I just got back from my first ever SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles, and besides all of the: inspiration and information to be soaked up “like gravy on a biscuit,” wonderfully creative, talented, generous, and adorable people, frivolous fun with friends old and new… the best part of the whole conference is that my teen nonfiction manuscript about how to save
I haven’t posted any new articles for quite awhile now, so you’re probably thinking I’ve been sitting at home all day eating bon-bons and watching Oprah. No way! I’ve actually been taking a conscious break from article writing to focus on a book… or two. What started out as an idea for one middle grade book has now become a
What has more kid appeal than a gigantic truck that drives from town to town looking for tires to chomp? One that cleans up the environment at the same time! Here’s one company’s latest invention intended to help clean up waste tires in the U.S. and Canada.
No, not the specialists who know a lot about children. Rather, the children themselves who know a lot about their chosen specialty. Is it better for today’s kids to be well-rounded generalists or hyper-focused elites? That is the question I examined over the summer. You can read all about it here. The risks and rewards of ‘specializing’ early, LearningMap, October 2007
KONO is a brand-new martial arts magazine for kids ages 5–12. My article about nutrition tips for healthy bones, “Bones of Steel,” appeared in their May 2007 premier issue!
Extreme Treasure Hunting, which introduces kids to the fun of geocaching, was the first article I wrote for children. It was accepted way back in April 2006, but finally made its appearance in the May/June 2007 online issue of Wee Ones Children’s Magazine for ages 4–10.
FACES: People, Places, and Cultures is a Cobblestone Publication for kids ages 9–14. I profiled an organization called Riders for Health for their March 2007 global health issue. By using fairly simple machines, Riders for Health has solved a complex problem. They use motorcycles to deliver medical supplies and services to regions of Africa with little or no infrastructure. Simply
You certainly can’t tell by looking, but our kids love to help clean the house. Unfortunately, this is one thing I’m sure they didn’t learn by example. If I enjoyed it even half as much as they do, we could probably do something crazy like invite people over for dinner once in awhile. Maybe someday they’ll be able to do
Here’s some encouraging news. The Measles Initiative partnership recently announced that worldwide measles deaths fell 60% from 1999 to 2005, from 873,000 down to 345,000 deaths per year. That’s 528,000 lives saved every year. “One of the clearest messages from this achievement is that with the right strategies and a strong partnership of committed governments and organizations, you can rapidly reduce
Doctors Without Borders recently released a list of the 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises of 2006, which they say “accounted for just 7.2 minutes of the 14,512 minutes on the three major U.S. television networks’ nightly newscasts for 2006.” Central African Republic Tuberculosis Chechnya Sri Lanka Malnutrition Democratic Republic of Congo Somalia Columbia Haiti Central India