My Messy Muse

Friends, what a messy time we are living in right now. The Corona outbreak may have disrupted your author/illustrator momentum, but we can take some of that momentum back. What should you be doing right now during quarantine for your author/illustrator business?

This Episode will give you some quick things to consider to keep things moving for your career.

Also, please join us in the My Messy Muse FB group to have contact and connection during this difficult time. www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse

Follow host Michele McAvoy on Twitter @michele_mcavoy; Instagram @michelemcavoy

Find out more about Michele and her books at www.michelemcavoy.com

What a crazy and scary time it is! Right now schools are closed across the country and we try to flatten the curve of the spread of Covid-19. Educators are thrown a curveball and forced to teach their students virtually. Listen here for insights and support on how to navigate distance learning through this difficult time with My Messy Muse Educator Collaborator Nicole Mancini and special guests Ken Kunz and Shalonda Archibald.

Ken Kunz
Twitter @DrKennethKunz
https://www.fortheloveofliteracy.net/
https://www.njliteracy.org/

Shalonda Archibald @born_to_educate https://www.njliteracy.org/ You can follow Nicole Mancini on Twitter @missnikkiIn5th
Nicole is also the Literary Consultant for new Middle-Grade imprint BLUE BRONCO BOOKS. For submission information go to www.littlepresspublishing.com/submissions Please join us in the free My Messy Muse Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse You can follow My Messy Muse creator and host Michele McAvoy on Twitter @michele_mcavoy and Instagram @michelemcavoy www.michelemcavoy.com

My Messy Muse Educator Collaborator, Nicole Mancini, 5th-grade ELA teacher with 17+ years experience, provides her honest opinion about Read Across America Week and how we can change it for the better! Dr. Seuss Books Can Be Racist, But Students Keep Reading Them Is 'The Cat in the Hat' Racist? The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss's Children's Books Read Across America You can follow Nicole on Twitter:@MissNikkiIn5th Please join Nicole and other kidlit fans in the free My Messy Muse facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse

Kidlit BITS- bite sized informational takeaways. Little things Michele learns long away. Paying it forward to her Kidlit community.

Learn more about host Michele McAvoy at www.michelemcavoy.com

Follow Michele on Twitter @michele_mcavoy and Instagram @michelemcavoy

Eileen Meyer writes picture books and poetry. Her works includeThe Superlative A. Lincoln:Poems About Our 16thPresident (Charlesbridge) – a 2020 ILLINOIS READS selection for grades 3-5;Sweet Dreams, Wild Animals,and other titles. Eileen loves visiting schools and working with K-8 students. She enjoys sharing programs with educators, recently presenting at the 2019 IRC, AISLE, and NCTE conferences. Eileen is a long-time member of SCBWI. For information about school programs, please visitwww.EileenMeyerBooks.comand contact Eileen.

Be sure to join the My Messy Muse community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse

If you are interested in connecting with host Michele McAvoy and to find out more about Michele's books, please visit www.michelemcavoy.com

Follow host Michele McAvoy
Twitter: @michele_mcavoy
Instagram: @michelemcavoy

Our most popular segment #Classroom Speeddating is back with Author Alastair Heim. Listen in as we put Alastair in the hot seat to answer lots and lots of questions from elementary school students. You will learn everything there is to know about good ol' Alastair. lol!

Alastair Heim is the author of the picture books LOVE YOU TOO, NO TOOTING AT TEA, THE GREAT PUPPY INVASION which won the 2019 Oklahoma Redbud Read-Aloud Award, HELLO, DOOR which was chosen as one of The New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2018 and listed on The 2019 Best Books for Family Literacy by The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, and the upcoming QUIET DOWN, LOUD TOWN!

