Special holiday edition cover art

Merry Christmas to all of the Olivia Brophie fans!

Award winning fantasy series from Florida

The book stickers arrived today for the USA Best Book Award. Combined with the President's Award, both books in the Olivia Brophie series now have their own award stickers! I'm so blessed and honored.

Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island wins an award!

I was super happy today when I found out that Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island is a USA Best Book Award Finalist! This is the fourth award that the Olivia Brophie Series has won. I'm feeling very honored tonight!

http://www.oliviabrophie.blogspot.com/p/reviews.html

Florida Honey Bee Boxes

These bee boxes are at the gas station. I liked the color and imagining where they might be going.

Skype Visit with a Young Adult Author

Here are a few photos sent to me from some Olivia Brophie fans I met with in Indiana.

A Visit with DLF School in Sahibabad India

The students had fantastic questions

And they told me about their own stories

I was honored to be invited into DLF School, Grade IX D

Gopher Tortoise in the Florida Scrub

Armadillos in Florida

Three young armadillos live in my front yard this summer. When they are foraging, they are fearless and you can walk right up to them. A lot of people try to get rid of armadillos because of the damage they do to their lawns. I have always left them alone and eventually, they leave.
There are no armadillos in either of my books. Maybe because they aren't scary enough?

Florida Green Beetle (Euphoria limbalis)

This beetle is about the size of a pencil eraser (Euphoria limbalis)

 

 

 

Florida Wildflower Field - Meadow Beauties (Rhexia sp.)

Meadow Beauties (Rhexia)

Hidden several miles inside a sand pine scrub in the heart of central Florida, this grassy bowl often serves as a wallow for the wild pigs that roam the area. There weren't any pigs in sight today though. Instead, I was met with a wonderful field of meadow beauties. The phloxy pastures have whithered in the summer heat, so meadow beauties have taken over the wildflower duties in Florida.


More Florida Wildflower Fields

Fan art and letters from young readers

I received an awesome package of fan art and letters today from a classroom that read the Pearl of Tagelus. I love it when they make pop-ups in their cards!

Olivia Brophie and the Pearl of Tagelus

Tardigrade, coral snake, gopher tortoise, and bobwhite

 

I love the colors and detail of this one

 



Children's Adventure and Fantasy fan

Central Florida Children's Author School Visit

Here is a visit I had with a fourth grade class that read both the Pearl of Tagelus and the Sky Island in class. They went crazy! A few of those girls are VERY angry about Thunder's fate in the Pearl of Tagelus though.

Florida author Skypes with readers in India

Here are some photos of a Skype visit I did with some Olivia Brophie fans in India. We had a great time!

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings by Sandra Wallus Sammons

MarjorieKinnan Rawlings 

by Sandra Wallus Sammons

Pineapple Press Biography Series 2010

Intended for ages 9 - 12

 

I have long been interested in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. We both graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison English Department, although eighty years apart. We both found our way to the wild scrub of central Florida and made our homes here. Our writing was fundamentally influenced by the Florida scrub. For whatever spiritual simplicity that desert or arctic landscapes bring to those that travel there, the Florida scrub has a unique harshness that speaks to some people. I always appreciated the parallels in our lives and somehow imagine that we might have been friends.

I picked up Sammons’ biography on Rawlings because I had read many of her other biographies. Her approach is straightforward, simple, and clear. I came to appreciate the lack of poetic device that so often crowds biographical writing. Instead, her prose allows the reader to connect easily to the story.  Only fifty pages long, this brisk book covers the entirety of Rawlings’ life, from her birth in Washington DC to her legacy after her death at the age of fifty-seven. Each chapter describes a particular phase in her life.

As a writer, I could relate to Rawlings’ early struggles with her writing career.  As someone who has moved a lot, I could feel the tension between being a strange newcomer and finding a place to call home. Rawlings’ life was one of wild variance. She felt most at home among the glowing oranges of her grove, but also was an honored guest at the White House and won the Pulitzer. She felt incredibly connected to the local people but ended up with a defamation suit in court.

Sammons rightfully doesn’t try to make philosophical conclusions about these dichotomies. She doesn’t overplay their importance in Rawlings’ life either. The historic photographs add wonderful visual details. I definitely recommend this book as a great introduction to an important Florida literary figure, especially for its young intended audience.

Florida Black Bear Cub

Here are some photos of a Florida black bear cub that was born this spring. She (or he) was up in the pine tree because an unleashed dog chased her. Last year's bears got in trouble because people were hand-feeding them and they became accustomed to people. Now the mother is dead and the cubs are relocated. Please do not feed bears!

Florida Black Bear Cub - Look at that face!

Florida Black Bear Cub

Paw Paw and Blueberry in the Florida Scrub

Two of the best fruits in the Florida scrub. The paw paws are blooming. The shiny blueberry is full of fruit.




Paw Paw in the early morning Florida light

Shiny blueberry makes a great trail snack (yes, I did eat that one ripe berry!)

Lions of Florence

Lions were the symbol of the Medici. There are lions everywhere in Florence, Italy.  At night, they seem to come alive.

 

 

 

Florida author speaks to schools

Here are some photos published in the Orlando Sentinel of me speaking to the Umatilla Public Library teen group.

Corn snake in the Florida scrub

Some Florida Spring Flowers

Here are some flowers blooming in the yard this morning.



shiny blueberry (Vaccinium myrsinites)



Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)



Spiderwort close-up (Tradescantia ohiensis)



Lyre leaf sage (Salvia lyrata)



Lyre leaf sage bud (Salvia lyrata)