Author Visits
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I love to visit schools, libraries and bookstores to talk about writing, books, history and heroes. My award-winning historical and multicultural picture books tackle subjects from segregation to the power of poetry, and the Revolutionary War to the Olympics.Touch the Sky: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper (Albert Whitman & Co) tells the dramatic story of the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold.
A former newspaper reporter, I love finding cool facts and making them into headline-grabbing stories, and helping students do the same. My books support curriculum for Black History Month, Women's History Month, poetry, the Revolutionary War, Civil Rights and Slavery, and writing biographies, nonfiction, and historical fiction. And it's always fun to learn how to write with a quill pen like the slave poet Phillis Wheatley, as these young readers did at the Syracuse Children's Book Fest. 
Visiting the wonderful students at St. Vincent de Paul School in Marthasville, Missouri
The "Run to Read" celebration of Touch the Sky in Washington, Missouri, October 13, 2012
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Presentations and WorkshopsThese 45-minute programs can be adapted for your school, library or youth organization.
1. Classroom Presentations with PowerPoint * From Newspaper Reporter to Picture Book Author: One Writer’s Journey * Who Is This Person? The Tough Job of a Biographer * Story Gardening: How to Grow a Good Idea into a Great Story 2. Writing Workshops with Hands-On Activities * Biography Detective: Find the True Story of a Person, Dead or Alive! * Discover Your Writing Voice: Techniques to Find the Writer in You * From Rap to Rhyme: Using Poetry to Tell a Story * How to Be a Research Geek! The Fun and Frustrations of Primary Research For more information, contact me:
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