A picture taken of the reading circle in Bruce’s Garden from the garden entrance.

Last week I was so happy to have been able to participate in the Children’s Books Authors Series with Literacy INC collaboration with Columbia and Inwood Park in upper Manhattan. It was a drizzly day which may have curtailed our numbers somewhat, but made a cozy group. While we read, we heard jays in the bushes, and crows and a hawk circled overhead.

First, Carolyn read from a book about different birds nests…

I read from Crow Made a Friend, but first I read from a story that I wrote a few years ago, that included letters that my father wrote to me about stealing crow feathers and mailing them to me in New York, signed “Your Magical Father.” The nicest thing is that he really did do that–got crow feathers, taped them w masking tape to letters describing their acquisition.

All of the kids got free hardcover copies of CROW MADE A FRIEND, courtesy LiteracyINC and a nice discount from Holiday House, the publisher!

After the reading we did a craft activity–we made nests with brown paper lunch bags, and then “friends”–little clay birds with colorful feathers and pipe cleaner legs, who tended to as many eggs as the kids could make to put in the nests. The record was six eggs.

Then we made friends–with each other and also little clay birds in their own nests.

Some kittens came to the event and enjoyed making bird friends

I was happy to be in such good company in the series, with Ada Letelier, Elizabeth Balaguer and Andrew Kranichfeld. All of the authors got to read their books, talk about the stories of how their books came to be, and chat with the kids about their their own aspirations. Thanks Sarah, Sorelys, and Carolyn from Literacy Inc for the lovely day out!