News from Heidi

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?

I was excited that I got to be a part of the Santa Monica City-wide Read this year. Although the official selection was my friend Dolen Perkin-Valdez's excellent book Wench, the library featured The Girl Who Fell From the Sky as well as Kathryn Stockett's The Help as secondary reads--books that dealt with similar issues. I read at the library on a rainy Wednesday night a couple of weeks ago to a warm and lovely audience. The podium was so tall that I had to stand on three volumes of an encyclopedia (I think it was w, x, and y). Best of all I met another Afro-Viking--according to my unofficial Census count thus far, we now number a total of 9 who reside in the U.S.

So Tempe was my fourth city in as many days the other week. Man was I exhausted. But who wouldn't be energized by the wonderful reception I received in Tempe? To kick off my time there, I did a TV interview with the very awesome Alberto Rios who I met at Bread Loaf in 2009. I can't wait to see the piece air. He's a wonderful interviewer and I was surprised by how comfortable I felt. Then it was time for the big literary luncheon the next day at Changing Hands Bookstore.
It has been a dream to read at Changing Hands because 1) it is a legendary indie bookstore; and 2) it's Barbara Kingsolver territory. Yup, it's got everything going for it--plus a wonderful group of folks running it: Brandon, Pinna, Cindy, and of course, Gayle and Bob. I was shocked to see the turnout. Some 80+ folks showed up to hear little ol' me. Well, I sure I hope I brought it, because those guys were the best audience! Just the best! I signed books forever--I know I take too long to sign, but I so enjoy meeting folks and hearing their stories. Gayle, can we do this again? I want to re-up -- maybe do a cocktail hour for those who missed the daytime event because of work--I'm game if you are! Oh, and one last thing. I met the loveliest woman whose name is Yvonne. I didn't get her contact information and I would love to send her a note. If you know her, please tell her I would love to hear from her.

I had never been to Wichita before, but now I know I have to find my way back. What a cool town. And I have to say it's mostly because Wichita has a kick-ass bookstore called Watermark. (They also have a very cool doughnut shop, but I would recommend going just for the bookstore!) I was lucky to visit a couple weeks ago with the incomparable Craig Popelars, Algonquin's marketing genius. We had the best time! The audience was warm and receptive and had great questions. Okay, so gotta write the new book finished so that I can go back.