I’m still catching up from last week…Thanksgiving and the NCTE Conference and ALAN Workshop in Las Vegas. But now that I’m digging out from the turkey bones and piles of laundry, I wanted to share a few more photos from an amazing week.
After three days of speaking and signing at NCTE, I had one last event before heading home — an ALAN breakout session called “Creating Ripples: Writing for Kids in the Middle” with some of the authors who inspire me most. We had a wonderful afternoon talking with teachers about why writing for middle school kids is such a privilege for us. Here’s our panel:
I loved hearing the other ALAN speakers in the main ballroom, too — so many amazing ideas and so much inspiration. But I also spent a little time away from the conference center on the Monday afternoon of ALAN.
This is Valley of Fire State Park. My friend & fellow TED2012 speaker Angie Miller decided that a little fresh air would do us good after Monday’s morning workshop, so we rented a car and headed out to climb rocks, spot wildlife, ogle 4000-year-old petroglyphs, and just explore. Here’s some of what we found.
Valley of Fire is a truly stunning landscape — one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen with so much space to roam. It was so very welcome after the bright lights and loud music of Vegas.
Between the wonder of the desert and the magic of so many book lovers at NCTE/ALAN, I came home feeling refreshed and full of hope. The world is a pretty amazing place, full of some truly awesome people.
Sorry to contact you here, but I couldn\’t find a contact button on your site. Great to see you at NCTE! I have a video on my phone of the Notables booktalk about your talk. Sadly, the first few words, including the title, are cut off. But it\’s a lovely booktalk by Donalyn Miller. (Distant view, but the audio is good.) You\’d have to check with her individually regarding permission to share. Just wondering if you\’d like me to email the file to you, or if you already have plenty of stuff like that. Wanted to check before I delete it off my phone:>)
I’d love that, Laura – thank you! My email is kmessner at kate messner dot com (no spaces or anything!) Thanks!