Extraordinary School

 I just had the most amazing school visit at Hamlin School in San Francisco. It's an all girls' school, begun by Sara Dix Hamlin in 1896. The school is in an old mansion full of amazing rooms. That built-in cabinet in the upper left corner of my collage is part of the school secretary's room! Full-on fake bamboo ceiling, too. And the horse? A huge student mural, hanging right in the main hall.

 The Head, Wanda Holland Greene, is incredible. When she was six years old, her father and mother decided she should be one of several children to integrate a school in the New York. Everyday she climbed on a bus and went to an all-white, Jewish neighborhood from her home in Brooklyn. She's energetic, direct, and determined to pass on to the girls the values of being an engaged citizen.

Ms. Greene wanted me to especially talk about Marching for Freedom. Here's what the girls were studying when I came: sixth graders were discussing freedom and personal rights, and the challenges of migrant farm worker families. Seventh grade: social class and identity, and will soon discuss Jim Crow era. Eighth graders: about to do a long unit on race and identity, and look at Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

These students will have such a rich understanding of history and social justice.

United Nations International School visit, lovely shout-outs for Marching

I had a blast at the United Nations International School last week, invited by librarian Lisa Moore. Jim Hoover, the Viking designer I've done three books with, appeared with me and we tag-teamed the kids. For the K-2 group I talked about putting together a book, read one of my picture books, then with enthusiastic participation by the kids we wrote a story all together. Jim drew the pictures: fast, furious, and full of character. So much fun. Here are Jim's quick sketches:

Then Jim and I talked to third through fifth graders about putting together Marching for Freedom. We were in the library, with a great book display of my books. That's Lisa Moore in the upper left corner. Isn't that the most book-rich library you've seen in awhile? And in the middle of the kids coming and going and working at tables, Lisa is a calm center at her desk.

I explained how Martin Luther King and President Johnson worked together behind the scenes and got this question: "Was that president black or white?" The student was too young to have been dancing in the streets with the rest of us just over a year ago. Change does happen, in unexpected ways.

The third group, sixth through eight graders, were incredibly savvy. It was wonderful to talk to an international group of kids.

Good news: Marching for Freedom was featured in several book round-ups for Black History Month: USA Today, and The Washington Post. In addition to being on  Best Books for Young Adults and Notable Children's Books lists, Marching made the  International Reading Association 2010 Notable Books for a Global Society. Mitalia Perkins is also on the list for her new book, Secret Keepers, and has an excellent blog post on the award and the twenty-five books which got a shout-out. I'm honored to be in such great company!

St. Francis de Sales school visit

I just had the most awesome school visit at St. Francis de Sales in Sherman Oakes (part of metropolitan Los Angeles). Everyone was terrific. Kind, helpful staff, lots of volunteer parents, and the greatest kids. They were spunky and full of energy -- clearly they've been given lots of support in creative writing, thinking, and speaking up. And my new projector worked just fine -- thanks to all the Gods of Tech for this miracle!

The only group I was a little bit nervous about was my first presentation: 100K-1-2 kids in the auditorium. those auditoriums can be really tough -- they're big, can be noisy, and sometimes it's hard to keep the little wigglers paying attention. But I read one of my books, Pig's Eggs, and we talked about the story, and then using a white board, we brainstormed a story about a dog who felt unloved. We came up with a repetitive phrase "No, no, no!" as he tried to get attention, then became, "Oh, no!" and at the happy ending, "Yes, yes, yes!" 100 enthusiastic kids yelling out "Yes, yes, yes," in the auditorium. Delightful.

To mellow everyone back out, I read my short goodnight book, Moon Glowing, and sent them off.

With the older kids I showed slides of photos from my biographies and talked about my writing process, and the people I did the biographies on, and used a couple of really cool photos as prompts to get them to do a quick write. Just to get the idea that nothing is perfect when you start. In the immortal words of Bruce Coville (who had just been here two years earlier), "Barf on the page." Always good advice, no matter where you are in the writing process.