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Book Reviews
Just Fine the Way They Are Review - “Wooldridge’s story of America’s land-transportation networks—its roadways and railways—is folksy but panoramic. The informal, affable tone, something like a movie voice-over, works well here, conveying a sweeping amount of material—over a lot of ground and 200 years—as it chugs merrily along, hitting the high points, while Walz provides heroic imagery with a Thomas Hart Benton tang. Fittingly, the story has got real rhythm to it, helped along by the refrain—‘Things were just fine the way they were,’ thought those who benefited from a soon-to-be-diminished carrier—but most of all by capturing the surging, ever-evolving nature of the country’s transportation network."
— Kirkus Reviews - February 15, 2011
Tag Archives: Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Work in Progress: To Write or Not to Write
I mentioned in my last blog that I would talk about when to stop researching and start writing. The truth is, I’ve already started writing…but only sort of. I’ve found it really helps to get the first three chapters of a piece down as quickly as possible. So, as soon as I’ve read four or five key books on my topic, I break the material
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Posted in Just For Writers, Work in Progress
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, How to write, Writing tips
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Work in Progress: Drowning!
I’m hard at work on a new young adult biography and drowning in research! Before I attempted my first longer biography (The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton) research for shorter pieces was a simple task consisting of three steps: create a list of the books and articles I needed to read, find the books and articles I needed to read,
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The National Road Yard Sale Happens May 29th – June 2nd, 2013
The National Road Yard sale (in the Richmond, IN area) begins on Wednesday, June 29th. Click here for information on other Yard Sales along The Road. About the National Road President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation for the first federally funded highway in 1803 – and the rest is history! The Road is commonly known as US Route 40 – an All
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Marmee & Louisa; The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Marmee & Louisa; The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante; Free Press, 2012. 368 pages; $26.00 (hardcover). This book is a game-changer. As LaPlante points out, “the packaging of Louisa…along with the idea that her mother was irrelevant” began immediately after her death. The world was told that Louisa May Alcott was educated by
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Etched in Clay Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Etched in Clay; The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng; illustrated with woodcuts by the author; Lee & Low, 2013. 143 pages; $17.95 (hardcover); reading level: ages 10 and up. Born into slavery in 1801, Dave should have lived an invisible life and died unknown. That he didn’t is due to an almost miraculous series of events. His
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Reid Hospital Goes to the Library!
According to the preschool set, MONSTERS ROCK!!! When a group of Reid Hospital physicians’ spouses were invited to bring their children to Morrisson-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana, for the morning, they created a monster craft, ate monster cupcakes, and listened to yours truly reading monster books. Those who participated (and you, If you’ve found your way to this blog) wouldn’t be surprised to learn
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Posted in Scenes from a Writer's Life
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Connie Wooldridge, Indiana, Morrisson-Reeves Library, parenting, preschoolers, Reading, Reid Hospital, Richmond
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USS Monitor Crewmembers Buried
The year 2012 marked the 150th anniversary of both the launch and the sinking of USS Monitor. The news continues in 2013. On Friday, March 8, 151 years after they went down with the Monitor, two unknown sailors were buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. In case you missed it, you can watch the full ceremony (courtesy
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Edith Wharton in the Magazine Popular Science
I’ve gotten used to seeing Edith Wharton’s name all over the place but when I found out she’d popped up in the magazine Popular Science, I really had to check it out. Before I hit the link, I took some guesses on what her scientific connection might be. One possibility: She was intrigued by Charles Darwin and his hot new
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Julian Fellowes on Edith Wharton
I know both Downton Abbey and Edith Wharton fans will appreciate this article from the Berkshire Eagle in which Julian Fellowes, the writer of Downton Abbey talks about how his late-in-life reading of two Wharton novels inspired first his failed writing venture, then Gosford Park and then, of course, Downton Abbey. “She observes but she does not judge…” is Fellowes’
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Posted in The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Downton Abbey, Edith Wharton, Gosford Park, Julian Fellowes, Lily Bart, The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
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Win a Complimentary Manuscript Critique by Connie!
