Noah is getting fantastic, wonderful reviews and I am soooo relieved! Even Entertainment Weekly has it #1 in history books for children. I hadn't realized EW did children's books! (Glad they do.) Houghton Mifflin has done a great job of getting review copies out there. 

I'm sorry to have been negligent in blogging  – still a lot to learn. I wonder, if you have a blog, do you find it's better to have it on your website (as mine is), or have a separate blog such as blogspot? 

NOAH WEBSTER & HIS WORDS is getting great reviews! I am soooo happy and relieved. Horn Book, Kirkus, starred review in School Library Journal, a Junior LIbrary Guild selection and more!

(Since I mention the Lincoln Public Library, you can see this is from my library column in the Lincoln News Messenger.)

As we think about our great and blessed nation on this 4th of July, we also think about our great public library system. Public, not private. Free entrance to all. Free books and free information, with a free library card. All available to every one of us at the Lincoln Public Library at Twelve Bridges.

It was 236 years ago that the men of the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, after some editing of Thomas Jefferson’s writing. Jefferson himself sat silently during the editing process but he wrote that John Adams fought “fearlessly for every word.” As we know, Jefferson’s argument against slavery was taken out. Also cut was his beautiful phrase of regret to King George – “We might have been a free & a great people together...”

Instead, we are a free & a great people as Americans.

Two hundred and thirty-one years ago, in October 1781, the British surrendered at Yorktown and the Revolutionary War was over. (At least the fighting was. The war ended officlally in 1783 when the peace treaty was signed.) Two hundred and twenty-three years ago George Washington was elected our first president. And as we all know, 186 years ago Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the very same day, the 4th of July. 

One of my friends, Rae Yund, wrote this after my Flag Day presentation (okay, she exaggerated a bit, but still...): "We are all agog - can't believe that such a poised,  entertaining, engaging, erudite, effective and accomplished speaker is our friend. That an accomplished hostess, chef, Bible Study mentor, greeting card designer and just plain Prairie horse-back-paper-route-delivery-girl could hold four hundred discerning adult Lincoln Hills residents in rapt attention for over an hour is truly phenomenal."

Don't worry, she said I could use her name. In fact she made a good point, which is that if I did not give attribution people would thingI could have made it up myself and passed it off as a compliment from "someone."

Thanks, Rae!

This just came from Janet Larscheid in Wisconsin, and yes, she gave permission to use her name and her quotes. Thank you, Janet! She had many more great comments, including how she used bios in her classroom. In these quotes she refers specifically to GO FREE OR DIE and WALKING THE ROAD TO FREEDOM.


"I am on the Kids' Non-Fiction site and saw your comments, and, really, felt so happy to reach out to you and thank you.  The books were a springboard for our journey into the fight for justice of so many amazing people.  Each year, I looked forward to introducing such important women to my students.


"What I appreciated, being in a school based on a democratic philosophy of equality, equity, and the fight for justice, was to find your books at a reading level available to second graders (toward the end of the year) and third graders.  We did this, often, in a whole class approach, sometimes reading in unison, at times by individuals, and, also, often read by me.  I feel that my students were able to understand, appreciate, and empathize with these heroines.  The discussions that followed allowed for much exploration."