Sunday, September 30, 2007

Happy readers

I love that there are some kids who love my book! Well, Jane Hatzinger, in this photo, isn't my sixth grade student anymore, but she once was, and even without my power to grade her tests and papers hanging over her, she still was willing to pose with my book! And nowadays she's introducing birds to her own sixth grade students.I think of all the nice reviews and kind words a select but lovely cadre of people have sent about my book, my most treasured are from this young man, Blaize, who introduced me to his fellow fourth graders at a school assembly this year as "the author of the BEST book ever written." He was written about in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, archived here.
I'm collecting photos of people willing to hold my book up and smile or give it a thumbs up. There's no advertising budget whatsoever for trying to get the word out, so I'm scrambling for ideas. It would be sort of cool to actually make a little income from the book, but my real interest, as it was in writing the book in the first place, is making people aware of all the ways that human activities harm birds so we can be more mindful, and take the little actions that aren't too big of a hardship for each of us but can cumulatively make a huge difference for the chickadees, falcons, prairie chickens, warblers, eagles (including Stephen Jr), and other avian friends among us.