Spring Visit to Cedar Lane Elementary School

I can hardly wait to do a very special school visit to Cedar Lane Elementary School in Ashburn, Virginia. The date has been set and I’m ready to go! On May 28, I get to speak to three different groups of first and second graders about Backyard Birds of the Piedmont. To make things more interesting, I’ll be bringing some newly produced and mounted photographs of several of the birds that appear in my book.  After doing a very successfully and personally rewarding book “reading” at the Cascades Library in Ashburn this past weekend, I can see the beauty of being able to show large-scale photographs of birds to stimulate interaction. As the children saw each bird, they delighted in sharing their personal experiences and ask questions.

That’s one of the best things about writing children’s books. When they see your work, they provide immediate feedback. With Backyard Birds of the Piedmont, they seem very impressed. Now all I have to do is publish and print the next book in the series, Insects and Spiders. Full of the great photography of D. W. Maiden and Dennis Govoni, it can’t help but be another success. Keep your eyes open … I’ll be “bragging” about its availability within the next two months or so.

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Backyard Birds Advance Copies Available!

Front Cover of Backyard Birds of the Piedmont

 

Tomorrow morning FedEx will finally deliver 50 advance copies of my book “Backyard Birds of the Piedmont.” I can hardly wait! It seems like forever since I started this project with my brother D. W. Maiden www.virginiabird.com . My original intent was to create a child’s book using my brother’s high-resolution, high-quality photographs of birds that live in the Piedmont area of the United States. From our early beginnings publishing them locally via color copiers and saddle-stitched until today has actually taken more than a year.

These beautiful wildlife books are available for ordering in the US from www.bookmasters.com or in Europe from www.mariposapress.com. While the books are written at a beginning-reader level, the stunning photography will attract bird lovers of all ages. Educators, from pre-school through elementary levels, can use these books in their classrooms to enhance children’s awareness of the wildlife all around them. These are also great for librarians and naturalists. Check out my website www.a-childs-book.com for more details.

Is It Spring Yet?

As I look out the front window, brilliant sunshine is a welcome site. The gray of winter seems to be gone, hopefully. I’m really looking forward to having some consistently nice weather as we move further into April. One thing I can always count on is that you never know what Washington DC weather is going to be. There’s always an unexpected snow flurry or small twister to surprise us.

But, overall, this is a beautiful time of year. Pleasant temperatures and blue skies pull me out of my winter slump and make me feel like doing something outside, if only to walk around and search for iris buds popping out in the garden. The only “something” I don’t really look forward to is cutting the grass. But, I see that it already needs a haircut.

     Yes, spring is here; but I’m not complaining !