******************************************************************

My brilliant, handsome, funny, and astonishing husband of 44 years, David W. Stemple, died on March 22, 2006 after a long and gallant battle with cancer. I shall miss him forever but I will never forget all I have learned at his side. His obituary can be found at: http://www.umass.edu/loop/people/articles/32379.php

We will be marking the second anniversary of his death this March. It hardly seems possible.

******************************************************************

Started the new year off with a bang. HERE'S A LITTLE POEM has been chosen as the Claudia Lewis poetry award winner for Bank Street School of Education. Wahooo! And FAIRY TALE FEASTS was chosen as an IParenting Media Award winner. So double wahoo!

Well, it was a selling fall '07 and spring '08. Sold ELSIE'S BIRD picture book to Philomel, HUSH LITTLE HORSIE (with pictures by Ruth Sanderson) to Random House, THE LAST DRAGON graphic novel to DarkHorse, SLEEPING MONSTERS picture book to Candlewick, EGRET'S DAY and MIRROR TO NATURE poetry books (with photosw by son Jason) to Boyds Mills, a golem novel with Adam to Dutton, have two picture books (UNDER THE STAR and PUMPKIN BABY) going to Key-Porter, several novelty books in the works for Little Simon, poems taken by a number of magazines, and possibly more stuff. Also several blog interviews (Seven Impossible Things, Fuse #8) and a lot of giving speeches and running writers' workshops. January has already promised more of the same, though it was workshops--for Vermont College and for Kindling Words.

I finished DRAGON'S HEART, the fourth Pit Dragon book (finally) this summer. It runs 92,000 words. And if all goes well, it could be out as early as Spring 09.

The most fun thing is that I have been chosen as the first-ever Children's Ambassador to the Winterthur Museum in Delaware (the old DuPont Estate). They will be telling my stories, reading my books, and showing art from OWL MOON etc. between September and July and I will do a weekend there in April.

Other fun things Spring Things: in April, I will narrate ENCOUNTER with the Springfield, MA symphony. A special piece of music has been written for it. A theatrical group is putting on a play based on THE BALLAD OF THE PIRATE QUEENS at the Eric Carle Museum. And a ballet based on THE EMPEROR AND THE KITE will be produced in the spring in Philadelphia.

HOW DO DINOSAURS GO TO SCHOOL spent six weeks on the New York Times best seller list--well, actually it powered all the DINO books to #5 in the series books bestseller list. Also of the 10 dinosaur books listed as bestsellers at Barnes and Noble, six were mine! Also there are now plush toys for HOW DO DINOSAURS EAT THEIR FOOD and HOW DO DINOSAURS GO TO SCHOOL to add to the GOODNIGHT book.

Westfield State College gave me an honorary degree last May. My sixth degree. People who do not know me well call me Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor, but my friends call me Doctor 6. (That's academic humor for you!)

Sold COUNT ME A RHYME to a Serbian publisher and PAY THE PIPER to a German publisher.

There is an award called "The Phoenix Award" given out each year to a book or books published twenty years ago that didn't get the recognition they deserved, ie Newbery, Caldecott, National Book Award etc. This year THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC is the Honor Book. Smiles all around here.

The Perfect Wizard: Hans Christian Andersen, was chosen to receive the Kid's Wings Award for 2007. Kids Wings is a creative educational association devoted to recommending the best in children's literature and creating classroom units. They have made a website for the book to help teachers use the book in the classroom at: http://suzyred.com/2007hans.html (Be sure to have the sound on!)

Wrote a script for an animated version of "The Girl Who Cried Flowers" which will be made into a short (20 minutes or less) movie, as well as a script got "The Little Mermaid", both for Auryn Films.

It is official: old dogs CAN learn new tricks. I sold two graphic novels, my first. (Though I have done two small comics with Charles Vess before.) One is called FOILED and has been picked up by editor Mark Siegel at First/Second Books, no illustrator assigned yet. It is about a modern high school girl whose passion is fencing and who loses her fencing foil on her first ever date in Grand Central Station. (This actually happened to me.) And then magic follows. (That didn't actually happen, just in case you are confused.) The second graphic novel has gone to DarkHorse comics and is called THE LAST DRAGON. It includes a dragon, a healer's three daughters, a hero in spite of himself, and pictures by my friend, the glorious Rebecca Guay (of magic cards, comics, and BALLET STORIES fame.) And I am talking to Dark Horse about other special things as well.

An interview with me can be found at: blog http://childrensbooks.about.com/b/a/257680.htm

DEAR MOTHER, DEAR DAUGHTER is one of the nominees for the Beehive State Award.

Disney has optioned PAY THE PIPER for a possible Disney channel movie. Adam and I are delighted, remembering--of course--that an option is not necessarily a made-movie

Illustrator Ruth Sanderson is using me as a model for Mother Goose in a Mother Goose collection she is working on. I will be on the cover and in an inside illustration I will be riding a goose. Ruth came over with a costume for me and took photos. See some of the pictures she took.

