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

Telluride Visit!

Just got back from a beautiful-beyond-words trip to Telluride!

Rode a little plane over the Rockies to get there... breath-taking views... snow-topped mountains and hillsides covered with bright yellow aspens.


Such amazing and enthusiastic teens and teen librarians (Alyssa in the middle and Sarah in yellow on right) at the Telluride Library! Oh, how I wish I lived there so I could swing by to say hi every day!  What a cozy, wonderful community.

Wined and dined at a magnifique French restaurant with librarians and teachers and community leaders...

Everyone did such a fantastic job generating excitement about my visit! Here's a bulletin board at the school...

Some of the talented high school girls who attended the Friday afternoon writing workshop...

Here's a cool little fantasy/sci fi nook in the high school library... wish I had a little refuge like this when I was in high school... I would have curled up there and never left!

I stayed at a cute B and B, right downtown next to a river trail, where I walked every day (while dreaming of living here)...

Couldn't get enough of those quivering aspens...


For my Saturday writing workshop at the library, some of these teens took a two hour van ride to get there! I was honored.  They were all brilliant writers, I discovered...

The fabulous librarian and blog reviewer Di (of Genrefluent), who I'd corresponded with online and was absolutely *thrilled* to meet in person!  What a treat. (And she drove two hours each way, too...)  

These gorgeous girls stopped by the library on Saturday before going to their Homecoming dance.  I was so touched!

Here I am with a couple cool readers at the multicultural celebration on Saturday night... I did a presentation on "Transcending Borders."  I was so happy to have such an exuberant audience-- about half of the people there were native Spanish speakers (my talk was simultaneously translated into Spanish via headsets)... Everyone had lots to contribute... One family there was from Oaxaca!  They spoke Chinanteco, one of the eighteen indigenous languages spoken in Oaxaca.  Needless to say,  I was over the moon to chat with them (in Spanish... I don't speak Chinantecto- -maybe one day!)  It was such an honor to be part of this community celebration-- many connections were made that evening-- what great energy...

Two of the geniuses behind the celebration--  Sarah the super-hero librarian on the left and Emo the community non-profit community organizer goddess on the right.  I was so impressed with how they got nearly everyone in town excited about my books... Several times as I was walking down the street, some kids called out, "Hi Laura Resau!"  And they even knew how to pronounce my last name. ;)

Before my plane left on Sunday, I took a ride up the mountain in a free gondola. Stunning views...


 Here's the town of Telluride through the gondola window...

And here it is when I was almost to the top... (yes, I was a wee bit nervous, dangling alone in the air at 10,000 feet...)

Thank you, Telluride, for an incredibly memorable and special visit!  I'll be back!!

xo

Laura 

My other fun Chicago school visit

Hey everyone!

I've been traveling and doing more school visits lately... and now I've got a backlog of photos.  I've been meaning to post these pics from my visit to Lloyd Elementary in Chicago last month.  I had a blast with these kids!

Here we all are...

These shots were taken later, during writing activities inspired by my presentation.  Don't you love the intense concentration?  It's the look of getting lost in the world you're creating...

And here are some of the cool cards they made  me, which feature characters from Red Glass... (you'll have to tilt your head sideways-- for some reason, my computer rotated the images... go figure!)

Thanks for a wonderful time at Lloyd-- I loved your energy and enthusiasm!

I still have some IRA photos to post from Chicago... so many exciting things happened that week, I'm *still* trying to catch up!  And meanwhile, this past week I've had some more fun school and bookstore visits in Maryland-- I'll post those pics soon, too.

I'm going to sign off now and get some tea and delve into Scumble by my talented friend Ingrid Law.  This is the sequel to Savvy, which I've been anticipating for a long time! (It's a review copy-- the book officially comes out in August, I think.)  So far it's a scrumptious read.

xoxo
Laura

Chicago School Visits (finally!)

Hey everyone,

I did lots of fun events in Chicago a couple weeks ago... and I've been meaning to post these pics ever since then!  One of my school visits was to the eighth graders of Bateman, who read Red Glass.  What an incredible visit-- I loved the teachers and students I met, and was blown away by their enthusiasm.  It's such a joy doing school visits like this, where the students have thought really deeply about the book and connected with it in so many interesting ways.

Delicious taco lunch with students...

