Join me at the PTO Today Virtual Expo on September 30

PTO parent groups, teachers, home schoolers and educators: I–and a group of my fellow children’s book authors–have an actual “booth” at this PTO expo. If you want to find out about author visits in the Age of Covid, I urge you to attend (it’s free) and find out what’s available for your school, home school, or home teaching “pod”. Sept. 30. https://www.facebook.com/events/2362323604073181

Virtual Workshops & Presentations Now Available Live & Online

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Amy MacDonald Edit

For schools looking for “distance learning” enrichment programs: nearly all of my school presentations and writing workshops are now available online through Zoom.

These workshops require little or no student materials:

  1. Writing by Storm (Gr. 1-4) is a group brainstorming session where we create a story together. Zoom allows me to use my computer screen in place of a white board, and there are no other technical requirements.
  2.  “Becoming an Author” (K-8) is a schoolwide presentation but can be tailored to smaller groups; Zoom can accommodate about 100 students for this session. Again, Zoom allows my computer screen to replace a Power Point projection.
  3. Other writing workshops such as “Big Book” (K) and “Where Do Ideas Come From?” (Gr. 1-5)  can also be done “live” on Zoom. The latter requires students to have a pencil and paper.

Visit the “School Visits” page here for more details on each workshop.

Prices for these workshops are adaptable to the new circumstances as well. Please click on “Contact” to be in touch with me or my booking agent.

And stay well during this challenging time.

Rest in peace, Maurice Sendak

Readers of this blog know how much I adore Maurice Sendak and his work. (See previous post, and the one linking to a very moving Terri Gross NPR interview on death and children’s literature.) He was wise, funny, and biting, right up until the end, and in honor of that, I now post a link to  his interviews with Stephen Colbert in which he speaks his mind (sadly prophetically) about e-books and many other things. (Warning: salty language, bleeped out!!)

Mainers and the 100 Best Children’s Books

People are always publishing “Best” lists, and today Scholastic has announced its “100 Greatest Books for Children,” as compiled by its magazine Parent and Child. Such lists are always a little bit suspect and a lot bit controversial, and this one will be no different, I’m sure. (“Captain Underpants” at #97? Really, Scholastic? Might that have anything to do with the fact that you publish it?) By contrast, I hasten to assure you,  the lists I’m on (the N.Y. T. “10 Best” and Dillon’s  “Best of the Century”) were all exceptionally well compiled, and not at all self-serving or controversial.

But there’s something else interesting about Scholastic’s list (or anyone else’s “Best” children’s book lists): the disproportionately large number of Maine books included there. In fact, the top two places–“Charlotte’s Web” and “Good Night Moon”–are both held by authors that Maine has a strong claim to. E. B. White fled New York City as a young man to live in Brooklin. Margaret Wise Brown bought a summer house (the only house she ever owned) on Vinalhaven Island,  where she did much of her writing.

Brown is also the author of #32, Runaway Bunny.  The #25 book is “The Giver,” by Lois Lowry, who lived in Falmouth for many years. And #87 is the Newbery-honor winner”Rules” by Cynthia Lord of  Brunswick.

Thus 5 of the 100 books are by Mainers. Considering that the list draws from books published not just in the US but in the UK as well, that’s a pretty heavy percentage for our little state (population 1 million)  versus the rest of the English-writing world (population 370  million).

Even stranger, three of the five books were written by neighbors of mine (I have a house on Vinalhaven near Brown’s, and in Falmouth near Lowry’s).

Can anyone explain this? Does it have something to do with the magnetic pull of the ocean? Or of my magnetic personality?

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.