I’m offering a free manuscript critique of a picture book or up to 3,000 words of a book for older readers. To be eligible to win this opportunity, simply sign up to receive my enewsletter and very occasional communications for writers and readers. Please share this opportunity with writers that you know! A winner to be selected on March 31st.
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Posted in Just For Writers
Tagged Complimentary Manuscript Critique, Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
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Anatomy of Nonfiction
If you click on the “Resources” tab on the home page of my website, you’ll find all kinds of helpful information I’ve gathered (and continue to gather!) for writers, readers, and educators. The most recent addition is a blog by Peggy Thomas called Anatomy of Nonfiction: Writing True Stories for Children. A wonderful nonfiction writer herself, Peggy is also the daughter of longtime
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Revolutionary Friends – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Revolutionary Friends; General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette by Selene Castrovilla; illustrated by Drazen Kozjan; Calkins Creek, 2013. 40 pages; $16.95 (hardcover); reading level: ages 7-12. The story of the reserved George Washington’s initially reluctant friendship with the young French officer whose heart “enlisted” in the American struggle for independence from Britain, is told in a spare, sprightly
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Elizabeth Starr Academy School Visit
If you think that national school standards are creating cookie-cutter schools, I wish you could have tagged along with me on my last school visit! The Elizabeth Starr Academy, which I visited for Author Day along with Josh Brown, Diana Medler, Randy Wisehart, and Natalie Goeke Proudfoot, has created a “Discovery Zone”: a micro-society with officers, a common council, and
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Posted in Events
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Diana Medler, Discovery Zone, Elizabeth Starr Academy, Josh Brown, Natalie Goeke Proudfoot, Randy Wisehart, Richmond Indiana Schools
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The Year of the Book – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng; illustrated by Abigail Halpin; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 148 pages; $15.99 (hardcover); reading level: ages 7-11. Anna Wang is just beginning fourth grade and the word of the week is “perseverance.” “It’s when you don’t give up,” her best friend, Laura, tells the class. Both girls will learn, over the course of
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Posted in Children's and Young Adult Book Reviews
Tagged Abigail Halpin, Andrea Cheng, Anna Wang, Book Reviews, Children's Books, Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, girls
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Connie To Be the Guest of Honor at Author Day – Elizabeth Starr Academy in Richmond, Indiana
Date: January 23, 2013 Location: Elizabeth Starr Academy Connie will talk to students about her writing process, being an entrepreneur, and how she markets her books.
Posted in Connie In The News, Events
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Coyotes, Elizabeth Starr Academy, Entrepreneurship, Writing Process
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Build a Book Christmas Tree
Of course I’m behind on my shopping, my Christmas cards, etc. and of course I have no time to spare so of course, when a friend sent me a link to a site where people were building Book Christmas Trees I just had to stop everything I was behind on and build one of my own. Books came down from
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Posted in Scenes from a Writer's Life
Tagged Book Christmas Tree, Christmas, Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
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Morrisson-Reeves Library Pre-K Reading Open House. See Pictures Inside…
I want to thank everyone who attended the Pre-School Reading Open House at Morrisson-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana earlier this month. The Library has partnered with the K-Ready program whose goal is for pre-school children to read 1,000 books before they enter kindergarten.
Posted in Events
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Read 1000 Books Before Kindergarten
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An Encore for Captain Ericsson – Now in Paperback!
