Author Visits

I'm delighted that my series is included on this Web site so that schools and around the state (and nation) are aware that I'm available for classroom presentations.

http://www.authorvisitsbystate.com

This past month has been very gratifying in terms of school visits and student responses. I've been to a home-school group in Stafford, Jouett Elementary in Louisa County, St. Timothy in Chantilly, and will be at St. Lawrence in Shelton, Conn., next week. Meriwether Lewis in Ivy was loads of fun as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book last month, as were my two days at Stafford Middle as author of the year. In May, we will be at a home-school convention in Williamsburg

The Teacher's Guides are now available for The Mysterious Jamestown Suitcase, and No Sisters Sisters Club.

Great review from Reader Views

I have been delighted to be reviewed by Reader Views--a review service that let's youngsters review books for their age groups. What they say is very important to authors and other readers. Yesterday, we received this review by Brianne Plach (age 10) for Reader Views. Thank you, Brianne. You did a wonderful job!

Ghost of the Chicken Coop Theater (Bailey Fish Adventures)

Summer is almost here! What do you plan to do with all your summer days and nights? Bailey, Fred and Noah have come up with an idea for how they could make their summer fun and get extra credit for their home-school at the same time. Let’s change the old chicken coop into a theater! Sparrow is a friend of theirs who wants to be a part of the production even though she is forced to be in a wheelchair. Noah and Fred are Bailey’s adopted brothers. Sugar lives with her grandmother because neither of her parents care about her.

Their dad offers to help them convert the chicken coop into a theater, as long as they help with
fixing it up for rehearsals and the production of the play. After all, they still have to do their regular chores. The play should have some history in it since there are a lot of ghosts in the history of their area. But the kids also like space adventures. They enlist the help of Dr Robinson, who helps them with a delightful and entertaining story. They came up with the idea of charging admission because they wanted to raise money for the chickens. They brainstorm their own ideas for a play and are given an old trunk full of costumes. It looks like they might have their own production after all.

Donise and Bean check into the Keswick Inn. Donise goes by the name of Li’l Bonbon and is
immediately intrigued by the children’s goals. However, since she was a child actress she decides
that she needs to be the #1 director. She even rips up the script that the kids worked so hard to
develop. Li’l Bonbon is brutally mean to all the cast members and certainly HATES Clover, Noah
and Fred’s dog. Li’l BonBon walks off in a huff. Will the production be put together by the end of
summer? One of the kids thinks that they can drive, but end up in the lake and need a rescue. Is
there a reason why Bailey's last name is Fish?

“Ghost of the Chicken Coop Theater” is a great story. It uses some historical facts along with a
great storyline. It shows kids who have an imagination for their own fun. It also serves as a lesson on how to deal with a bully, even if the bully is an adult. I loved this book and didn’t want to set it down until I was completely finished. “Ghost of the Chicken Coop Theater” will have you cackling with laughter from start to finish.

Books and readers

We had a lovely dinner the other night with a very special fan of the Bailey Fish Adventure series--Tiana from Blacksburg, her parents and grandparents.

Tiana and her dad have been writing me for about a year now and she tells me that the Bailey Fish books are her favorites. They read them, and lots of other books together. I like to hear that parents and kids read together. Tiana's grandmother told us she has a special reading sofa that they share when Tiana visits. Tiana is very smart and a lot of that is because she likes to read so much!

This past month has been busy with many wonderful school visits--Stafford Middle, and Meriwether Lewis among them. Coming up are visits to Jouett Elementary, in Louisa, St. Timothy's in Chantilly, and a homeschool group in North Stafford. I was surprised when the media specialist at Jouett asked if I would play my cello as part of my talk about the Jamestown book. I've been looking for music from that the colonists might have known, and plan to play music on both the cello and my recorder (I'm not very good, but I can play a few tunes) that day. The colonists probably didn't have a big cello with them at Jamestown, but they probably had a recorder or something like it, and perhaps a violin or two.