The teacher, Mrs. Tellez, worked with university professor and author Steve Wolks to put together phenomenal activities to go with Red Glass.  (Steve is writing a book for educators on using literature in the classroom to explore social issues, and Red Glass will be featured in the chapter on global social issues.  I can't wait to read this book, and I'm sure I'll be recommending it heartily, based on seeing his ideas at work in the classroom.)  Here's a smattering of some of the activities displayed on the eight-grade classroom walls-- the first involves writing about memories:

They also did some interesting extension activities-- one involved learning more about the genocide in the former Yugoslavia and Guatemala.  And they took the international theme a step farther by talking about journeys they'd like to make... 

Inspired by the poetry that Sophie reads to Pablo and Angel on the roadtrip, students wrote their own journey poems:

And another poetry activity, to encourage students to make connections with poetry outside the book:

Here's another fun activity:

Not surprisingly, many students picked the scene in the world's most disgusting bathroom! ;)

I love seeing readers' visual interpretations of characters and scenes-- so much fun!

Hehehe! 

Here I am with the teacher, Mrs. Tellez, who put so much energy into making the Red Glass reading experience special for her students!  I'm grateful to her and Steve Wolks for letting me share their activities with you all...

Before Chicago, I was in Michigan for an event at Schuler Books (a great indie bookstore), I did a library presentation to a fabulous audience of avid readers and book clubbers.  Here I am with some teens from the library's teen group and the genius behind it all, librarian Mary Hennessey.  The world has some pretty spectacular teen librarians in it... and I'm lucky enough to meet a lot of them!  And the teen readers were so smart and funny and insightful... it was lovely having dinner with them after the presentation.

 I also did another fun school visit in Chicago, and had a lovely day with folks at the IRA conference-- I'll share those pics in my next post-- time to get Lil  Dude dressed and ready for his day now!

xoxo
Laura

Nebraska, Teen Lit Conference, Bookies...

Irena, Emma, Ruta, me, and Krista at my signing at Bookies in Denver

Hey everyone,

I've had an eventful week! I was in Blair, Nebraska for middle and high school visits-- had a great time there. Such nice people... Here I am with Anne and Dianne, librarians extraordinaire from the high school.


Check out this lovely display in the library...


I love feeling welcomed to a school with creative displays-- what a treat...


Here's a close up of the jewels-- cool, huh?


Pretty flowers...


And there's nothing better than being greeted with a six-foot-tall painting of your book cover! Here I am with middle school librarian Kris, who set up this whole wonderful visit...


Here's the artistic, book-lovin' man, Lynn-- a former English teacher-- who created this masterpiece!


Just after I got back from Nebraska, I had the Colorado Teen Lit Conference on Saturday in Denver. I got to hang out with the lovely Ellen Hopkins (of Impulse, Crank, etc fame...) and Matt de la Pena (Mexican White Boy, Ball Don't Lie, We Were Here-- he gave a fantastic, hilarious keynote, and he's a Delacorte author like me.) Here I am with Matt and Ellen...


I was on a panel with my good friend Todd Mitchell and some other fantastic authors who I was happy to finally meet! Here I am with Todd, who is very witty-- always cracks me up-- and he often waxes philosophical about writing-- I love hearing him quote the native American shaman Black Elk as he discusses how writers must enact our visions upon the earth (or something along those lines...) So true!


Todd Mitchell's next book coming in June-- it is SOOOOOO good! I've read an early draft, and I can't wait to read the final version...


Becca Fitzpatrick was another fabulous panelist-- I was so thrilled to meet her-- turns out we both live in Ft Collins and have boys the same age. It was especially exciting to hear that she, like me, watched Romancing the Stone a hundred times as a kid, and that it inspired her, too, to become a writer. And actually, once I thought about it, I realized I have had crazy bus adventures in Latin America, kinda like Kathleen Turner did... minus, of course, the alligators and emeralds and Michael Douglas... but it's funny to see some parallels. I didn't actually make this connection until I heard Becca talking about it on the panel!


Amy Efaw was another super-friendly and smart panelist-- she wrote After, which I'm really looking forward to reading-- I've heard it's an amazingly well-executed book. It's about a teen who throws her baby in a Dumpster... yet Amy manages to make you feel for the main character, despite the horrific act.


Tucker Shaw was the fifth panelist-- also a fascinating and nice person. I can't wait to read his newest book-- check out the pretty cover. I love the golden light. And there's a great story behind his inspiration for this book, involving another book (of poetry) slipping from the shelf into his hand as he was dusting... sweet serendipity!


Okay, that's all for now! Must get ready for the week ahead, which includes two school visits in Boulder... we're in the thick of school visit season now. Lots of fun, but very busy. I love going to Boulder-- I always stock up on exotic teas from the Boulder Teahouse and buy something cool at the second-hand shop downtown...

xoxo,
Laura