Zinnia and the Bees was published one year ago today! To celebrate, I finally made a bookface!
And here are some favorite snaps to recap the past year.
Plus, I’m giving away one signed copy of the book over on twitter—come see!
I’m absolutely thrilled that Zinnia and the Bees is a finalist for the 2018 Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Awards in the Middle Grade category! Mostly, I’m thrilled to be among such stellar kids’ books and their creators! The Children’s Awards Luncheon will be on October 20th at the SCIBA Trade Show.
Meaghan at The Decorated Cookie made some chocolate bee pops in honor of Zinnia and the Bees a while back! And since spring is in the air and the bees are buzzing, I wanted to share them with you now.
She and I have collaborated before for This Picture Book Life (here and here) when she made adorable treats to pair with kids’ books. So it’s especially fun that she did the same for my book! A big, big thanks to her!
Check out Meaghan’s post at The Decorated Cookie to get the full instructions to make your own.
I hope you’ll come see me at some spring events in and around Los Angeles.
I’ll be part of LA’s Yarn Crawl, the LA Times Festival of Books, and LitFest Pasadena!
I was lucky enough to visit Nashville over the weekend and have an event at Her Bookshop while I was there. Plus my friend, the one and only Emily Arrow, joined me to sing the Zinnia and the Bees song!
Our pom poms and yarn bombed hair (see the last photo) were perfect for a chilly Saturday morning storytime.
And if you want to make your own simple pom pom, the instructions are right here.
Until next time, Nashville!
It was a joy to share Zinnia and the Bees at one of my favorite places over the weekend, Reading to Kids!
I’ve written about this organization before here if you’d like to learn more about a wonderful volunteer opportunity one Saturday morning a month in Los Angeles. It’s a chance to read and craft with kids at eight schools in the city, to instill a love of reading, to connect to and encourage students through discussion and conversation and crafting, and to give each participant a free book to take home with them.
Big thanks to the affiliated teachers and to R2K for choosing my book as a read aloud! Here are some pics of the morning—I got to collaborate with one of my favorite volunteer friends. Hearing him read aloud from the story was a huge gift.
I made a short video about Zinnia and the Bees for teachers or librarians (or anyone!) to show to students in order to give them a sense of the story. Plus, there’s a show and tell!
Come see!
A huge thanks to everyone who snapped and shared a photo of Zinnia and the Bees in 2017! And to everyone who read it, reviewed it online, checked it out from a library, or got it into the hands of a kid reader, which is the very best gift—THANK YOU!
Best wishes & happy reading in 2018!
I had my first school visit here in Los Angeles, thanks to Skylight Books!
And I’m currently scheduling more for 2018! If you’re a teacher or librarian (or know one), I’d love to hear from you!
All the details are right here.
I was delighted to see Zinnia and the Bees appear in two special places this December.
It was on Powell’s Books Staff Picks of Best Kids’ Books of 2017!
And it was in Book Riot’s Middle Grade Gift Giving Guide, too—woo hoo!
