Small Reads for Brighters Days
I am SO delighted to be featured on children’s author Judy Bradbury’s blog today! She’s featuring We Belong and focusing on some ideas to support social-emotional learning. I hope you’ll visit! [My Classroom Connections posts share a way to connect one of my books or poems to a classroom topic–often something timely that you might […]
I’ve done library storytimes for years, but it’s usually just an occasional event here and there. This summer, though, picture book author Yvonne Pearson and I are teaming up to do loon storytimes at ALL 14 branches of the East Central Regional Library in Minnesota! We’re calling it For the Love of Loons, and we’ll […]
Back in 2020, a librarian in Walker, MN, reached out to various authors and asked us to share what libraries mean to us. My essay just appeared last month. You can click on the image below to read it in .pdf form. Thank you, librarians of all kinds, for all you do to create safe […]
It’s been a couple of months since We Belong came out, and I’ve been remiss about sharing a few nice things. A Kirkus review: “The overarching message that all are equal and belong on this beautiful planet Earth is enhanced by the final observation that when we learn from each other, we grow. Aguilera’s […]
I love seeing student equation poems—they always make me smile when I see them on social media. Unfortunately, after I reply with enthusiasm, I usually just move on. What I should be doing is sharing them here, so that other educators can see how to use Snowman-Cold=Puddle as a mentor text. I’m vowing to get […]
Today, for Classroom Connections, I decided to use my Lion of the Sky poetry collection as a starting point for my sticky note poem. I picked a riddle-ku and used the N+7 exercise to swap out the nouns. (I used this online children’s dictionary, since I don’t have a print dictionary at hand.) Here’s the […]
On Wednesdays (when I share tips for educators related to my books) for Poetry Month, I’m planning to share poetryactions–that’s what I’ve called poems that use some book as a starting point for my inspiration. Usually I write these poems inspired by other people’s books, but this month, I’ll do a few based on my […]
I’m so excited to share the lovely news that Secrets of the Loon is a winner for the 2021 Riverby Award for exceptional nature books for young readers! Whee! I am hugely honored. This picture book launched right as the pandemic hit, all in-person events were canceled, and, like many 2020 books, it hasn’t had […]
At the end of February, I visited four elementary schools in Albert Lea, Minnesota. It was an adventurous week, with a school closing for weather, schedule changes, and rooms full of kids! Wow. It was kind of a shock to my system after two years of not gathering, but it was amazing. The media specialists, […]
Hi, educators and writers! Today, I’m delighted to be featured in children’s author/puppeteer/blogger/lovely human Lydia Lukidis’ Blissfully Bookish series. I hope you’ll skip on over there to find out what scared me about writing this book, what author I do or don’t want to have dinner with, and my single best marketing tip and revision […]
