I gathered up some favorite images from my travels through the Panhandle of Alaska. Each community I visited expressed a unique personality, including Alaska Native cultures, and logging and fishing families. In each place, I found dedicated educators.
I’m traveling to Ketchikan, Prince of Wales Island, and onward to Juneau in the coming weeks, with a full schedule that includes visits to a dozen schools and libraries. I’m sure looking forward to it!
I had to show off this promotional poster for our event at the Juneau Library Public – Downtown. I love it. And, this is a rare opportunity to meet both the author and illustrator (Jim Fowler) of Patsy Ann of Alaska.
Next month, I’ll be touring schools, libraries, and bookstores in Anchorage, the Valley, Fairbanks, and North Pole. And let’s not forget ReadAlaska Book & Craft Fair at the Anchorage Museum—it’s during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. Hope to see you there, too. Stay tuned!
Rudolph’s nose light is worn out, and Nome, Alaska, the last stop on Santa’s round-the-world delivery run, is socked in with a bad snowstorm. The good children of Nome must have their toys, but who will deliver?
Santa remembers a grown-up boy named Tom, a dog musher who lives along the Iditarod Trail. He alights on Tom’s roof to ask a favor: Could Tom and his team take it from here?
Here’s a brand-new book for Christmas 2011 from Pelican Publishing of Gretna, Louisiana, featuring a clever dog musher and his team of champions. Up in lead position is Tom’s favorite, Kate. Come along on this wild Christmas Eve ride!
Fans of The Itchy Little Musk Ox will recognize the distinctive illustration style of Alaskan artist Debra Dubac, whose paintings breathe life into these characters.
I’ll be touring in Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, and Alaska this fall, reading this wonderful twist on the old classic. If you’d like me to visit your library, school, or bookstore, drop me a line!
Ready to Visit YOUR School or Library
This summer, I’ve been busy working on some book editing projects for a couple of publishers, but I’m also working on new books for coming seasons.
I’m excited about three fresh-off-the-presses books to share, and I’d love to visit your favorite bookstore, school, or library for a reading or signing. I have multi-media presentations for each of these books:
The World-Famous Alaska Highway: A Guide to the ALCAN and Other Wilderness Roads of the North (Fulcrum Publishing, 2011). For those of you who are planning a trip up the Alaska Highway this summer, it’s not too late to pick up the 4th edition. And now is the time to begin your planning for a trip in 2012.
Patsy Ann of Alaska: The True Story of a Dog (Sasquatch Books, 2011). This is a fun read-to-me book for pre-K to 2nd- or 3rd-graders. It’s a wonderful tale of a dog that belonged to a whole community in Depression-era Juneau.
Musher’s Night Before Christmas (Pelican Publishing, 2011). I’m setting up Fall visits now all over the country for this new version of an old classic.
So drop me a line and let me know when you’d like me to come. Things are shaping up now for September through December!
We just got some good news on this already favorite book! The Alaska Association of School Librarians has selected Patsy Ann of Alaska as a Battle of the Books choice for K-2 readers in the 2011-12 school year. If you want a head start on your reading, it should be in bookstores in about another month, and it’s available for pre-order today, so you can reserve a copy now.
Also, do contact me if you’d like me to visit your school or library, please! I’d be happy to share this or any other of my children’s books with your students.
I got another good report along with that news of Patsy Ann. One of my other kid books, The Itchy Little Musk Ox, was picked as a Battle of the Books alternate! I’m always happy to hear from teachers, parents, and grandparents, who report how often they’ve read the story with their favorite children. That one was beautifully illustrated by Debra Dubac of Anchorage.
HELLO, SANTA CLAUS HOUSE!
Last week I had a fruitful time visiting three elementary schools in the Fairbanks/North Pole area, I and read Alaskan Night Before Christmas to more than a thousand children during three busy days. The kids needed very little prodding to get them into the spirit of the season, and a few assemblies burst into “Jingle Bells” at the end of my presentation. What a fun time!
On Tuesday afternoon, I stopped by Santa Claus House, where I bought a few special gifts for the family, and paused for a photo with Santa himself. While the two of us smiled for the camera, the big guy was talking through his teeth, asking about my parka and saying his wife would be needing a new one in about a year. “It’s a Laura Wright Parky,” I answered, and told him how and where to get one for his lady. I get more comments on that coat! And having kids mistake me as Mrs. Santa is a treat, too. But sometimes it backfires.
On this trip to Fairbanks, I joined my sister for her Christmas-tree shopping. We were leaving Alaska Feed as a father and son were coming in. The dad had already entered the store when the little boy stopped and gaped at me in my parka. He said in a hushed voice, “Mrs. Santa!” I didn’t answer, “No, no, that’s not me!” Instead, I just asked, “Have you been good?” Instantly, I wished I hadn’t. The boy’s smile disappeared and his eyes dropped to the floor. (“Oh, no!” I thought. “Why did I say anything!?”) And then the tender-hearted child was gone inside the store. I wish I could have told him that I know he’s a good boy, because only a good boy would have responded that way. But my opportunity had passed.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas, surrounded by family and thankful for the best Christmas gift ever: God’s Son come in the flesh.
