My historical verse novel, Blue Birds, has just been named the 2016 Jefferson Cup Award winner for Young Readers, which honors a distinguished biography, historical fiction or American history book for young people. It is also included in this year’s New Mexico Battle of the Books elementary list and is a wonderful addition to upper elementary classrooms.
Blue Birds is a story of the island of Roanoke, England’s first colony in the Americas. Established in 1587, this colony founded twenty years before Jamestown met an untimely end. To this day, no one is truly sure what happened to the 117 colonists who lived there.
Blue Birds aligns with New Mexico’s fifth-grade social studies and English language arts content* and Common Core Standards.** Click through to find a free Educator’s Guide as well as a Lost Colony Timeline.
I would love to visit your school or Skype with your readers! Read on to learn more.
In-School Events
The following presentations work well with classes or BoB groups who’ve read Blue Birds. Each presentation runs fifty-minutes long.
Poetry 101: This introduction to poetry helps kids understand poetry is accessible, fun, and not just about love and flowers. Students will learn poetry basics, experience a variety of poetry, and create color poems. (grades 3-8)
The Lost Colony: What Really Happened?: Learn about the real history behind Blue Birds and what might have happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke. (grades 5-8)
If you would like to see all the presentations I have available, including several for younger grades, please refer to my Author Visits page.
In-School Events Rates
one fifty-minute presentation (small group or large):
- $250 (in Albuquerque only)
three fifty-minute presentations (small group or large), lunch with the author, and book signing:
- $600 inside Albuquerque’s sixty-mile radius
- $800 outside Albuquerque’s sixty-mile radius plus mileage and accommodations, if necessary
Online (Skype) Visits
An easy, affordable way for your readers to connect with me is through a virtual visit. Please click through to learn more.
Our new superintendent, Raquel Reedy, has excellent taste in books!
School visits and Skype sessions aren’t only limited to schools and book clubs within New Mexico and don’t have to focus on Blue Birds alone. Stop by my Author Visits and Books pages to learn about other presentations and become familiar with my work.
Here’s to an excellent school year for your young readers. I’d love if you’d spread the word!
*History strand 1-B and 1-C, ELD standards 2 and 5
** CCSS 5.RL.3, CCSS 5.RL.4, CCSS 5. RL.5, CCSS 5.L.4, CCSS 5.L.5, CCSS 5.W.3, CCSS 5.W.7, CCSS 5.RI.9, CCSS 5.SL.1
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