Lucky dogs in New Orleans

I wish y’all could have seen the big smile on my face when a message from the New Orleans Public Library turned up in my inbox a few weeks ago. The Milton H. Latter Memorial Branch on St. Charles wanted to know if I’d come visit as a guest storyteller on Dec. 29, you know, while the kids are out of school for their holiday break. I couldn’t get my fingers on the y-e-s keys fast enough!

Mike, Hanni and I have been to New Orleans many times, we all just love this city. The place is a blind person’s paradise, really. The smell of green peppers and onions cooking in butter, the sound of live jazz in the streets, the feel of warm air, the tastes of decadent meals and drinks…New Orleans is the only city I know of where sight takes a back seat to the other senses.

We arrived on Christmas Day and have already enjoyed long walks, terrific food and sensational street music. The New Orleans Saints had a home game on Sunday. The team lost, but we still felt like winners. We are lucky dogs, enjoying the sunshine, fun and food. Some of my faves so far:

Best Jambalaya: Coop’s. The version I had featured rabbit (sorry, Lydialyle!) and andouille.
Best music: Palmetto Bug Stompers. I was raised on traditional jazz music and this group could really swing. Plus the trombone player was wearing a White Sox cap.
Best Music Venue: Spotted Cat. The women’s bathroom has a piano near the sinks — after washing my hands I played along with the band for a few measures -–the tune was in B flat.
Best Waiter: The guy at Adolfo’s. He found me waiting in line for the bathroom after dinner and asked if I wanted dessert.
Best Beer Joint: Fahy’s. We have a new friend in Chicago named John, and his sister Katie owns the place. Besides friendly bartenders and a great beer selection, it has two pool tables.

That's Paul Robinson, trombone player for Palmetto Bug Stompers and White Sox fan.

Tomorrow Hanni and I are giving a presentation at what is sure to be the best library branch in New Orleans. For now we’re off to Ignatius for lunch.

Doing a Trade Show? Bring a Dog Along!

A suggestion to anyone trying to lure conventioneers to your trade show booth: Perch yourself at a table between a beautiful dog and a gaggle of enthusiastic women. People will rush over to meet you.

That’s how it worked at the American Library Association convention this week, anyway. My publisher, Blue Marlin Publications, generously donated 80 copies of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound for me to give away there, and I signed books for librarians who visited the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) booth on Sunday, and then again at the booth for the Illinois chapter of the Society of  Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) on Tuesday morning. Hanni’s pawprint was rubber-stamped into each copy, too, and a flyer titled ”Hanni and Beth Love to Travel” was slipped into each book. The flyers gave librarians details on what Hanni and I do during author visits to schools and libraries. Librarians flocked to see Hanni, and the women working both booths were so helpful that I didn’t have to lift a finger. Except to sign books, of course.

Our time at the ASPCA booth on Sunday was especially entertaining — so many people came up to tell the staff how much they love the ASPCA, how they weep when they see the ASPCA commercial with singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan, how they got their own cat/dog/rabbit at a humane shelter, how they named that animal {FILL IN BLANK HERE} and how much they love {FILL IN BLANK HERE}. The staff member would listen appreciatively, then ask, would you like a signed book?” She’d point to our book cover, and then to me. Saving the best for last, the staff member would finally point down at Hanni, nodding off comfortably on the carpet. “We’re asking for a ten dollar donation for each book,” the staff member would say. “The donations will go to PAWS Chicago and Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Society.” How could they resist?!

Signing books at the ASPCA booth.

In my one hour time slot at ASPCA, I signed, brailled and rubber-stamped between 15 and 25 books. My publisher was delighted – this meant that their book donation had resulted in somewhere between $150 and $250 going to those humane associations.

Our time slot at the Illinois SCBWI booth on Tuesday was two hours long, the very last two hours of the entire convention. I was afraid everyone there would be sick of books by then! But I was wrong – the time slot turned out to be perfect. There was such a vacuum at that time –no other authors signing, no sessions going on — that Hanni and I were a major draw. Librarians actually stood in line to meet Hanni and have their copies of Safe & Sound signed. Thank goodness my friend Colleen and the SCBWI-Illinois staff were there to help — I was busy the entire two hours, signing books for librarians from the Bronx, Atlanta, New Jersey, even Hawaii! I had time to talk with each librarian one on one, which is what I enjoy most about doing book signings: I love meeting new people. And from a book promoter’s point of view, being last on the docket might have been the best time slot of all. The encounters librarians had with me might have been the very last (and hopefully, the most memorable) one they had with an author during the entire ALA convention.

