47 Charming Facts About Children's Books -John Green

John Green is so much fun, and so great to listen to! Here he is on Mental Floss.

Revisions

I have been learning more about making revisions and I have been collecting some useful on-line resources. They include:

Filter Words, on Writing Life by Susan Dennard Filter words not only increase the word count unnecessarily, they make the story seem more passive instead of active.

I Told You by Janice Hardy with some helpful pointers on how to "Show, not Tell", the picture book writers mantra!

Check out Margot Finke's self-editing fact sheet which is full over other words that can be cut.

Remember the three R's for writing picture books, Revise, Revise and umm, Revise.

The Year of the Salamander

I spent a morning learning about our state's salamanders. We looked under rocks and flipped over logs. We found egg cases floating in a vernal pool and saw a pregnant salamander that was only weeks from becoming a mother. We learned some fun facts about these amphibians. Salamanders are the most populace vertebrate in the forests of CT and are a good indicator of the health of the environment. Some salamander moms, including the common red-backed salamander are protective and will guard their eggs.

The sounds of springtime, one of my favorite things!

A View from the Circ Desk, Part 2

An NPR blog article by Annalisa Quinn cites a report that found that a trip to the library makes people feel happier! Too true, give it a try!