Serving as one of the featured #Authors at the Alphabet Forest in the #MNStateFair was a BLAST! 💥 My cheeks hurt from smiling and turnout at our literacy craft table was great. Thanks and kudos to all the people who contributed to the day’s success. 💜 📕 My heart is full. 😊 #SCBWI #WritingCommunity

So very excited to participate as an #author in the #MNStateFair tomorrow!

Less than a week to go until my first-ever stint as the #MNStateFair author of the day at the Alphabet Forest!! They already have my book on display. I have GOT to pace myself or I’m going to pop from excitement! 💥

This empty nester has apparently become a country song: 🎶 “Mama’s still cooking too much for supper.” 🎶 Geez. Now excuse me, I’ve gotta go freeze a TON of zucchini-chard-soy crumble. #Parenting #OrganicGardening

It’s almost time for the Great MN Get-Together! Did you know the Alphabet Forest offers fun activities every day, presented by local #Authors and #Illustrators? (My turn is Labor Day.) Stop by and take a breather!

A huge congratulations to Julie Evans on her debut #PictureBook Fluffle Shuffle! It blows my mind that she can tell an entire story using only words that end in __uffle. Yeah, chew on that! 🧐😍📕🐰❤️ #WritingCommunity #SCBWI

Thanks for the fun interview, Jan Milusich, where we discuss bugs, books, and the power of hope! #SCBWI #KidLit #Wildfires #hope #WritingCommunity

A Forest Begins Anew

Recently, I’ve been fortunate to write about newly published children’s books and their creators on Writer-Reader-Teacher. This week’s blog post brings yet another title I’m…

writerreaderteacher.wordpress.com

I left a piece of my 💜 at ISU today. Managed to keep it together until I drove off, then ugly cried like a baby. This parenting thing is not for the faint of heart. #ParentingIsHard #CollegeLife

Another #author first: My name on a marquee in downtown Mpls! Maybe I’m just vain, but the validation tickled me to no end. Huge thanks to Molly Beth Griffin for inviting me to present at the Picture Book Salon! #SCBWI #WritingCommunity

Look who just found me as I was cutting buckthorn! Made my day! #InsectLife #NatureLovers

When I got home, my house shoes were missing. Found one on the dog pillow. The other? Neatly tucked away in the doggie toy bin. At least they were tidy thieves. #DogLover #Organization

40 more lunches ready for the school year: Tomato or veggie soup. 🥣 😋 🍅 🥦 🧅 #OrganicGardening #HealthyHabits

Hey, local writers and writer-curious friends! You’re invited to a free event at Open Book in Mpls on Tuesday, August 11, 7-8:30 pm. I’ll be walking folks through how to attract teachers (and others) to your book by creating supplemental materials. Hope to see you there! Here are all the details:

Check it out! Kristin Johnson’s amazing book FEARLESS is now available in Spanish! 📕 💜 Find more info here: kfjbooks.com/books/fearle...

Ever been invited to a pool party but you burned your shins kayaking and now they’re too tender to shave or expose to the sun and they look like pink stockings, plus you can’t wash all the lake mud out from under your toenails and they look like hobbit feet? Yeah. Me neither. 😒 #SummerVibes

Hey, #watercolor painters, are you compelled to finish all colors in the pan around the same time? I painted this just to use up remaining pink and purple, my least fav colors. #IsThisArt #Relaxing

When you start the day with a #moth on your hand… it’s gonna be a good day. #InsectLife #ChooseKindness

When the #painting instructor didn’t show, the #librarian pointed out that we may as well stay since we’d already set time aside to focus on our creative selves. I stayed and drew stuff from online tutorials to #watercolor later. Would you have stayed or gone home? ✍️ vs 🏠 #MentalHealthMatters #relax

Excited to be dropping off material at the fairgrounds for my Labor Day stint as the featured #author at the MN State Fair’s Alphabet Forest! #WritingCommunity #SCBWI #KidLit

Many thanks to the Toronto Star for inadvertently showing us why we should all use the Oxford Comma. Apparently Sylvia had some, let's say, complicated hobbies:

I write kidlit and work in a jail library. It melts my heart when my patrons request PB & MG during such a difficult time in their lives. These books are powerful and complex. They provide comfort and bring back beautiful memories. They make people feel seen and safe. They are for EVERYONE. #booksky

First time growing garlic 🧄 and I learned that if you plant in the spring instead of the fall, the so-called “harvest” comes out looking like tiny onion bulbs, not like the giant garlic heads with multiple cloves that overwinter. I harvested less than I planted. #OrganicGardening #LiveAndLearn

It’s always surreal to be the featured #Author! A belated thank you to prolific blogger Deborah Kalb! #WritingCommunity #SCBWI deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2026/05/q-wi...

Q&A with Louise M. Aamodt

Louise M. Aamodt is the author of the new children's picture book A Forest Begins Anew . She is also an educator, and...

deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com

Another #author first! 😃 📕 #WritingCommunity #SCBWI

I came across buckthorn control goats at the park this morning, so that must mean it’s going to be a superb day! #OrganicGardening #GoatLife

I just love the Superpower series by Jill Esbaum! 📚 💪 So funny yet informative.

Pat Zietlow Miller (she/her)@patzmiller.bsky.social · 3mo ago

So happy to see Jill Esbaum talk about her new picture book illustrated by Bob Shea — HORNED TOAD HAS A SUPER POWER — at Sidekick Coffee & Books in Iowa City. Awesome author! Awesome store.

Free mini tapestry weaving class from my #library. If I squint really hard I can imagine it’s a beach scene. 😆 #IsThisArt #SummerVibes #Relaxation

Need help discussing wildfires 🔥 with kids? Here’s a great lineup of #books to choose from. 📚 Thanks to Vicki Palmquist for including A Forest Begins Anew! t.e2ma.net/click/vnu5mm... #WritingCommunity #SCBWI #wildfires

Wildfires » Bookology Magazine

A list of books about wildfires and forests requested by a summer school teacher who shared that her "students have been consumed by worries about wildfires."

t.e2ma.net

I spy with my author’s eye… my #PictureBook in the background of the ALA conference pics! #WritingCommunity #SCBWI #ALA

A friend asked me to post more of my Bad Art pics. Let this encourage you to enjoy the process without worrying about the product. 😌 #MentalHealthMatters #IsThisArt