Kate Narita has a pretty great blog called Classroom Book of the Week, where she looks at how teachers can tie books in with fun class activities. I never thought of Mudville as a classroom book, but she has some fun ideas. I even learned a new word: biomimicry. I also did a short interview with her.
The Mamba Point release is now fifty days away, and now I’ve got official confirmed plans for launch day — I’ll be on KFAI radio talking to Charlotte Sullivan about living in Liberia and writing this book. KFAI is 90.3 in Minneapolis, 106.7 in St. Paul, and right here, everywhere. The show starts at 7 PM Central and goes for an hour. I’m not sure which half is my half, but I do know the other half is John Coy. All of these team appearances are in anticipation of our new Abbot & Costello-styled comedy show, “Kurtis and Coy,” coming soon to a Vaudeville music hall near you. Seriously, we did agree to an open mike forum, so it’ll be fun.
Wonder what to do until then? You might check out The Horn Book‘s recommended summer reading list for kids. There are some great books on there, especially in the Intermediate category. 
Some talented young (and one young-ish) artists contributed new drawings of snakes for the gallery. Here’s a sneak preview:
(These and many more can be viewed here.)
Remember that you, too, can have your work featured in the gallery, which I set up to celebrate Mamba Point. I prefer hand-drawn images, but have also welcomed digital images and photographs. See the contact me page for where to send them. All artists will be eligible to win books and other prizes.
(P.S. The reading was great. Thanks Heather and Swati for the invitation, thanks to to John for sharing the stage, and thanks to everyone who came, especially my friends from Appleton. It was great to see you!)
I’ll be going to The Loft this Saturday for the “Second Story” series, which always features a young (or in my case, newly published) author and a more experienced author who write for kids. I’ll be there with John Coy, who’s just released his ninth book, Eyes on the Goal. It’s the second in his 4 for 4 series of middle-grade sports novels.
The event is at 11:00 a.m., and I’m told there’ll be pie.
… in about three months that is. I’m really excited to add The Wild Rumpus to the events listing; it’s a fun store in a great neighborhood. I’ll be there on July 31 at 2 PM. There’s an outstanding ice cream shop nearby you can go to later.
Remember that I’ll also be at The Loft at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 22 with the terrific John Coy talking about sports books for kids; that’s on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis, appropriately spitting distance from the Metrodome. I’ll read from Mudville and maybe include a harrowing football scene from my Work In Progress.
My events page has all the deets, as well as two other events in between.