When both the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virgina and the John Ericsson Society let me know they were having trouble finding copies of my out-of-print picture book, Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson!, I decided to spring into action. With permission from Holiday House, the original publisher, and Andrew Glass, the illustrator, I started a company and created a
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Connie to Read at Morrisson-Reeves Library on November 3rd
Morrisson-Reeves Library and K-Ready present a Preschool Reading Open House Saturday, Nov. 3rd from 10:00 am – Noon Morrisson-Reeves Library 80 North 6th Street Richmond, Indiana You’ll enjoy storytimes with… Local Children’s Author, Connie Wooldridge Pam Hancock, Amigos (reading in Spanish) Kathy Campbell and Holly The Therapy Dog >> View the Flyer
Posted in Events
Tagged Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Indiana, K-Ready, Morrisson-Reeves Library, Richmond, Storytime
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Congratulations To Donna & Ralph Weidenhammer For Winning The Signed Copy of “Just Fine The Way They Are”
There’s nothing like social networks to keep in touch with old friends and former neighbors, especially when you skip a year or two of sending out Christmas cards! Donna Weidenhammer and I lived next door to each other when our families were just beginning – lots of diapering, nap times and playground swings back then. She found me on Facebook
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Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson – Coming in Paperback & Video!
About the Video Soon to be available on the website: A reading of Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson! (by yours truly!) in its entirety, complete with the original illustrations by Andrew Glass. This should be a great resource for you teachers doing a Civil War unit OR for parents/grandparents of 7-10-year-olds. About the Paperback As stated, a paperback version of Thank
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Author Tip: Importance of Structure in Nonfiction
I’ve just finished reading Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a terrific example of creative nonfiction. Check out this link for some great behind-the-scenes information on the importance of structure in a nonfiction piece and on how Skloot decided to include herself in the very story she was researching. >> See My “Just For Writers” Blog
Teacher Resources & Lesson Plans Available For “Just Fine the Way They Are”
Since school will be starting soon, educators and parents who would like to engage their children in some fun learning activities can download lesson plans that accompany Just Fine The Way They Are; From Dirt Roads to Rail Roads to Interstates. Developed by two elementary educators who are also adjunct professors in the Department of Education at Earlham College, the
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The National Road Brings the Historic Road Conference to Indianapolis
The national non-profit group Historic Roads is holding their annual conference on September 20-22, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dedicated to identifying, preserving and managing our nation’s historic roads and scenic byways, Indy was specifically chosen because of the region’s unique transportation history, which includes the Historic National Road. Read more about the work of this important group and the conference. >>
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National Road Yard Sale
Beginning on May 30 and running through the early part of June, folks will be setting up shop along the National Road (US 40) and creating one of the longest yard sales going: from Baltimore to St. Louis! For 9 years now, beginning on the Wednesday following Memorial Day, churches, museums, stores, and plain old ordinary people have been selling
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Visit to Northwest Elementary School
The drive to McDermott, Ohio winds through the greenest, most idyllic countryside you’ll find anywhere. Northwest Elementary School sits 5 miles off of US-23 and is home to around 800 K-5 students. A step inside the front door brought me into a high-energy zone: several parents in the office, classes of students filing through the halls…the next few hours would
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More Letters From Edith!
Just as my Edith Wharton biography was going to press, a stash of letters from Edith to her governess (and later secretary) was discovered. How can I get my hands on those? I wondered. The answer wasn’t long in coming. In April of 2011, when I spoke at The Mount, I met Irene Goldman-Price who was hard at work editing
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Jane Thurmer Wins a Signed Copy of “The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton”
Congratulations to Jane Thurmer, the winner of our March Women’s History Month give-away! Jane will receive a signed copy of The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion 2010), Connie’s YA biography about the iconic writer who would be 150 years-old this year! Thank you, Jane, and everyone who entered.
Writer’s Retreat
In February, I drove east for eleven hours, through Ohio and the very mountains of Pennsylvania I used to call home, to the town of Honesdale, Pennsylvania. I turned left onto the property of the family that created the magazine Highlights for Children and pulled up to a small cabin with two twin beds, a shower, a small refrigerator and
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Connie To Speak at Northwest Elementary School in McDermott, Ohio on May 11, 2012
Connie will be visiting the students at Northwest Elementary School in McDermott, Ohio, on Friday, May 11. She will meet with students in grades K through 5th at the school’s library. Librarian Alyssa Bach-Enz heard Connie speak at the Appalachian Conference at Shawnee State University and invited the author to visit her school. “We want students to love reading!,” she
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Connie Was the Featured Author at the Muncie Area Reading Council’s “2012 Young Author’s Conference”
Connie was the featured author at the Muncie Area Reading Council’s “2012 Young Author’s Conference” on April 23. This annual event is open to students in grades 1-8 to encourage young people to write creatively, provide opportunity for recognition, enhance student’s self-concept, stimulate interest in reading, and offer the experience of sharing manuscripts and/or writing talents with a published author.