-20 IN FAIRBANKS
But the temps didn’t seem to bother Coco at all. She and her handler Opal Welton came over to my sister’s place for a visit, and we took turns taking pictures, of course! Coco started digging in the snow and snacked on some of that tasty grass.
The experience turned bizarre and wonderful when Coco came into the house for a walkabout. The reindeer knew just where the ends of her antlers were, and nothing was knocked over. Opal said just make sure she doesn’t see any mirrors or her window reflection, or Coco’s natural curiosity might get a little too aggressive.
Sometimes Opal brings Coco for school visits. This reindeer is tame and smaller than you might imagine. She just hops into the minivan, and she’s ready to go.
Did you know that reindeer ankles (and caribou’s, of course) make a fascinating clicking sound with each step? I could hear Coco’s clicking when she was just walking around the kitchen and living room. Those who’ve been fortunate to witness a caribou migration are blown away by the sound. For our part, we just sing, “Up on the house top, click-click-click!”
Alaskan Night Before Christmas
(or how one selfish caribou almost wrecked Christmas for all of us!)
If you’ve read this Christmas story, you know about how Kotzebue the Caribou lands on the naughty list—for a short time, at least—for making Christmas an “all about me” proposition. It’s also the story of how Star the reindeer shows the spirit of Christmas better than Kotz. Alan Stacy painted the illustrations for this cute story of one crazy Christmas Eve in Alaska.
Right now, I’m packing for a flight to Fairbanks/North Pole and a series of school visits that are bound to be fun. This year, I’ll be stopping by University Park Elementary, Ticasuk Brown Elementary, and Nordale Elementary. I’m looking forward to meeting all those great kids!
Meeting my readers is a pleasure that I can’t describe. Most often, I write alone, and read and reread alone. (There’s a lot of mulling over in writing a children’s picture book.) But when I get to read to a big group of kids, their interest and energy feeds me and inspires me to get busy on a new batch of stories. I love visiting schools! Let me know if you’d like me to come to your school this winter, or next spring. Meantime, Merry Christmas to all!
Coming Soon!
I’ve been busy lately reading page proofs on a couple of new books due out this Spring.
The first is a story that captured my interest years ago when I wrote about a special dog named Patsy Ann for LitSite Alaska and the Alaska Digital Archives. (The grant-funded project allowed me to write online content to support/explain a fraction of the archival images in the collection.) As I wrote the piece for adult readers, it occurred to me that this would make a good children’s book.
Patsy Ann was an independent sort who refused to belong to any one household. She roamed Juneau and often stayed at the Longshoremen’s Union Hall. She was deaf from birth, but always sensed when a steamship was approaching Juneau, and she hurried to meet each one. She was so popular among the townspeople and the tourists that the mayor named her “Official Greet.” It’s a sweet story of a dog whose presence was so missed even fifty years after her death, the Friends of Patsy Ann installed a bronze statue of the dear girl on Juneau’s docks. So she’s still getting lots of petting. The first edition will be published by Sasquatch Books of Seattle, Washington.
BOOK RELEASE NUMBER 2!
The 4th edition of the World-Famous Alaska Highway, published by Fulcrum of Golden, Colorado, is slated for release this Spring, too. Like the Patsy Ann book, it’s already available for preorders, while I’m about to begin proofing the first round of page proofs. It’s so heavy with detail that I’ve appreciated my editor’s help tremendously. She has a good eye.
I hope the new edition inspires many of you to make a plan. Pack up the TV or the car and head north. For fun, I’ve included many stories of early travelers on the road, and some great historical photos . . . plus a good selection of those wildlife photos that I wrote about while we were traveling. Check it out and start scheduling.
Meanwhile, I’m available for school visits, and I’d love to come to your favorite elementary school to read any of my children’s books. Let’s talk!
Summer’s far from over, but as for me, it’s time to settle in and get serious about writing. Researching a travel book like The World-Famous Alaska Highway is a lot of fun, then it’s time to pull over, apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair, and produce some copy. I am a deadline-oriented creature, after all. We’ve produced three editions of this travel guide, and now it’s time to write number four.
Perry and I traveled 4,500 miles one way by RV: through Washington state and well into British Columbia, across and through Alberta, then trailed across the Yukon and further to Fairbanks, Alaska. There we took a breather, got a haircut, ate well at the Food Factory and the Turtle Club, and spent time with friends and family. Then it was southbound, first on the Parks Highway, then across on the Denali Highway to the Richardson, and onward to the Glenn. Anchorage at last. More lingering over good meals amid good company. And off again down the Seward Highway, southbound on one of the most gorgeous highways in the country. A few days later, we hopped a one-way flight back to the Lower 48 to recuperate from “vacation.” You know how that goes.
Now, how about you? I’m grounded in my office for now, but there’s still plenty of summer left for you. If you’re still dreaming about taking that Alaska vacation by car or RV, do pick up a copy of the 3rd edition of my book for panning and as your take-along companion. It’s available online or order through your local independent bookstore.
Happy travels!
