going global

It’s almost April and I am counting down the days until spring break. I had a student collapse in class yesterday and the week before I had an altercation with another student who I suspect has mental health issues. For the most part, my students have been wonderful this semester but I am weary, and what keeps me going at this point is the artwork submitted by my freelance illustrators. I come home, open my inbox (yes, I could do it on my smartphone but I prefer having something to look forward to) and marvel at the way these artists are making my characters come to life. I’m working with FIVE illustrators right now–one is in the US and the others are in Honduras, Vietnam, Argentina, and India. This is an experiment for me and I do have some anxiety and some ethical concerns, but overall this is incredibly empowering and exciting. The hard part will be finding a way to get readers and educators to invest in these books. I want to find a foundation that would be willing to sponsor/subsidize author visits in schools and community institutions. Not give free visits away but perhaps set up a grant program so that schools, or churches, or community centers could apply to have half the cost of an author visit covered by the foundation. I feel strongly that all parties have to make an investment. I had brunch with two authors yesterday and we shared our experiences with schools that try to cram as many students as possible into an author visit, which (in my opinion) diminishes the experience. If we know that students benefit from a smaller class size, then it makes sense that students would also benefit from having a more intimate experience with an author. This week I’ll be visiting a high school that has asked me to spend 2 hours with ONE CLASS. I can’t wait to share my books, published and forthcoming, with these young readers…