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A Response to Jonathan Franzen: Edith Wharton Was Hard (But Not Impossible) to Like
Responses to Jonathan Franzen’s New Yorker article “A Rooting Interest: Edith Wharton and the problem of sympathy” are flying fast and furious. He claims Edith Wharton is just plain hard to like as a person – hard to sympathize with as he puts it – and after spending years in her company while writing her biography, I would have to
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Win a Signed Copy of “The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton”!
You can win a signed copy of ”The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton” just by liking Connie’s Facebook page. It’s March and in the spirit of Women’s History Month and this year’s theme – Women’s Education, Women’s Empowerment – I am giving away a signed copy of The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion 2010). 2012 is also the 150th anniversary of Edith’s
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The Elijah Door – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
The Elijah Door; A Passover Tale Written by Linda Leopold Strauss; illustrated by Alexi Natchev; Holiday House, 2012. 32 pages; $16.95 (hardcover); reading level: ages 6-10. Long ago, in a small village that was “sometimes Poland and sometimes Russia,” the Lippas and the Galinskys lived in “side-by-side houses.” They were fast friends whose children, Rachel Galinsky and David Lippa, would
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Win a Signed Copy of When Esther Morris Headed West!
You can win a signed copy of When Esther Morris Headed West! just by liking Connie’s Facebook page. 2012 is a big year for politics and in honor of Esther Morris, the first female judge in the United States, I’m giving away a signed copy of my book When Esther Morris Headed West: Women, Wyoming and the Right to Vote (Holiday House 2001), illustrated
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Where’s Walrus? – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Where’s Walrus? Written and illustrated by Stephen Savage; Scholastic Press, 2011.32 pages; $16.99 (hardback); ages 2-5. The gates to the zoo are open but, alas, there are no visitors. While the zookeepersnoozes, walrus sneaks away. In wordless two-page spreads, walrus eludes thezookeeper (belatedly awake) by donning various hats and blending in with a statue ona fountain, some workmen, some painters
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Where’s My T-R-U-C-K? – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Where’s My T-R-U-C-K? by Karen Beaumont; illustrated by David Catrow; Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011. 32 pages; $16.99; reading level: ages 4-7. When Tommy loses his (don’t say the word or you’ll set him off!) t-r-u-c-k, the whole family’s day goes haywire. Tommy refuses help from Mom, Dad, sister, brother, and Grandma: “I don’t want jeeps or cars
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Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo by Barbara Olenyik Morrow; illustrated by Ponder Goembel; Holiday House, 2009. $16.95; reading level: ages 6-9. When Mr. Mosquito puts on his tuxedo, arrives at a ball hosted by Queen Bee, and greets the other guests (gnats, lice, and fleas to name a few) he never suspects his particular talent will make him a
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Postscript to Just Fine the Way They Are
You might think that, when a book is published, the story it tells is finished. Not true! In the final illustration for the picture book Just Fine the Way They Are, Richard Walz reaches into a mythical future to imagine what a post-automobile era might look like. He envisions a jet-pack like invention – a personal flying machine – that
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Book Signing – Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond, IN – Dec 10th
Please join Connie for a book signing at the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond, Indiana from 2pm-4pm on December 10th, 2011. Pictures from the event…
Posted in Events
Tagged Book Signings, Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Just Fine the Way They Are
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“Loud Voices”
Lucretia Jones could not have had an easy time raising her daughter Edith. She was a woman of average intelligence and superficial interests suddenly confronted by a child whose brilliance was apparent from the get-go. She probably tried valiantly to maintain her maternal authority and, if her daughter’s claim that pleasing her mother and pleasing God were at the top
