Hello everyone! I'm so excited to reveal the cover of my debut picture book, A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon on VIvian Kirkfield's blog!!! In the flat screen image, you won't be able to see the foil that illuminates the dust. You'll have to hold it in your … Continue reading A River of Dust – Cover Reveal
Our truck against Dune 45 in the Namib Desert. It's hard to believe I started my #KidLit journey in 2012, nearly ten years ago. So I'm thrilled to announce: My debut nonfiction picture book, RIVER OF DUST: How North African Nutrients Nourish the Amazon, is now scheduled for release in July 2023. The manuscript sold … Continue reading Down Time and Book Update
Can you name the blind Black man whose music was recorded on a Golden Record called "The Sounds of Earth," placed in a time capsule in 1977, and sent out of our solar system on Voyager I? No? Here's a book that gives the man, Willie Johnson, his due: Instead of starting off with the … Continue reading Dark Was the Night – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Postmodern Donkey tipped me off to a haiku competition called Going to Mars with MAVEN, sponsored by the University of Colorado-Boulder. The word "maven" means "accumulator of knowledge" in Yiddish, but it stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission. The Website explains: MAVEN will explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind. … Continue reading Martian Haiku – Ground Control to Major Tom
I am highly skeptical of suggested “group reads.” Why does someone think that entire cities should be immersed in a particular book? Is it a form of group grope? Group hypnosis? Group drumming? I am a bristling porcupine, can you tell? So when Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void was chosen as … Continue reading Mea Culpa
Jilanne Hoffmann 