You Can’t Judge a Librarian by Her (or His) Cover

Hanni and I are signing copies of Safe & Sound at the American Library (ALA) convention in Chicago this week. I swim at a lap pool in a Chicago hotel, and when I went to swim laps today I figured my eavesdropping along the way would tell me that the librarians had arrived. No talk in the lobby about which bobbie pins were best at holding hair back in buns, though. And nothing said in the elevator about which rubber stamp vendor to go to for stamping books at the check-out line. The people in the elevators didn’t all sound old and mousy –- a lot of them were young, and hey –- some of them were men!

From the conversations I heard, there could easily be a technology conference in town this week. Or a business convention. An academic conference. An arts convention. Because, if you think of it, libraries can be all of these things – a place to go for technology, a place of business, somewhere to find books, videos, music. And the professionals who work at these places? They’re as diverse as the libraries, all dedicated to providing information for others.

This is the second ALA convention Hanni and I are privileged enough to attend. Last year my sisters Marilee and Cheryl joined me at the ALA convention in Anaheim. Every day we went to author presentations, visited the exhibit hall, signed up for contests, picked up free pencils, post-it notes, books and catalogs. We made sure Safe & Sound was displayed front and center at any booth that carried this award-winning book. We knew librarians would love our book if they noticed it among the thousands of others featured at the convention! Cheryl couldn’t make it to the convention this year, but Marilee is coming in from Orlando — she’ll be with Hanni and me at our signings, making sure the lines flow quickly and I remember to include author visit descriptions and bookmarks with each book. We’ll be signing at three different locations Sunday, Monday and Tuesday:

• Sunday, July 12, 11 am to noon at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) booth in McCormick Place.
• Monday, July 13, 5:30 to 7:30, ASPCA Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award Ceremony in the St. Gallen Room at the Swissotel on E. Wacker Drive in Chicago. This one is a cocktail reception, and it’s free and open to the public.
• Tuesday, July 14, 11 am to 1 pm, in booth #1626,the Illinois Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators booth, sandwiched right between Scholastic and Charlesbridge – they get lots of traffic, so it’s a great location!

For more details on these signings, check out the schedule on my Web site. Hope to see (okay, hear) you at the convention!

Freeport Library is Goin’ to the Dogs!

A column in the Freeport Journal-Standard touts the upcoming Freeport Family Book Fest.

Born to bark. Born to run. Born to be read to? Absolutely. This week’s column is going to the dogs – literally a special group of tail-wagging canines who, along with a dozen award-winning authors, all from Illinois, will participate this year in the third Family Book Fest May 2 at the Freeport Public Library.

Hanni and I are tickled to be appearing at the Family Book Fest with such other great childrens book writers from Illinois: Leone Castell Anderson, Cheryl Bardoe, Marlene Targ Brill, Laura Crawford, Ophelia Julien, Donna Latham, Tim Magner, Janet Nolan, Kimberly L. Sullivan, Darwin McBeth Walton and Sheila Welch. That last author – Sheila Welch –also helped put this year’s Family Book Fest together in the first place. I was flattered when Sheila contacted me last year to ask us to be part of the fest, but when I found out how far away Freeport is from Chicago, I thought I’d have to decline. Freeport is hours away, past Rockford, and too small a town to have a train or bus station.

Sheila to the rescue! The two of us put our heads together and figured that if Hanni and I take a commuter train as far west as it goes, Sheila and her husband Eric could pick us up and drive us the rest of the way. Fellow author Janet Nolan, who lives in Oak Park, generously offered to drive us back home after the fest. Transportation taken care of, Sheila put Hanni and me on the Family Book Fest program. Not only that, but she worked with the other fest coordinators to develop a “dog theme” for the day.

Representatives from the Paws for Reading program (part of a local chapter of Therapy Dogs International) will be there, and it’s rumored that Clifford the Big Red Dog will be among costumed storybook characters roaming the library. The other authors there (if you read their bio’s, you’ll see that many are professed dog lovers!) will be giving private 10 to 15 minute presentations throughout the day — attendees can hear their full stories and have time to ask questions.

And Hanni and me? We’re the main presenters! From the column:

This year, one wonderful pooch in particular, a golden lab/retriever and Seeing Eye dog named Hanni will appear along with her owner and author, Beth Finke, to tell their story. Beth is the main speaker at the Book Fest and will talk about how she, as a blind person, and Hanni developed the companionship and teamwork necessary to work together and meet her needs.

Beth lost her vision when she was in her 20s, following complications that occurred from juvenile diabetes.

She will read in Braille from her award-winning picture book “Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound” about how a Seeing Eye dog does an important job.

This book won a Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 2008 and is available in print as well as in Braille for children who are blind. The book also contains four pages of information describing the Seeing Eye school where these special animals are trained. She autographs the books both in Braille and in print and Hanni’s paw print is rubber-stamped onto each individual copy.