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Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox; illustrated by Helen Oxenbury; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. 32 pages; $16.99 hardcover; $11.99 oversized boardbook format; reading level: ages 2-5. Fox’s spare, rhyming text spotlights pairs of babies from around the world, connected by the refrain, “And both of these babies, as everyone knows, had ten little fingers and ten
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Maggie’s Monkeys – Reviewed by Connie Norhielm Wooldridge
Maggie’s Monkeys by Linda Sanders-Wells; illustrated by Abby Carter; Candlewick Press, 2009. 32 pages; $16.99; reading level: ages 4-7. Being the older brother of an imaginative little sister can be a trial – especially when her pink monkeys take up residence in the refrigerator and only Older Brother seems to know they’re not real. Dad tacks a DO NOT DISTURB
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Connie Speaking At “Appalachia from an Assets Perspective Conference” at Shawnee State University – November 21st
Connie will address the Morning General Session at the Appalachia from an Assets Perspective Conference at Shawnee State University on November 20 – 21, 2011. The theme for the 2011 conference is Enhancing Teacher Performance to Maximize Student Achievement. Attended by administrators, teachers and students from throughout Ohio, Connie’s talk, entitled “The Simple Elegant Act of Telling a Story: How Story Touches the
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Jack is Back!
You just can’t keep a bad man down. Connected, as he is to Halloween (ever wonder where the term “jack-o-lantern” came from?), October is Wicked Jack’s favorite month and he was invited back to Indiana by the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. What were they thinking??? Aren’t symphonies stuffy organizations?? Evidently not! Five woodwind players from the orchestra were brave enough to
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Esther Morris Gets Some Company
“If you visit Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol,” I observe, in the Author’s Note to When Esther Morris Headed West, (Holiday House, 2001) “you’ll see fifty statues, one from each state, standing in a circle. Forty-nine of them are men. The fiftieth is Esther Morris…” That changed in 2009: Helen Keller, representing Alabama, joined Esther as the second
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On the Road
One of the joys of writing nonfiction is that your books take you places in the research phase and take you places again when people start finding out what you’ve written and want you to come and talk to them. So I was on the road or, more precisely, on The Road last weekend. Just Fine the Way They Are
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Posted in Just Fine the Way They Are, Scenes from a Writer's Life
Tagged Cobblestone Magazine, Comprehension Lesson Plan, Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, John and Annie Glenn Historic Site, Just Fine the Way They Are, Muskingum University, National Road/Zane Grey Museum, Social Studies - Transportation Lesson Plan, Teachers Lesson Plans, The National Road, Writer's Craft Lesson Plan
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Shakespeare
I’m just home from the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, reading through the “Twelfth Night,” and trying to pick up anything I might have missed when I saw it on stage. Shakespeare is a challenge and there’s no getting to the bottom of any of his plays. There’s no last word on what the bard was trying to say. There’s
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New Release: Just Fine The Way They Are
In this new historical non-fiction picture book children’s author Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge and artist Richard Walz worked closely with experts and firsthand accounts to tell a “just fine and accurate” illustrated story about how dirt roads of the 1800s turned into the U.S. highway system of today. >> Official Press Release Just Fine The Way They Are: From Dirt Roads
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Connie Wooldridge To Appear On ‘The Sounds of the Symphony’
Show: ‘The Sounds of the Symphony’ with Host Marci Asher-Whalen on Whitewater Community Television – Trailer Description: A new ‘The Sounds of the Symphony’ with Host Marci Asher-Whalen will air Monday, August 1 at 8:30PM on WETV, channel 20. This month’s guest will be Amy Noe & Connie Wooldridge. Start Time: 8:30pm Date: 2011-08-01 We will post Connie’s segment here
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