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… [Read More]
A Response to Jonathan Franzen: Edith Wharton Was Hard (But Not Impossible) to Like
March 12, 2012 By
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… [Read More]
Win a Signed Copy of “The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton”!
March 7, 2012 By
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… [Read More]
The Elijah Door – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
February 21, 2012 By
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… [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]
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]