Literary Weavings

Hello dear readers!

Hope your Thanksgiving was full of good company and good food-- ours was!  I just got back from an action-packed trip to Madison, WI, and then Orlando for two fun conferences... more about those later....  Now, I want to share this very cool literary weaving activity that superstar reading specialist Sandra Kowalczyk used with her middle schoolers while reading Red Glass.

Me with the weaving on display:



Here's Sandy's description:

Inspired by woven textiles and carpets from Oaxaca, Mexico, where the novel Red Glass takes place, students collaboratively created a literary weaving.  Each student designed a strip of repeated symbols, colors, and quotes from  Red Glass to capture significant images and themes from the book.  Then students wove the strips together.

Close up:


Pics of Oaxacan women weaving (photos taken by Sandy on a trip she took to Oaxaca) along with a photo of the students actually weaving their strips together:


Sandy and me in front of another amazingly creative display she made with her class (this one features all my books!):


Here's another shot so you can see the parts covered up in the last pic.  Some of the absolutely delightful touches include The Indigo Notebook and The Ruby Notebook in spiral bound notebook form, plane tickets with Zeeta's flight info, first from Thailand to Ecuador, then from Ecuador to France!), a little pretend Rumi book (with a Rumi quote inside!), maps galore, Zeeta's passport, an Andean alpaca sweater, photos from Ecucador... Needless to say, I was completely blown away!

*Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them!*

I love, love, love, when teachers and librarians do such creative things with my books.  It's such a joy for me!  Sandy's enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone at the school (Patrick Marsh Middle School in Wisconsin)... Her wonderful colleagues and students were bursting with great energy.  During the two (!) delicious Mexican-themed lunches they served me, I heard kids' and teachers' great comments and questions on Red Glass, The Indigo Notebook,  and Star in the Forest. Thank you guys!  I loved hearing about your connections to my books!

xoxo
Laura