Maine Festival of the Book

Location: Portland, Maine

"A Rich Conversation: Connecting Cultures Through Children's Lierature" - workshop with authors Reza Jalali and Maria Testa; 2:30 p.m.
For more info: Maine Festival of the Book

Date: Saturday, March 31

Canal Elementary School

Location: Westbrook, ME

Library presentation of A Path of Stars to a 3rd and a 4th grade class, followed by making New Year's cards for Cambodian neighbors in Maine, delivered to the temple in Buxton.

press release

Date: April 12

Barbieri Elementary School

Location: Framingham, MA

Presentation of A Path of Stars to 4th and 5th graders for Author Day at this bilingual school. Students made cards with a lotus drawing, "Happy New Year" in Khmer, and a personal greeting, which were mailed to the Cambodian Buddhist Temple in Lowell.

Date: April 13

SCBWI New England Conference

Location: Springfield, MA

Presenting workshop, "Color Your World:"

As poet Lucille Clifton said, "The literature of America should reflect the children of America." But in the 21st century, the children's book field is not nearly as racially diverse as our society - neither in those who select, create and produce the books, nor in the books themselves. The introduction will review some of the reasons for this reality, including some good news: research demonstrating that exposure to diverse children's books can actually reduce prejudice. The bulk of the workshop will focus on what illustrators and writers can do now, including exploring your own experience of race, creating characters from races different from your own, drawing racial differences, supporting writers and illustrators of color, and choosing diverse books. Together we’ll imagine possibilities for creating books in which all of our nation’s children can see themselves reflected.

and serving on faculty for Illustrator Academy at the regional conference of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

More Information

Date: April 20—22, 2012

Park Avenue Elementary School

Location: Auburn, ME

Young Authors Day visit with 5th and 6th graders.

Date: April 27, 2012

International Reading Association

Location: Chicago, Illinois

"New Neighbors: Using Children's Books to Build Bridges Between New Arrivals and Long-term Communities" - Panel presentation with author Terry Farish (The Good Braider), and Kirsten Cappy of Curious City.

Date: April 30, 2012
Time: 11:00 AM - 1:45 PM

Bush School

Location: Seattle, WA

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM: Diversity Speaker Series presents: "Mirrors & Lenses: A Conversation About Race" - How can we talk about race with children in a way that will foster healthy racial and anti-racist identities?

Date: May 8

Falmouth Elementary School

Location: Falmouth, Maine

Presentations to all 5th grade classes

Date: May 14-15

Korea Studies Program

Location: University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Presentation of The Legend of Hong Kil Dong

Date: June 26

Shanghai American School

Location: Shanghai, China

presentations to grades K-12

Date: October