Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

Thanks, too, to all the great folks at Maysville Elementary School for a terrific visit! Media Specialist Sara Mixon went all out to provide the school's first "Cultural Arts Week," and I was honored to participate.

What an imaginative bunch of kids! Thanks for all the hugs and howls. :0)

Big thanks to all the sixth graders at South Hall Middle School for participating in my visit this past week. What a fun, creative bunch!

Media Specialist Laura Losch kindly blogged about our day:

http://shmsmediacenter.wordpress.com/

She's one of the most "connected" media specialists around, and  Read More 

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.  Read More 

I'm looking forward to presenting at the Cedar Valley Arts Festival in Cedartown, Ga. this Saturday, April 25, at 11:30 in the Children's area. The organizers are so enthusiastic about providing cultural and literary opportunities to their community's youngsters. My friend Elizabeth Dulemba - www.dulemba.com - dazzled them last year.
Can't wait! (Link at left)

The two wolves at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve (www.chestateewildlife.com) are celebrating their first birthday this month. Volunteering with them has been one of the highlights of my life! They teach me something every week.

Happy Birthday, Juno and Luna!

(Click on my WOLVES page to see pictures of them growing up this past year.)

 Read 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 Read More 

I'm polishing up my presentations for LaGrange College this coming Tuesday and can't wait to spend time with folks dedicated to the promotion of children's literature.

http://www.lagrange.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?data=Nghe9Mdf%2b6oFBrtTL8%2buf1IYya1faG0sEL%2bZPkgvzaE%3d

I'm looking forward to a tour of the campus and  Read 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: Read 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. Read More 

What a terrific weekend.

Award-winning author Kathleen Duey and editors Caitlyn Dlouhy, Abigail Samoun, and Mary Kate Castellani shared knowledge, insight, warmth and charm with more than 150 attendees at our SCBWI Southern Breeze Springmingle.

Last year, all our speakers' flights were cancelled because of winter weather in New York, and we scrambled to get them  Read More