EMMANUEL’S DREAM: THE TRUE STORY OF EMMANUEL OFOSU YEBOAH

• Author “read-aloud plus” now available by request! Please email me for details.
• Download the free Emmanuel’s Dream curriculum guide, which includes CCSS alignments, critical thinking discussion questions, and reproducible activity sheets.
• “Meet the Author” at TeachingBooks.net: Book Reading | Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah.
• There’s a free reproducible crossword puzzle based on the book at TeachersPayTeachers.com.
• Check out related picture books for young changemakers on my Pinterest board.

The TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE series

• Video: The story behind the TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE stories
• Video: Introduction to TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
• An Educator’s Guide to Support Information Literacy
• The Two Truths and a Lie: STEM Game and Research Activities
• A Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive! Word Search Puzzle

BE A CHANGEMAKER: HOW TO START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS

• Read my blog post on how to Empower kids and teens during COVID-19
• Download the FREE Be a Changemaker Workshops guide
• Watch the You Can Be a Changemaker video webinar.
• Watch the Be a Changemaker intro video.
• View or download the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) English Language Arts (ELA) Literacy strands and/or the full CCSS report here.
• Check out even more books for tween and teen changemakers on my Pinterest board

MY DOG IS THE BEST

• Watch the author read-aloud video
• Download the free storytime and canine craft kit
• Watch the book trailer video

Again, my goals here are to be as helpful as possible for YOU to continue leading #AtHome learning, so please email me if there is anything specific I might be able to do, including ways to connect with your students. We’re all in this together, even while we’re apart. So, until we meet again, stay safe, #StayHome… and stay sane. xoxo

 
First, it was listed in the CCBC Choices 2016 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center!

 
Second, it was also awarded a 2015 Blue Ribbon from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB)!

 
Third, I worked with Curious City to develop a free storytime and canine craft kit for educators, librarians, and parents, and I think it turned out beautifully. Just download and print, and you’ve got a ready-made activity plan to go along with the book. Enjoy!

 
Finally, I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not, but now that the date is approaching, I’m getting more and more excited… My Dog Is the Best will soon be published in Japan! It is expected to release this summer, and in an even smaller (and cuter!) trim size. I’ll keep you posted!

First, I got to participate in a huge author panel at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL. The kids’ books extravaganza on July 11th included some of my best friends in the industry, including Christine Hayes, Ruth Barshaw, Lynda Hunt, Keyan Atteberry, Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, Tara Dairman, Janet Fox, and Amy Finnegan. It was even more wonderful because I got to meet the very special someone who wrote one of my all-time favorite reviews Emmanuel’s Dream, Keegan Knott, and it was her birthday, too! I got a hug. It’s a day I won’t soon forget, let me tell you. Thank you Anderson’s and Keegan for the wonderful memories! =D

Next I headed to the Erin Murphy Literary Agency client retreat at The Abbey Resort at Lake Geneva. I can’t even begin to explain what a powerful, amazing this annual event is for me, and this year was no different. We do lots of fun, silly things like the costume party, but we also do a lot of learning, networking, sharing, connecting, growing, and more. I feel so blessed to be a part of this community!
From there I continued on down to St. Louis to sign books at ILA and conduct a research trip. Our first stop was the National Mustard Museum.

What am I researching there, you ask? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see! St. Louis was beautiful, ILA was a lot of fun, and I even got to go to
Cynthia Levinson’s book launch party for Watch Out for Flying Kids while I was there. Plus, the research trip was a huge success. I can’t wait to get back to work on that manuscript!

I had the opportunity to appear at several summer camps, including one on being a changemaker and another on early literacy, which I loved, and I did interviews on two different live radio programs.

Last but certainly not least, I also spoke at the Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) annual conference in Portland with two of my favorite nonfiction authors, Mary Cronk Farrell and Elizabeth Rusch, and I did my first storytime for My Dog Is the Best at University Bookstore in Bellevue.
It was a busy, fulfilling summer, and now I’m looking forward to some quiet writing time!
 

