Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 5

This week I had a school visit in Griswold, Connecticut so I drove down a day early to spend it with my friend Debbi who lives in Mystic, CT.  Debbi has a dog named Trixie and two ducks named Darcy and Lizzie. Here I am with the ducks!



Debbi and I visited the Mystic Aquarium. So cool!



The seals loved the children!



I loved the penguins!



There were three beluga whales, too.



And Debbi patted a ray. It's a wonderful aquarium. I had such a nice time with Debbi.

The next day I had a lovely visit to Griswold Elementary School in Griswold, Connecticut. There were lots of nice moments, including one kindergartner who spontaneously yelled out, "This is the best day EVER!" when we were done reading Hot Rod Hamster Monster Truck Mania. Thank you to everyone for a great day! 

Last week, I had two great school visits in Pennsylvania. At both T/E Middle School and Valley Forge Middle School, the 7-8th graders all read Touch Blue over the summer and the 5-6th graders read Half a Chance.

The 5-6th grades used iPads to take the photos for the scavenger hunt in Half A Chance. Here are just a few of my favorites!



















Thanks to everyone for a fabulous trip! 

This week I spent a few beautiful brisk early fall days in NH with my friend, Holly.



There were signs of fall around us: red leaves and loon fluff on the lake.



The loons are starting to pull out their summer colors in preparation for leaving the lake for the winter.

And I'm getting ready for my first school visits! Next week I'll be in Pennsylvania visiting two middle schools and then an elementary school in Connecticut the week after. Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Several years ago, I met Jennifer Frances of Bess the Book Bus when she came to Maine, and now every time she drives that adorable yellow bus full of free kids' books up here, I try to do something with her or at least bring her some books.

Today I drove up to the Houlton Children's Fair. What a great event, and everything is free--even the food for the kids. It was super fun! So many kids, so much energy, so much goodwill.



Brianna and Eliza Jack of Maine Books For Maine Kids were there, too! The girls helped kids find books on the bus, and I used my former teacher skills and did line control, telling kids when it was their turn to board.



There was a line like this for four hours! Jen put out the Hot Rod Hamster copies I brought, and one little boy was so excited that he couldn't even tell me his name so I could sign it for him, all he could do was stare happily at the cover and yell "VROOM-VROOM! VROOM-VROOM!"



They gave me a rubber ducky balloon animal. It was pouring by the time the event was over, so Jen drove me in the bus to my car. Don't let the pigeon drive the bus, but the duck's a good driver.

Friendship, Maine

1. I sent off the second Shelter Pet Squad book to my editor yesterday, and contacted my first two September schools about our visits. And with that, I flipped the switch from summer writing to fall speaking!

2. Half a Chance made Nebraska's Golden Sower list (a state kids' choice list) for 2015-16. I'm thrilled!

3. I've been enjoying cucumbers and tomatoes from my garden. Unfortunately the slugs have also been enjoying them, so I have to pick the tomatoes before they're ripe and let them finish ripening in the house.

4. Andrea Skyberg has a fun feature on her blog where she asks writers and illustrators to give a tour of their work spaces. Here's mine!

5.  In each of my Shelter Pet Squad books, there is back matter about the animal, a quiz, ideas for helping shelter animals, and in the first one, I told my guinea pig Cookie's story in a "From the Author."

I was thinking about whether that "From the Author" should be a regular feature in the series. The second book stars a ferret, but also a goldfish. We've never had a ferret at my house, but years ago, we had a very special goldfish named Bubble. I decided that I could tell Bubble's story and see what my editor's think.

I remembered telling his story on my blog when I first started blogging (10 years ago!), and I thought it would save me time if I could find what I had written then and change it for a young audience. So this morning I went looking way, way back to a time when I had just seen Rules' cover for the first time.

Here is the story of Bubble.

I just had two new books released!



Our first Hot Rod Hamster early reader!  School Library Journal said, "The familiar characters and predictable plot should appeal to fans of Hot Rod Hamster, and the easy text will draw fledgling readers. Bright, bold cartoons of Hamster's animal pals, all set against ample white space, add to the fun." 

And I have a new chapter book series for readers in Grades 1-3.



For this book, School Library Journal said, "This heartwarming early chapter book reminds readers that good friends and the chance to make a positive difference are often closer than they may believe. Upbeat and relatable, this promises to be the start to a series that will win over young animal enthusiasts."

They are available at your local independent bookstore, online, and at the Scholastic Book Fairs. :)

The first morning I was here, I went down to the ocean to see the sunrise. And it was so centering that I promised myself that every morning that I was here and awake in time, I'd see the sun come.



I'm going to do my best to carry these quiet, beautiful mornings with me after I go home.

It always seems a little strange to go on a writing retreat less than half an hour from my house, but my critique partners and I started doing this when it was hard on my family for me to be away from home. Being so close, I could go home a few times during our week to keep my son's routine relatively normal.



Though it started from necessity, it allows me to see my own part of the world fresh again. It renews for me how lucky I am to be surrounded by such beauty.

So this morning, I made some coffee and walked down to the end of the road with my mug and my camera to see the sun come up. I was all by myself for an hour, just me and the seagulls, cormorants, and ducks watching this glorious day begin. I was thinking about how we sometimes forget that we truly only have so many sunrises in our lives. A finite amount of mornings. So I breathed in the salt air and breathed out "Thank you" for this one.

Our first Shelter Pet Squad book comes out next week! So my husband took some author photos for me . Cookie went to sleep afterward. It's hard work to be a star.

I spent the weekend way downeast in Maine at the Machias Blueberry Festival and taking photos to use in my school visits one day for my next novel, A Handful of Stars, which is set in that area.



This is wild blueberry country. The blueberries have just the right conditions and they grow in huge barrens.



Miles and miles of them.



At the Machias Blueberry Festival there were lots of lots of booths selling all kinds of things.



I bought a small one. Yum!



Seaglass is in Touch Blue and loons are in Half A Chance, so I had to have one of these!



It's a beautiful part of the world.