News from Heidi

I'm so excited to see the full interview. I will keep you posted.

I had to cancel my visit to Boulder Books earlier this year because of a storm. But re-scheduled and returned last week to do a book group discussion with a charming group of readers. I was so glad I got a chance to meet them. They had thoughtful questions and comments. Thank you Boulder for supporting The Girl! I had fun!

Let's just say that by the time I got to Literary Women, the annual event for readers and writers in Long Beach held each March, I was on a natural high of wonderfully energizing events. Who knew that I could get even more buzzed on this crowd? But I did. There were just shy of 750 women (okay, maybe there were a couple of men) at the event--YES! The event featured me, Tatjani Soli, Jennifer Haigh, Elaine Showalter, Rae Armantrout, and Linda Gordon. I was so honored to be part of such a powerhouse crew. Elaine Showalter brought it kicking things off with a talk about the writing of her book, Jury of My Peers. I loved what she said about the need for women to name our own genres and be better and self-promotion. More on that soon! I was one of the featured authors in a breakout group--I'm not sure who these guys thought they were getting when they signed up for my breakout group, but I know I ended up with the warmest, most energizing group ever. I was ready to hire a bus to take them on tour with me! I can't really explain the lovely energy of the room--I hope they felt it too. I signed books after that and enjoyed the rest of the day--and yes, I keep buzzing about that event because it was soooo good! Thank you to everyone at Literary Women in particular Monica and Regina and the event chair Marilyn! I was honored to be invited and I'm thrilled I had the opportunity!

The next stop was Long Beach City College! A wonderful crowd turned out--students as well as residents nearby. I was honored when one student told me that she had never bought a book at any of the readings she'd attended but she wanted to buy mine! Thank you! I hope you guys enjoyed the afternoon as much as I did! This was the nice write-up the school paper did!

The day after my Portland Public Schools visits I met with the students of Lewis & Clark. The multicultural affairs office chose The Girl Who Fell From the Sky as its first campus-wide read. Can I tell you how delighted I was that so many of the students participated--they were reading The Girl -- on the side! No credit! It wasn't required reading but nevertheless they read the book and showed up with thoughtful questions and comments. Again, I was impressed by the fact that the students of all races and cultures connected with the characters and the book's themes. One lovely young woman explained that she loved the book because it was about location displacement--like me, her family had moved around as she group and she had a hard time explaining where she was from! Exactly! The event was open to the public and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet a fellow Heidi--a Portlander who had chosen my book for her book club--they had just discussed it earlier in the week. Best of all I got to talk with my dear neighbor Sandy's granddaughter Amanda who is a Lewis & Clark student! Sandy was one of my trusted readers as I worked on the manuscript. The world is small isn't it? Thank you Lewis & Clark and all of the students who turned out.

I have been talking so much about my two days visiting Madison and Cleveland High School, I had forgotten that I hadn't written about it here!  Let's just say the experience was AMAZING!  Thanks to two enterprising librarians Nancy Sullivan and Theresa Quinn, the generous support of Marian Creamer's foundation, Children's Literature Alive!, and the fund-raising efforts of the two schools' PTAs, the high schools adopted The Girl Who Fell From the Sky as a high school wide read! 

I couldn't have been happier about the news, but what was even better was the response from the students.

At Madison High School I met with about 300 students over the course of three class periods.  Most of them had read the whole book and the rest had at least read some.  I was impressed by the lovely introductions the students gave me at the beginning of each talk.  And I was impressed by their questions.  One student stumped me when he asked why I hadn't included chapters from Grandma Doris' perspective--and went on to list a couple of reasons it could have been important for the story.  Good question, right?  I was moved to hear that kids related to Rachel--not just young biracial women, but young women and men of all nationalities and races.  And I think the students embraced the book because the teachers did--One of the teachers (Glenn) was my teacher back in the day!  And another Kelly Gomes --well, she's an awesome teacher--if you're thinking of teaching The GIrl -- Kelly's got the best ideas!  And then essentially, I think the book spoke to them because it's about growing up and the hardships of that--it's about being labeled and trying to figure out how to forge an identity.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet with the students.

The next day I visited with two classes at Cleveland High School.  The seniors were first up.  They were smart and asked engaging questions.  But I have to admit, I was most jazzed about meeting the young woman, Olivia, who introduced me.  I swear she was my younger twin!  It was the coolest thing!  And she was so sweet--the first thing she said to me was: "You wrote my life!"  Could there a better compliment to a writer?  She is half-Swedish and half-African-American and just a doll!  Olivia, if you're reading this, please be sure to keep me posted on what you're up to, okay?

The seniors made these amazing photo collages in response to the book--I've posted a couple here.  The artwork is amazing, but the thoughtful words to explain the collages are even better! I want to post them all as soon as I have time to scan them! If you can't see the captions below, check out the photo gallery where I have posted them and you should be able to see the captions there!

You'd think the freshman class I visited next would be a little quiet--but they were lively, and wiggly, and interested.  The students had done silhouettes of each of the characters and then written passages from the book either inside the silhouette (things that identified the character) or inside the silhouette (things that influenced the character).  Pretty cool, huh?  BTW: many of them agreed that if the book became a  Will Smith family production, that it would be pretty good.

Finally, that night I did a reading for the community at large and it was packed!  Honestly, I was kind of freaked out by the turnout.  Who were all these folks?  Well, whoever they were students, parents, community members--they were divine.  I left the library that night just floating about 1 inch off the ground.  Thank you Madison, Cleveland, and all the folks who made this visit possible.  Much love! And here's a video of my visit!

Way back some time last Fall, I got an invitation to read at Corona Public Library. It's not far from LA, but with traffic it can be a long drive. It was well-worth the journey! The room was packed--and oh, my goodness, what amazing energy and dare I say love. I can definitely say I loved those folks! They laughed and they had such wonderful questions. I couldn't help but hug just about everyone who asked me to sign a book. Writers take note: you want this invitation--and you will love it. Readers take note: this library (and I wish I'd had more time to spend there) is the real deal. You can feel the pulse of the community when you walk in--the place was hopping on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. Oh wait, and I forgot to mention the jazzy sign out front! How cool is this?

Way back some time last Fall, I got an invitation to read at Corona Public Library. It's not far from LA, but with traffic it can be a long drive. It was well-worth the journey! The room was packed--and oh, my goodness, what amazing energy and dare I say love. I can definitely say I loved those folks! They laughed and they had such wonderful questions. I couldn't help but hug just about everyone who asked me to sign a book. Writers take note: you want this invitation--and you will love it. Readers take note: this library (and I wish I'd had more time to spend there) is the real deal. You can feel the pulse of the community when you walk in--the place was hopping on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. Oh wait, and I forgot to mention the jazzy sign out front! How cool is this?