Laughter is his favorite sound, purple is his favorite color and “other people cooking for him” is his favorite food. Alastair lives in Kansas City with his awesome wife and three incredible children, and is represented by Kelly Sonnack of The Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

http://www.alastairheim.com https://twitter.com/alastairheim

Be sure to join the My Messy Muse community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse

To learn more about host Michele McAvoy or interested in a school visit please visit her website at www.michelemcavoy.com/workwithme

Follow host Michele McAvoy
Twitter: @michele_mcavoy
Instagram: @michelemcavoy

We wrap up our very first My Messy Muse #Bookclub read of- SKYLARK & WALLCREEPER! Listen to this interview with MG author Anne O'Brien Carelli as she answers all of our burning questions.
Anne O'Brien Carelli is the author of adult nonfiction, the Middle- Grade book Skylark and Wallcreeper, and the picture book Amina's New Friends. She has always been fascinated by the French Resistance, and studied history at Case Western Reserve University. For her PhD, Anne researched psychology of the gifted. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Anne lives in the Hudson River Valley in upstate New York and spends any free time quilting and reading, reading, reading.

Follow her on Social media!
Twitter @aobc
Instagram anne.o.carelli

www.anneobriencarelli.com
www.aminasnewfriends.com

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING to My Messy Muse!
Be sure to join the My Messy Muse community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse
and continue the kidlit conversation!

And don't forget to follow the host, Michele McAvoy!
Twitter: @michele_mcavoy
Instagram: @michelemcavoy

You can find out more about Michele and her kidlit titles and her school visit menu at www.michelemcavoy.com

Now go get your kidlit on!

Gretchen Brandenburg McLellan is a former elementary reading specialist who now devotes herself to writing for children and visiting schools. She is the author of Mrs. McBee Leaves Room 3, Grace Zong ill. (Peachtree), I’m Done! Catherine Lazar Odell ill. (Holiday House) and Button and Bundle, Gillian Flint ill. (Knopf). When Your Daddy’s a Soldier, E.B. Lewis ill. (Beach Lane) and No Party Poopers!, Lucy Semple ill. (Little Bee) will appear in 2020. She writes chapter books and middle-grade fiction as well.

Gretchen grew up as a global nomad, daughter of a career Army officer, and lived on three continents. She has settled in Camas, WA where she lives with her husband, cat and dog, stunt squirrels, nomadic neighborhood chickens, and celebrates when her children and grandchildren come home. Children will find a home in her heartfelt books about community, courage and compassion.

When she isn’t writing or teaching, Gretchen can be found reading, playing word games, attending plays, hiking in the woods with her dog, x-country skiing and sewing.
Please visit Gretchen at www.gretchenmclellan.com for more information about her books, events and author visits.

Contact her at [email protected] on Twitter and Instagram @gmclellan5

Be sure to join the My Messy Muse community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse

If you are interested in a school visit with host Michele McAvoy, please visit her website at www.michelemcavoy.com/workwithme

Follow host Michele McAvoy
Twitter: @michele_mcavoy
Instagram: @michelemcavoy

My Messy Muse Kidlit BITS, Bite-sized Information Takeaways, tells you the small things we learn along the way.
Why not share with friends?
Small things can have a big impact.

Learn more about host, Michele McAvoy, at www.michelemcavoy.com
If you are interested in a school visit with host Michele McAvoy, please visit her website at www.michelemcavoy.com/workwithme

Follow host Michele McAvoy
Twitter: @michele_mcavoy
Instagram: @michelemcavoy

"Bringing Color to a Messy World"

Listen in to our first Teacher Feature with My Messy Muse Educator Collaborator, Nicole Mancini - aka Miss Nikki as she leads a discussion with middle-grade author Sarah Cannon and 2018 NJ Teacher of the Year Julie Guthrie.

What happens at NCTE. How can educators and authors collaborate?

Be sure to join the My Messy Muse community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse

If you are interested in a school visit with host Michele McAvoy, please visit her website at www.michelemcavoy.com/workwithme

Follow host Michele McAvoy
Twitter: @michele_mcavoy
Instagram: @michelemcavoy

Follow Educator Collaborator host, Miss Nikki, @missnikkiIn5th