One Plastic Bag with the women of Njau. Because of the book's recent successes, families across the village who rarely can afford to buy sugar now have enough for the entire month of Ramadan.

Sugar.
Think about it.

With this round of money, they bought sugar. Something I have four pounds of sitting in my cupboard at any given time. After 18 years of doing important and amazing work for our earth, they're still using their income to buy basic necessities. Every time a school, church, library, or store sells One Plastic Bag, there is a direct benefit for the women.

But there's more—the kids and grown-ups who read it gain something, too. I have witnessed a spark in students who want to help organize clean-ups. There have been individuals who are inspired to make a difference in their own communities, some even starting petitions or seeking new legislation. The fears that hearing an inspiring story about a Muslim woman will brainwash or convert people or that funding her charity might be linked to terrorism are all completely ridiculous. There is so much positivity and progress that comes out of stories like One Plastic Bag—and through books like George, The Seventh Wish, and Yacqui Delgado.

Growing up, I hid the alcoholism that plagued our family. I felt ashamed by it, othered by it, and that it was inappropriate for a family like mine to be in a story—even though I know that there are many, many families in my area who deal with similar situations. As a child, I was never handed a book in which a character or their family dealt with addiction or alcoholism, and still to this day I find myself wanting to erase parts of my childhood, and I'm often unable or unwilling to talk about it.

Even writing this blog post and hitting 'publish' was hard. Will a school disinvite me because of it? I hope not, but it is a concern I share with many authors who increasingly don't get to enjoy a separation of personal life and business that employees in other industries do.

Administrators, teachers, and librarians have a lot of choices to make. I am not here to tell anyone how to do their job. But as my 10-year-old daughter put it yesterday, "It should be up to us, and maybe our parents, to decide what we read. We can handle it. We're not stupid. Reading about tough stuff helps us figure out what to do when we're faced with those things. Or it shows us we're not alone."

Oh, how I love that girl. And how I love children's authors. I wonder if parents, teachers, and administrators understand how much time, thought, and heartstrings are poured into the kinds of books that are winning awards in children's literature today. I hope this post helps people understand how their silence and censorship directly impacts society at large, especially the youngest of our citizens.

Most importantly, I hope this post might show readers how their voice and support can uplift others and lead us all in a more loving, inclusive direction.

Speak up.

One Plastic Bag named a 2016 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young Readers

Growing up, I didn't really like social studies (other than geography, thanks to my fifth grade teacher). I considered history boring and full of dates and wars and people I couldn't relate to. 

Today's educational materials, especially books, are changing how history is presented, and who is included. Thank goodness.

It is surprising to reflect on how I felt about social studies growing up, and realizing that now I have two books with Lerner Publishing Group shelved in the social studies section (Whose Hands Are These? and One Plastic Bag).



So today's news—that One Plastic Bag was named a 2016 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People—is surely a surprise, but also an honor. 

Teachers, please introduce yourself to the wonderful books and authors on this list — they will engage your most reluctant readers or history-haters (like me) and bring nonfiction to life.

http://www.cbcbooks.org/2015-notable-social-studies-trade-books-for-young-people/

Also, please check out the Library of Congress's archived video of Isatou's and my presentation at the Young Reader's Center in Washington, D.C.

#WeNeedDiverseBooks - Campaign May 1-May 3

Please don't ask us
(with surprised eyes)
where on Earth and how we met,
as though we are a phenomenon.
We are not the only family
that looks like this.
P.S. My 5-year-old would love it
if strangers stopped touching
his hair.

There's been a big conversation going on about diversity in publishing lately.

Regardless of what you look like, which religion you practice (or don't practice), or the country you live in or come from, this is not just an issue for 'people of color' or 'minority' authors.

This is an EVERYONE issue.

Diversity builds understanding and empathy. 

Our world could use more understanding and empathy.

What my daughter
is reading right now

I hope I've got your interest. I'm sure you know that this issue has had me interested for awhile (heck, I'm part of the group that got the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks started - and you can meet all the great people here).

There are a lot of readers, writers, teens, parents, kids, and teachers on board who really see the genuine need for books to have both "windows and mirrors."

The question is: What do we do about the lack of diversity in children's books? Or, how do we help boost the visibility of some already great books out there on the market - ones that aren't getting the promotion they deserve?





Well, first, let's make some noise.

I hope you'll participate in the #WeNeedDiverseBooks discussion. It's already begun unofficially (Trending on Twitter! Veronica Roth, Laurie Halse Anderson, and John Green have tweeted in!), but we have official events going on May 1 - May 3, 2014.

Here's the site where you can learn a whole lot more:

http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/

P.S. I promise a longer post on my thoughts on diversity and #kidlit when I get a chance to slow down and write them out.

Thank you to authors, agents, and publishers
who are putting books like these on the shelves.

Worldly Wednesday: Hungry, Happy Ramadan

This month's online Highlights newsletter includes two Muslim pieces.  One is a Ramadan Mosaic craft, the other a narrative about the daily Ramadan routine of one Muslim family in Oman. 

Since I've edited a few children's books for Muslim authors who say that there are few markets who will publish works about or containing Islam, I thought I would share a link to "Hungry, Happy Ramadan."

http://www.highlightskids.com/Stories/NonFiction/NF1102_happyRamadan.asp?ccid=EMC-1000-1001304

Ramadan begins at the beginning of next month and will last approx. until the 29th of August.

New Additions to Our Home

Recently we welcomed two new ones into the family!  No, I didn't have more kids...we adopted two kittens in need of a good home.

Welcome to our home, Rosella (Zella) and Doggy!

Obviously, we let our children pick out the names.  Our two-year-old insisted, laughing, that his kitty would be named "doggy."  So we let it be.  Who knows, maybe a future picture book?

We're having a great time with our new furry friends, and I enjoy the late-night companionship when I'm writing or curled up with a book.  We'll see how I am in a few weeks when it's time to remove hair from the couches...

Do you have pets?  Are they named for other animals?  Or did your children come up with other creative names for them?  I want to hear!  Post your comment by clicking below!