**RECENT STARRED REVIEWS**

THIS LITTLE PIGGY, had a star in Booklist and in School Library Journal, a lovely way to start it off.

SWORD OF THE RIGHTFUL KING got stars in Booklist, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and has been selected by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association as one of the Best Books for Young Adults.

**RECENT AWARDS**

BABY BEAR’S CHAIRS was named a 2005 Golden Kite winner for Picture book illustration. Hurrah to the ever wonderful illustrator Melissa Sweet!

HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT was named a Child Magazine best book of the year, and one of Time Magazine's best as well.

FINE FEATHERED FRIENDS was named a Massachusetts Honor Book in Children's Literature for 2005.

MY BROTHERS' FLYING MACHINE won a 2004 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Best Book Award.

Parents Choice Gold Awards for MY BROTHERS' FLYING MACHINE for Historical Fiction ages 6 to 9 years old and HOW DO DINOSAURS GET WELL SOON? for picture books 2 and up.

The National Storytelling Network selected me for one of their prestigious Talking Leaves Literary Awards given to "those members of our community who have made considerable, serious and influential contributionsto the literature of storytelling."

Translation news: HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT? is being translated into Cree. SWORD OF THE RIGHTFUL KING will have a German translation. ODYSSEUS IN THE SERPENT MAZE has been bought for translation by a Thai publisher. WELCOME TO THE RIVER OF GRASS into Korean; WIZARD'S HALL into Thai. We have been counting up my various translations, and realize I have books in 22 languages other than English: Spanish, French, German, Thai, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese (in Brazil), Dutch, both Afrikaans and Swahili in South Africa, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Italian, Polish, Catalan, Hungarian, and Slovenian. I think I have sold something in Russian as well, but it's not out yet so we haven't counted that. And at one point I sold something in Hawaiian, but can't find a copy of that. And I also sold something in Zulu but the company folded before bringing the book out. The book with the most translations is PRINCE OF EGYPT (based on the Dreamworks animated movie) and after that HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT, followed quickly by OWL MOON. Other often translated books of mine are the Pit Dragon trilogy, WIZARD'S HALL, and DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC.

Fall 2003:

THE FLYING WITCH: Baba Yaga picture book, HarperCollins PUBLISHED

LEAST THINGS, poetry collection, photos by Jason Stemple, Boyds Mills PUBLISHED

THE RADIATION SONNETS, adult poetry Algonquin PUBLISHED

Spring 2003:

HOW DO DINOSAURS GET WELL SOON?: picture book with Mark Teague, Scholastic PUBLISHED

ROANOKE, THE LOST COLONY: An Unsolved Mystery from History, picture book with Heidi E. Y. Stemple, Simon & Schuster PUBLISHED

MY BROTHERS' FLYING MACHINE: picture book Little Brown PUBLISHED

THE SEA KING: picture book with Shulamith Oppenheim, Interlink PUBLISHED

SWORD OF THE RIGHTFUL KING: Young Adult Arthurian novel. Harcourt PUBLISHED

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD: Folktale collection, Silver Whistle/Harcourt PUBLISHED

YOUNG HEROES: ATALANTA AND THE ARCADIAN BEAST, novel with Robert J. Harris, HarperCollins PUBLISHED

TAKE JOY: A BOOK FOR WRITERS The Writer Books/Kalmbach PUBLISHED

HOPTOAD: picture book Harcourt PUBLISHED

Spring 2002:

YOUNG HEROES: HIPPOLYTA AND THE CURSE OF THE AMAZONS novel with Robert J. Harris, HarperCollins PUBLISHED

WILD WINGS poetry collection, photos by Jason Stemple, Boyds Mills PUBLISHED

FIREBIRD, picture book, illustrations by Vladimir Vagin HarperCollins PUBLISHED

BEDTIME FOR BUNNY, touch-book, Little Simon PUBLISHED

Tartan Magic 3: THE BAGPIPER'S GHOST novel, Harcourt PUBLISHED

BRIAR ROSE paperback, Starscape a Tor Books imprint

KING LONG SHANKS paperback, Harcourt voyager

WIZARD'S MAP and PICTISH CHILD paperback, Magic Carpet Books, Harcourt

Fall 2002:

HORIZONS poetry collection, photos by Jason Stemple, Boyds Mills PUBLISHED

ANIMAL TRAIN, lift-the-flap picture book illustrated by Doug Cushman, Little Simon PUBLISHED

HARVEST HOME, picture book illustrated by Greg Shed, Silver Whistle/Harcourt PUBLISHED

GIRL IN A CAGE with Robert J. Harris novel, Philomel PUBLISHED

TIME FOR NAPS, board book, Little Simon PUBLISHED

"Great Selchie of Sule Skerry," comic book with Charles Vess

RAISING YODER'S BARN paperback Little Brown

I made two visits to the Hatfield Elementary School (my local school) for a writing contest and a dedication. Here is a photo of the winners of the eighteenth annual Jane Yolen writing contest that I sponsor every year.