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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

A LOOK BACK… Happy 150th Birthday, Edith Wharton!

A 150th birthday is cause for celebration – and not just for one day! The Mount will be commemorating Edith Wharton’s 150th birthday throughout 2012 and you’ll want to keep an eye on events as they’re posted. While most people are impressed with Edith Wharton’s intelligence, it’s her boundless energy that continues to stun me…. [Read More]

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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

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… [Read More]