Author Archives: admin

That’s me, a Word Worker. This shot of my favorite T-shirt reminds me why I’d best stick to non-fiction…and makes me want to enter a deliciously bad writing competition. I’ve tried writing a long work of fiction. I wasn’t as … Continue reading →

I’m looking forward to reading Bobbie the Wonder Dog to an audience of Oregonians during a noon-hour talk on Friday, January 12, at the Albany Public Library. I’ll share details about Bobbie’s walk across America and the research I undertook … Continue reading →

A long while ago, I teamed up with Iditarod photographer Jeff Schultz for an Epicenter Press book titled Iditarod Country: Exploring the Route of the Last Great Race. It was released in February 1998. After a good, long life, that … Continue reading →

I carried the Alaska flag with me as I traveled through Finland during the last week of October. I was there at the invitation of the U.S. Embassy, presenting all over the country in a speaking program titled “Arctic Dialogues: … Continue reading →

No, I can’t speak Finnish either. Thank heavens Finland’s population is progressive and most of them can speak English, because I’m about to fly off to the other side of the world to share Alaska with our friends abroad. I … Continue reading →

Iditarod musher Aliy Zirkle is on a different kind of trail this week, traveling the western coast of Alaska without her huskies and dogsled. With help from sponsors Marston, ExxonMobil, and the Iditarod Trail Committee, she’s flying in to schools … Continue reading →

              I’ve teamed up with fellow members of the SCBWI (in English, that’s the Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators) to meet our readers at the Saturday Market in downtown Anchorage. It’s not a weekly … Continue reading →

What is it about cats and keyboards? Whether it’s trying to meet a deadline or just paying bills and answering emails, there’s always furry someone in the way. You, too? We lost my sweet kitty Zach this winter and now what I … Continue reading →

Ms. Tanc’s students in Romania learned some Inupiaq Eskimo words before I shared Charlie and the Blanket Toss with them on Skype. Our time together made the newspapers in their city.   As March wrapped up, so did my sixty-day … Continue reading →

This month, I have stepped into classrooms all over the U.S. with Microsoft in Education and their cooperative arrangement with Skype. Most mornings have been devoted to reading to kids in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia–and evenings with Greece, Sri Lanka, China, Mexico, Canada, and Japan. … Continue reading →