Sunday, March 26, 2006

Welcome to My World

In the 35 days since I last posted a message on my blog, I’ve:

• taught 21 days of school
• read and reviewed 10 books
• written 6 newspaper columns
• started an e-mail list and sent 5 messages to the over 200 subscribers
• sent 6 query letters
• attended the 2 day Forum of Children’s Literature conference at UVSC
• presented at the Nebo Young Writer’s Conference
• participated in a Picture Book workshop taught by Rick Walton
• completed a night of parent teacher conferences for work
• attended a board meeting for the Utah Council of Teachers of English
• sat in a training session for foster parents
• posted final grades for over 125 students
• watched my sons play in 4 league championship basketball games
• kept track of my 5 sons for school, work, church, and play activities
• and somehow managed to keep at least a thread of my sanity.

Now you can see why I said I wouldn’t commit to updating my blog on any kind of a schedule. If the rest of you are as busy as I seem to be, you probably don’t have time to check in regularly either, so don’t feel bad if it’s been awhile since you stopped into the blog site.

I’m pleased to announce that my newsletter subscriber list has been growing by leaps and bounds. If you are interested in reading, writing, teaching, or adolescent literature, I hope you’ve signed up for these weekly e-mails. If you haven’t, and you’d like to try it out, just send an e-mail to me at LuAnn@LuAnnStaheli.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject heading.

I’ve started working on Volume 2 of Books, Books, and More Books: A Teacher and Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Literature. For those of you who are not familiar with my first CD-Book, in addition to chapters on how adolescent literature can be used with students, successful teaching strategies, and choosing books for multiple purposes, there are 100 Book Study Guides included in the text.

Volume 1 features guides for books by the following authors: David, Almond, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Lois Thompson Bartholomew, Joan Bauer, Gary Blackwood, William J. Brooke, Bruce Brooks, Meg Cabot, Orson Scott Card, Eoin Colfer, Ellen Conford, Caroline B.Cooney, Sharon Creech, Chris Crutcher, Christopher Paul Curtis, Paula Danzinger, Kate DiCamillo, Sharon M. Draper, Alane Ferguson, Paul Fleischman, Susan Fletcher, Gail Friesen, Jack Gantos, Amy Gordon, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Mary Downing Hahn, Bruce Hale, Betsy Hearne, Sid Hite, Will Hobbs, Kimberly Willis Holt, Betty Horvath, Kathy Kacer, Ron Koertge, Gail Carson Levine, Ann M. Martin, Norma Fox Mazer, Joyce McDonald, Lois Metzgher, Carolyn Meyer, Walter Dean Meyers, Claudia Mills, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, John Neufeld, Naomi Shihab Nye, Gary Paulsen, Richard Peck, Rodman Philbrick, Randall Beth Platt, Phillip Pullman, Kristin Randle, Louise Rennison, Ann Rinaldi, John H. Ritter, J. K. Rowling, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Louis Sachar, Gloria Skurzynski, Lemony Snicket, Jerry Spinelli, Todd Strasser, Ross Venokier, Will Weaver, Gloria Whelan, Carol Lynch Williams, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jacqueline Woodson, and Lawrence Yep.

If there are any books you would love to see in a future edition, please let me know. It is always my goal to produce a user-friendly and helpful product. Thanks!

I can be reached either by leaving a message here, or send me an e-mail at LuAnn@LuAnnStaheli.com. Thanks again for checking in.

Lu Ann