On January 26, 2012, Connie accepted an award at The London Book Festival for Best Biography for The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, two days after Edith’s 150th birthday. The 2011 London Book Festival Awards dinner was held at Grosvenor House, London – formerly the estate of the Earl of Grosvenor (1732), renovated into a… [Read More]
Tales of the London Book Festival and John Ericsson Events
February 10, 2012 By
If you want to find characters for a novel, there’s no better place to look than a writer’s event. Since the January 26 awards dinner for the London Book Festival was an international gathering the “characters” were even more colorful: A former Yugoslavian who spoke very little English, a tall-tale teller from Montana, a charming… [Read More]
Win a Signed Copy of When Esther Morris Headed West!
January 18, 2012 By
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… [Read More]
Where’s Walrus? – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
January 16, 2012 By
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… [Read More]
Preschool Day Hooray! – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
January 13, 2012 By
Preschool Day Hooray! Written by Linda Leopold Strauss; illustrated by Hiroe Nakata; Cartwheel Books/Scholastic, 2010. 22 pages; $8.99 (hardback); ages 2-5. A simple, rhyming text follows a little boy through a day at preschool from the rush to get there (“Tick-tock clock/Makes Mommy scoot”), to various activities (“Painty hands and/Gooey glue”), to a tumble on… [Read More]
The John Ericsson Society Celebrating The 150th Anniversary Of The Monitor Being Launched!
January 11, 2012 By
If you’re a Civil War buff, you’ll remember that, 150 years ago, under the direction of Thomas Fitch Rowland (owner of Continental Works located on the East River in Brooklyn) and John Ericsson (designer of the Union Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor), skilled craftsmen laid the ship’s keel on October 25, 1861 and worked feverishly… [Read More]
Where’s My T-R-U-C-K? – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
December 22, 2011 By
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… [Read More]
Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
December 22, 2011 By
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… [Read More]
Postscript to Just Fine the Way They Are
December 22, 2011 By
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… [Read More]