Beth lives, works and travels around Chicago with help from Hanni. She also is the author of an adult book, her memoir, “Long Time, No See” and has published articles in Woman’s Day, the Chicago Tribune, Dog Fancy and Dogs for Kids.

The Family Book Fest runs from 10 am to 4 pm this Saturday, may 2 at the Freeport Public Library, 100 E Douglas St in Freeport, IL. For more information, call the library at 815.233.3000 or link to the Freeport Public Library web site.

Obama’s Book Club

An NPR story called Obama: A New Force in Publishing describes how our president is helping authors sell books.

When he’s seen reading a book on a plane or carrying one in his hand during his travels, it can create a stir. When Obama was photographed holding Fred Kaplan’s Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, the book’s sales bumped immediately, and requests for media interviews with the author surged.

Now, that’s the sort of surge I’d love to experience! So here’s my plan: I’m going to send a copy of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound to the schools the Obama kids go to. Both Obama daughters attend Sidwell Friends School, but Sidwell’s lower school is in Bethesda, Maryland — that’s where Sasha attends second grade. Malia is in fifth grade, and that’s part of the middle school, located on the same campus as the high school in Northwest Washington.

I’ll send a letter along with each book, explaining the visits Hanni and I make to schools. I’ll tell them about our dear friends in Alexandria, Virginia. “We visit Pick and Hank a lot,” I’ll write.” Next time we’re in town, Hanni and I would love to come visit your students.” I suppose the Sidwell Friends School gets barraged with offers like this, but am hoping my letter might stand out:

• I live in Chicago, and that’s where the Obama girls are from.
• it’s rumored Melee and Sasha will be getting their new dog as an Easter present tomorrow, so dogs will be all the rage at the school.
• Because I can’t see, I won’t know which of the kids in the school are the Obamas. This means I won’t gawk.

I came up with this great idea (to send a book to Sidwell) months ago, when the Obamas first announced that the girls would be attending that school. But as Thomas Edison liked to say, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” So far I haven’t worked up one bead of sweat composing the letter, much less addressing the envelopes or asking Hanni to guide me to the post office to slide the packets into the mail. Now that I’ve put this idea out to the public in this blog post, though, I have to do it, right?

My fantasy, of course, is that Sidwell asks Hanni & me to come. Malia and Sasha love our presentation so much that they take Safe & Sound home from the school library. Their dad greets them on the White House lawn when they return from school, and they hand the book over to him before receiving their hugs. Snap! Snap! Snap! The cameras start clicking, and next thing you know President Obama is pictured hugging his girls with one arm, the other arm hugging a copy of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound. This could be bigger than…well…bigger than Oprah.

From the NPR story:

Perhaps, Seroy (Jeff Seroy, a publicist for the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux} likes to say — only half in jest — Obama will have the kind of influence on book sales that his supporter Oprah Winfrey has had.

“I think there’s room for two Oprahs, and I think if there is a new Oprah, Oprah will be happy that Obama is the new Oprah,”

Martha Speaks, Hanni Listens

That's Hanni and me at Daniel Street School in Lindenhurst, NY.

Is it March 31 already!? Seems like an April Fool’s joke! This sure has been a busy – and rewarding — month for Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound. In one month, Hanni and I visited five elementary schools, two libraries, one health education center, one teacher education center, and appeared at one author-illustrator night. We traveled by planes, trains and automobiles to New York, Michigan and various Illinois locations. Somehow, we always managed to make it home, you guessed it: safe & sound! While Hanni and I were traveling around talking to folks aboutSafe & Sound, experts behind the scenes were giving our book some attention, too. This month Hanni and Beth: Safe & sound was included on a new American Library Association list of about 25 or so “outstanding books that portray emotional, mental, or physical disability experiences.” It’s a thrill to have our book listed with all those other sensational titles. But the thrill doesn’t end there: in this same month of March, my publisher at Blue Marlin Publications got a message from the kids TV show Martha Speaks at WGBH in Boston. If you’ve never seen Martha Speaks on TV, you can link here to watch videos to see what Martha’s show is like. From the Martha Speaks web site:

Martha Speaks is an animated series on PBS KIDS. Aimed at viewers between the ages of four and seven, Martha’s educational goal is to teach kids new words. Based on the children’s book series by Susan Meddaugh and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the series stars Martha, a beloved family dog. She is accidentally fed alphabet soup — this gives her the power of speech and the chance to speak her mind to anyone that will listen.

The educational outreach program folks from Martha Speaks contacted my publisher to order copies of our book for a new program they’re testing out in Boston and New York City. Our book will be given to students in city schools, and if the pilot program works, a national rollout will feature Safe & Sound online activity guides and other online materials in conjunction with a Martha Speaks recommended book list. So if all goes well, more libraries and other organizations across the country will hear about Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound — as they say in TVland…stay tuned!