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Book Club Blog Posts are coming!

So many of my readers are home from school this spring because of the pandemic. I thought it would be fun to do a little Book Club on my blog. Starting April 1st, I’ll be creating three posts for families to use while reading my book. They will have science connections, some links for learning more and some fun things to try at home. No worksheets. Just a fun look at the science behind the story. First up! A Wolf Called Wander.

book cover A Wolf Called Wander — A Wolf Called Wander has been nominated for the Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature

I am waiting to create my first Book Club Posts because I need to finish up working on a book coming out in the fall. It’s a companion book to A Wolf Called Wander but the viewpoint character in this story is as big as a school bus! I’m so excited! Meanwhile I strongly encourage your whole family to take a cue from wolves in the wild and indulge in an after dinner howl from time to time. It’s good for the pack!

California here I come!

I’m so excited to be coming to the Bay Area for a whirlwind weekend of bookstore visits. All you adventurers, explorers, and wildlife trackers, come to your local bookstore and we will talk wolves and tracking and wilderness adventure. Every explorer who comes to my book events will get a small tracking journal of their own! Can’t wait to meet all you wolf fans. Here’s the schedule

Friday July 12th at BOOK PASSAGE in Corte Madera, CA at 7pm

Saturday July 13th at TOWNE CENTER BOOKS in Pleasanton, CA at 11am

also Saturday July 13th at FLASHLIGHT BOOKS in Walnut Creek, CA at 3pm

And Sunay July 14th at THE BOOK MINE in Napa, CA at 2pm.

A Book Partner for Last of the Name

One of my favorite parts of researching a historical fiction is finding books that will be a perfect partner for my work-in-progress. Books that illuminate an era near to the one in my story or books that explore the same events from a different lens. I am always grateful when my publisher makes room in the back of the book to recommend these book partners. The author notes in LAST OF THE NAME point to several books by Zetta Elliot, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Walter Dean Myers.

Sometimes a book comes along too late to be included but is nevertheless a perfect companion read. Streetcar to Justice: how Elizabeth Jennings won the right to ride in New York, by Amy Hill Hearth came out last year. It is non-fiction, set in New York city a mere ten years before the setting of Last of the Name. And it illuminates a little known bit of history.

Nearly everyone knows Rosa Parks but did you know that more than 100 years before the Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a woman named Elizabeth Jennings won the right in court for a black person to ride the public trolley in New York City. Hill’s well documented book is chock full of photographs which illuminate the condition of the streets of New York in the pre-Civil War era.

So many of the difficult racial, ethnic, and class issues we are facing today had their roots more than a hundred years ago. I hope both these books spark conversation and reflection on how we got to this moment, and inspire readers to move forward with ever greater understanding and compassion.

An Immigration Conversation with Comhaltus

One of the reasons I can write about the immigration of the Irish to America was the preservation of that history through music. Comhaltus (pronounced coal-tus) is an organization devoted to the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music. We are sponsoring an immigration conversation on Sunday afternoon April 7th at 2pm at the Hillsdale Public Library 1525 SW Sunset Blvd, Portland, OR 97239. We are going to share how we remember and honor our past and what that past might call us to in the future. Everyone is welcome to come and listen and share as they feel comfortable. Immigration touches us all. There will be refreshments and music.

A Book Party for Last of the Name

I’m so excited about the book party for Last of the Name because it will be as much a celebration of the perseverance of Irish culture as it is of the book. I’ll be joined by musicians and dancers and we will be meeting in the Annex next door to Annie Blooms Bookstore where you can order food and drinks from our neighbor restaurant Gastromania. I hope to see you there!