Speaking about The Leakeys book

This will be short, as I'm off to pack and fly to Chicago to join a panel of other nonfiction writers at the American Library Association conference. Meeting fellow writers face-to-face that I now know only online is exciting and seeing old friends, like Amy Hansen and Wendie Old, will also be fun.

I hope Wendie has her camera. For my booktalk, I'm wearing a gorgeous necklace and cape in the Maasai colors of black and red that the Liaram family gave me when we visited. Hopefully, my next post will include some photos.

If you're at the ALA, join us at the "Non-fiction Bookblast: Booktalks for Reluctant Readers"
Sunday, July 12, 2009, 10:30 a.m.-noon
ALA Annual Conference, Chicago Convention Center, room W181
Wiki at http://nfbookblast.pbworks.com/

Great Migration in full swing!

Today's e-mail from the Mara Triangle said "Not very professional video, but gives you a small sense of the spectacle." That's understatement! True, it's not professional but the sheer drama of huge wildebeests tumbling over each other to get down a ravine and across the Mara River, with a lion twitching its tail in gleeful anticipation of a fine dinner is amazing! For more, see the Mara Triangle blog.

Wildebeest Crossing Mara River - Oh **** there's a lion! from Stood in the Congo on Vimeo.

Weather and watching the Mara change

I keep a weather app on my iPhone that tells me the temperature at various spots where family live. I check Dexter, MI, where my daughter and family live -- colder in winter than Maryland. I check Ocean City, MD, and think how great it would be any time of year to walk along the beach.

Nairobi has a consistent temperature. It may be snow-cone cold or Hades hot in Maryland but it's usually between 70 and 80° F. (21-27° C.) in Kenya year-round. Despite minimal swings in temperature, the Mara has a rhythm of rain that changes patterns of animal travel. More animals when rain makes green grass and easy grazing then means more animal watchers. I had an e-mail from Jackson. He wrote: "We are getting busy and the Wildebeests Migration has just spread all over the Mara. This year they have come early, perhaps the Serengeti is very dry."

So the greatest wild animal show on earth is beginning early this year! Check out Paul Kirui's Mara blog to see some fantastic photos of lion and cheetah in trees!

Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks for Reluctant Readers

Eighteen -- 18! -- nonfiction writers will speak!

If you're attending the American Library Association conference in Chicago July 12, you are definitely invited to attend! I'm one of the 18 and would love to have you introduce yourself to me and say you read about this on my blog. Here's when and where:

Sunday, July 12, 2009
10:30 am to 12:00 pm
ALA Annual Conference, Chicago
wiki at http://nfbookblast.pbworks.com/

Track: Children & Young Adults; Literature & Collection Development

Despite the emphasis on fiction for leisure reading in schools, many reluctant readers are often more drawn to reading nonfiction. Expand your nonfiction repertoire as 18 authors booktalk their latest work.

My booktalk will be on my paperback book to be published in November from Prometheus Books: THE LEAKEYS: A BIOGRAPHY. Friend and my co-author of BUSY TOES and BUSY FINGERS, Wendie Old, will also be speaking, Amy Hansen, also a friend and fellow Children's Book Guild of DC member (as is Wendie) will speak and a lot of new friends I know only online from planning our booktalks.

"Visit" from a friend

Here is a photo of friend Paul Kirui, my daughter and trusty research assistant Hope, and me at Mara Intrepids Lodge in March 2008. Last fall Paul e-mailed me that he had been a commentator on an episode of the BBC's Big Cat Diary. Unfortunately, not only was the program not shown in the US, but the program couldn't be accessed here on the BBC Web site. A few days ago I checked again, and was delighted to see a video of Paul and hear his voice talking about a favorite subject--vultures. Click here. Scroll down to Vultures Close Up. Also, you can see a video Koiyaki Guide School, which Jackson Liaram attended (and we visited last March), and other Mara and Mara River sights. 

After you watch the wonderful BBC videos, check out Paul's Web site on the Mara and read back thru my blog for information about him and his research with vultures. He'll convince you that they are far from being just ugly birds; they are fascinating and help maintain the balance of life in Mara.

A video from the Mara Triangle

This is a wonderful video that shows both the enthusiasm and spirit of the Maasai people and also the difficulty of living in the Mara. Please sit back with a cola or cuppa and spend 7 minutes learning about this vibrant, pulsating community. Click here to visit the Mara Triangle blog.

Resource for Teachers and Writers

Since I began this blog to talk to teachers (among others interesting in writing or Kenya), whose students would then hear about the long, tedious process of writing a book, I want to pass on information about a new blog written by authors who are also teachers. Here is what I received in today's e-mail box:

I am pleased to announce a new resource for teachers, librarians, and writers: www.TeachingAuthors.com. This is a new blog by six children's book authors with a wide range (and many years) of experience teaching writing to children, teens, and adults: April Halprin Wayland, Esther Hershenhorn, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, JoAnn Early Macken, Mary Ann Rodman, and Carmela Martino. Via the blog, we plan to share our unique perspective as writing teachers who are also working writers. One of our regular blog features will be "Writing Workouts"--writing exercises that can be used by young writers and those who are, as Esther Hershenhorn likes to say, "young at heart." We invite classroom teachers to try these exercises with their students, and adult writers to try them on their own.