Robyn Hood Black - children's author

Tomorrow kicks off a week of "Random Acts of Publicity" in the children's lit world, thanks to Darcy Pattison (our keynote speaker for the SCBWI Southern Breeze fall conference, by the way). See http://www.darcypattison.com/pr-notes/random-acts/

I have too many authors to brag about for just one week, so I'm stretching it out for the next month or so. I'd actually like to usher in all this fun with a poetry anthology just out this summer. Lee Bennett Hopkins's AMAZING FACES (Lee and Low), illustrated by the award-winning Chris Soentpiet, amazing himself, lives up to its title. (more…)

Thanks to Lakeview Academy in Gainesville, Ga., for hosting me to kick off the Lower School's "Writing Celebration" last week. Students of all ages have been learning and polishing their writing skills all year, and this year's celebration theme was "Capturing Ideas" - with the perfect visual of spring butterflies, fluttering all around the writing displays. (more…)

Morning here has dawned with bold sun, boisterous birds, and buds all around. Like that alliteration?

Spring is the perfect time to stop for a moment and pay attention. My friend Ellen recently gave me some sticky notes with the phrase, "All creativity begins with noticing."

What will you notice on this fine, spring day? I still fall in with Wordsworth: "To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." For more contemporary takes on noticing and poetry, check out the rich and boisterous blogs of these three blogs: (more…)

Pre-spring's first rumble of thunder today calls me to make good on my promise to share great books in my blog this year.

A perfect first "share" is SHARING THE SEASONS, a glorious hot-off-the-press collection by renowned poet/anthologist Lee Bennet Hopkins, illustrated by Caldecott madalist David Diaz (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010). (more…)

Busy week!

I finally uploaded a couple of pictures from last weekend's HIGHLIGHTS Founders Workshop, "Wordplay," led by Rebecca Kai Dotlich with special guests Susan Pearson and Alice Schertle. Check out my Poetry Page for these. I'm thrilled to have met all these wonderful women! (I know guys write poetry, too, but we had an all-female crowd.) (more…)

I'm writing this in the living room of the home of the founders of HIGHLIGHTS in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. We're here for Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "Wordplay" workshop with special guests Alice Schertle and Susan Pearson. The weather is beautiful, the food is amazing, and the talent and comraderie has been simply inspiring. More to come!

Elizabeth Dulemba was right: the Cedar Valley Arts Festival folks put on a lovely show! Weather was a bit warm, but so are the organizers. Well done, ladies, and all those countless volunteer hours are for one purpose: to enhance the cultural and arts experiences of the community's youngsters. Bravo!

Tomorrow I'm delighted to be off to South Hall Middle School to enjoy the day with sixth-graders. Media Specialist Laura Losch goes above and beyond the call of duty to make reading fun for the students. (more…)

Happy National Poetry Month!
Would you believe award-winning poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins has, not one, but THREE brand new books to help you celebrate?

City I Love (Abrams) is a sparkling collection of Lee's own poems, both new and previously published, and all fresh. Illustrator Marcellus Hall provides readers with a tour guide (more…)

I love spring... when every venture outside yields some new shock of color or more riotous birdsong!

I'm also already looking forward to fall, when I'll be immersed in poetry in Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "Wordplay" Founders Workshop at Highlights up in Honesdale, Pa.

Rebecca's latest book is a picture book from Atheneum, hot off the press: (more…)

On Friday, March 6, ward-winning poet and anthologist Paul B. Janeczko kicked off a terrific weekend at the University of Georgia's 40th Annual Conference on Children's Literature. His many books, including the hot-off-the-press third collaboration with (Caldecott Medal-winning) illustrator Chris Raschka, A Foot in the Mouth, make poetry accessible, lively, and fun - even for young readers whose intitial reaction to poetry might not be enthusiastic.

Describing his own less-than-stellar early academic career, Janeczko said his goals in life did not include being an author, but rather achieving Little League fame and outliving the "one-eyed crazed cur" in the forsythia bushes. (more…)