“… the simplicity of both the words and the pictures creates a charming, toddler-sized ode to man’s best friend.” —Booklist
“This simple, quiet story conveys the enduring bond between child and dog, with the added appeal of a joke that younger children just beginning to understand humor can enjoy.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Though ‘a boy and his dog’ may not be a groundbreaking theme, it’s often a popular one—and this gentle tale of friendship is no exception.… While this is a familiar story, it’s a well-executed and charming one.” —School Library Journal
“… simple wording helps young children who are learning to read.… I really enjoyed this cute children’s book and enjoyed its depiction of man’s best friend.…or should we say ‘boy’s’ best friend!” —Curling Up With A Good Book blog
“#Bookaday My Dog is the Best by @LaurieThompson & @PaulSchmidBooks. Made me think of http://t.co/mlzJYBYVm1″ … “In my opinion, it is a perfect candidate for The Baker’s Dozen.”  — John Schu (@MrSchuReads) February 26, 2015

The launch party is Friday, June 12th, at University Book Store in the University District. More info here.
There’s a giveaway happening on Goodreads:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

My Dog Is the Best

by Laurie Ann Thompson

Giveaway ends June 16, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to Win

Our adorable pup and boy pair are going out on a blog tour beginning Saturday, June 6th. Here’s where to find them (and me) in the next few weeks (note, many of these will have giveaways, too–more chances to win!):

 
And, last but not least, if you’d like buy a copy:
You may pre-order a signed copy from University Book Store.
Also available on:

• Amazon.com,
• Barnes & Noble,
• IndieBound,
• Powell’s,
• or directly from the publisher at Macmillan.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Be a Changemaker

by Laurie Ann Thompson

Giveaway ends April 02, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

To celebrate the starred review from School Library Journal for EMMANUEL’S DREAM: THE TRUE STORY OF EMMANUEL OFOSU YEBOAH, I’ll be giving away a signed copy on Goodreads, here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Emmanuel’s Dream

by Laurie Ann Thompson

Giveaway ends April 02, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

AND, I’ll give away a signed copy of either one (winners get to choose!) to two random subscribers to my mailing list. If you’re not a subscriber yet, just sign up below. (I only send a short newsletter once/month.)

Finally, School Library Journal recently called my upcoming release “well-executed and charming.” I can’t give this one away just yet (it will release on June 9, 2015), but feel free to share the MY DOG IS THE BEST love by adding it to your Goodreads shelf and/or pre-ordering it at one of the following links:

• Secret Garden Books (for a signed copy, please leave an extra week or so for delivery and indicate how you’d like it personalized in the “other notes about your order” field).
• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble
• IndieBound
• Powell’s
• Directly from the publisher at Macmillan.

Both of last week’s posts here were about failure, or at least the constant perceived threat of failure that so often makes it hard for us to move forward. I’m going to continue the theme, but on a slightly different note. Our own Emu Empress, Erin MUrphy, once said something along the lines of, “For every success, there is a waiting period that feels like failure.” And in a post on this very blog almost three years ago, she followed that up with, “But it’s NOT! It’s just waiting!”
When she wrote that post back in 2011, I’d only been with the agency for a few months. One year from now, I’ll have three books published. That doesn’t seem like very much waiting, especially to those familiar with the pace of the publishing industry. Many of my writer friends have walked up to me and said something to the effect of, “Wow, you’re on FIRE!” Some say things like, “I guess you’ve been busy lately!” Others ask, “So, what’s your secret?” as if I’m holding out on them. A few say, “Boy, did you get lucky!” never thinking that some authors might be a little bit offended by that. (I never am: Yes, indeed, I have gotten very, very lucky!)
So, in the interests of dispelling myths and keeping things real, I thought it might be helpful to break down my “overnight success:”

You can read the rest of that post here.

 
Other news and highlights from the year?

• I got to see an early study for a scene from the picture-book biography of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, illustrated by Sean Qualls.
• The above book also FINALLY has a title, EMMANUEL’S DREAM!
• I also got to see preliminary sketches for MY DOG IS THE BEST (sorry, I can’t share them here, but Paul Schmid’s illustrations are ADORABLE!).
• I finished another fiction picture book manuscript and it will soon be going out on submission (fingers crossed!).
• I participated in and finished PiBoIdMo 2013.

Stay tuned for my next post on how I plan to tackle 2014. 🙂