Going to ALA!

After months of planning, ALA is finally here! The conference begins today in New Orleans. As it says on the ALA website, “Scheduled for June 23-28, 2011 in New Orleans, the Annual Conference is the world’s largest event for the library community. Bringing together more than 25,000 librarians, educators, authors, publishers, literacy experts, illustrators and the leading suppliers to the market, the Annual Conference gives you a once-a-year opportunity to advance your career and improve your library.”

I’ll be there with my Nonfiction Book Blast panel. The ten Nonfiction Book Blast panel authors will each booktalk their books and provide a handout of an activity to accompany the book. We invite everyone at ALA to attend our panel presentation–it’s going to be a blast!

Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks and Activities for Your Library

Start school with new booktalks and activities from ten nonfiction authors: April Pulley Sayre (Rah, Rah, Radishes), Kelly Milner Halls (In Search of Sasquatch), Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma), Loree Griffin Burns (The Hive Detectives), Carla Killough McClafferty (The Many Faces of George Washington), Christine Taylor-Butler (Magnets), Shirley Duke (You Can’t Wear These Genes), Darcy Pattison (Prairie Storms), Carla Mooney (Explorers of the New World) and Anastasia Suen (Read and Write Sports). (Handouts)

Sunday June 26, 2011 8 am – 10 am
Morial Convention Center Room 243

After the panel, I will be signing my new 2011 books!

10:30-11:30am: ABC-Clio, Booth #2740

Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

After years of helping students prepare for the state writing test, I have created a sports “reading and writing” book for classrooms and libraries. There are ten sports in Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8, so you can use it once a month during the school year. The chapters are filled with short mentor text examples for narrative, expository and descriptive writing exercises and the appendix has printables for all of the graphic organizer charts and student instruction pages.

1-2pm: Kane Miller, Booth #1147

All-Star Cheerleaders (Book #1) Tick Tock, Taylor

I’ll be signing the first book in my new sports series for girls, All-Star Cheerleaders (Book #1) Tick Tock, Taylor. (Books 2 and 3 are being illustrated now, and I’ll finish writing book 4 in July. These 6-8 year old girls are all on the same squad at the Big D Elite gym. Each book features a different girl.)

2-3pm: Lee & Low, Booth #1132

I have 2 new easy readers with Bebop Books, the school imprint of Lee and Low Books. The first one is a Level A book about healthy eating:

Can You Eat a Rainbow?

Can You Eat a Rainbow?

¿Puedes comer el arco iris?

Also available in Spanish: ¿Puedes comer el arco iris?

This Level B easy reader is about the Chinese New Year parade. (2012 is the Year of the Dragon!)

Golden Dragon Parade

Golden Dragon Parade

El desfile del dragón dorado

In Spanish: El desfile del dragón dorado

Two more in September!

My first Boxcar Children book, The Zombie Project, comes out in September, so I have my Silly Zombie Story Writing Workshop page ready for schools and libraries to use in October. (It’s NOT about the zombie in the book. It’s a silly writing prompt: When I saw the zombie on Halloween… with printable graphic organizer charts for you to use.)

The Zombie Project

And last but not least, my new picture book with Viking will also come out in September!

Road Work Ahead

The illustrator, Jannie Ho, and I have created a Road Work Ahead Facebook page so we can share book news and activities once a week until the book comes out. I have the first activity up right now, and Jannie will share a new one next week (a coloring page from the book!) Yay!

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Going to BEA!

I’m making plans for BEA (Book Expo America) in New York City next week. And I’m not the only one! There are numerous conferences and events being held in the city at the same time. (This is when you need a clone – so you can be in three places at once!)

Thanks to Shelf Awareness, SLJ and ABC Children’s Group I’ve collected a passel of links about children’s book events that week. (25 and counting!)

This link is a MUST! Add the Publishers Marketplace BEA to Go app to your phone. (You can set up a “My BEA List” of exhibitors and events online NOW so everything is ready to go next week. Just click on the star by the exhibitor’s name and it is added to your list. Adding a star to an event or an author signing adds it to your events list, with the event or author name, location and time. And the times are listed chronologically, so you’ll have your entire day organized.)

I hope to see you there!

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

EdcampPlano

The first edcamp in Texas is in my school district this Saturday, so I’ll be there…

edcampPlano – Serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex

Date:
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Registration is Now Open!

Site:
Sockwell Center for Professional Development
6301 Chapel Hill Blvd
Plano, Texas 75093

What, you may ask, is an edcamp?

It’s an educator’s camp, but it’s more than. It’s also an UNconference — a conference where the attendees set the agenda and present all of the sessions. (That’s why the schedule is blank! It will all be decided on the day of the event.)

Now I’ve been to LOTS of professional development events over the years — on both sides of the podium — so I’m eager to see how this all works.

I hope to see you there!

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Write with me during Poetry Month

For Poetry Month, I invite students of all ages to send me an EduHaiku poem…

Q. What is EduHaiku?

A. A 3 line poem about something you learned at school today.

Q. How do you write an EduHaiku?

A. Try this.

  1. Select a topic from one of your school subjects.
  2. Brainstorm a list of words about your topic.
  3. Count the syllables in each word.
  4. Use the words to share a short thought with the haiku format.

Q. What is the haiku format?

A. Haiku has 3 lines.

  1. The first line has 5 syllables.
  2. The second line has 7 syllables.
  3. The third and final line has 5 syllables.

Share your poems with me on the EduHaiku blog or the Twitter. (Send it as a message to @EduHaiku or use the #eduhaiku hashtag so I’ll see it.)

Teachers, I’d love to hear from you and your entire class!

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Copyright © 2011 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.