In Edith Wharton’s Gilded Age New York, the new-money people were storming the gates of High Society and the Old Guard (people of birth, background, and breeding) were making a vain attempt to keep those gates firmly closed. Today, Society is open to all comers! The only requirement to entry is the desire to become… [Read More]
What Writers Do Right
January 14, 2013 By
My eighth-grade English teacher was named Mrs. Crisick. She seemed like any old teacher way back then but I know, in remembering bits and pieces from her class, that she was extraordinary. Once, when we were assigned to write a story, she stood in front of the class with mine in her hand and said she wanted… [Read More]
Diana Morón Meets Edith Wharton
January 7, 2013 By
When I wrote The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, I was hoping the book would be discovered by high school teachers and used to introduce a new generation of readers to Edith Wharton. You can imagine my delight when Diana Morón, a sophomore at Porterville High School in Porterville, California, introduced herself to me by… [Read More]
Ericsson and da Vinci – A Conversation Across Time
December 31, 2012 By
A group of Italian artisans (Niccolai Teknoart SNC) has undertaken a marvelous project: using the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci to create models of the very machines da Vinci imagined. When I attended one of their exhibits at the Denver Pavilions (which runs through January 31, 2013) I was struck by how much da Vinci… [Read More]
The Year of the Book – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
December 22, 2012 By
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… [Read More]
Connie To Be the Guest of Honor at Author Day – Elizabeth Starr Academy in Richmond, Indiana
December 12, 2012 By
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.
Build a Book Christmas Tree
December 6, 2012 By
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… [Read More]
Morrisson-Reeves Library Pre-K Reading Open House. See Pictures Inside…
November 19, 2012 By
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.
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
November 19, 2012 By
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! Written and illustrated by Hyewon Yum; Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012. 32 pages; $16.99 (hardback); ages 4-6. The five-year-old hero of this tale is well-adjusted, brimming with energy, and ready for his first day of kindergarten. His mom? Well…not so much. As the illustrations (literally!) make clear,… [Read More]
An Encore for Captain Ericsson – Now in Paperback!
October 25, 2012 By
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… [Read More]