Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak

Terry Gross has done a very moving Fresh Air interview with Maurice Sendak, author of some of my favorite picture books, including Where the Wild Things Are and In The Night Kitchen. I’d always thought of Sendak as a grumpy old man (in the best way, because I have a soft spot for Grumpy Old Men–like Uncle Philbert), but Gross brought out a wholly new side of him. I found myself actually weeping as they talked. It’s a must listen.   Check it out here.

Sneak Peek: Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth

Poor Little Beaver is worried about losing his Big Front Tooth. Can he be a real beaver without two front teeth? Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth is scheduled for publication in 2012. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover (it’s illustrated by the same artist who did Little Beaver and the Echo, Sara Fox-Davies). It’s scheduled for publication in June 2012 in England.

New Workshop: Writing About Diversity

This writing workshop takes the difficult and abstract topic of diversity and tolerance and helps students to express themselves on the topic and then to create a few short, powerful quotes on the subject. These quotes can be combined with other efforts (using artwork, for example) to celebrate diversity and prevent bullying in a school system.

“Producing a short, memorable quote is basically the same thing as writing a poem,” says Amy. “It requires the writer to take a complex, abstract, idea and reduce it to a few words.”

Amy developed the workshop at the request of a Kennedy Center for the Arts partner in Sarasota, Florida, in conjunction with the international 2011 Embracing Our Differences Exhibit which is held there each year. It is available as a Professional Development or as a student Writing Workshop.