Presentation at the Wayland Literacy Institute

This is a few weeks late, but I wanted to mention the presentation I gave at the Wayland Literacy Institute. This was my first Wayland Literacy Institute, and it was pretty impressive. The keynote speaker, Cris Tovani, started the day off. There were maybe 100, 150 people in the Little Theater. And she did a great job. She was honest and open about both her successes and failures, and had some interesting things to say about reading and literacy. I got to talk to her a bit at lunch (admittedly, I either interrupted or stalked her lunch until she was done), because a lot of what she said seemed related to the Follow Your Fates series: interest, interaction, etc. We had a great little talk and she seemed genuinely excited about the books.

The presentation itself went well also. I had maybe 15 or 20 people there, and they all for the most part seemed interested in the idea of interactive fiction and how it could help their teaching, from third grade all the way to eighth grade. We covered everything from using the format for adapting historical curricula to using it for teaching or covering social issues. Alayna C. even introduced a series of middle school books that use the interactive fiction format in a more extended format, i.e. each chapter ends with a choice with a more elaborate intro / lead-in. I'm not sure people were particularly interested in my books but they seemed interested in the format, which is a good thing.

So thumbs up for the Wayland Literacy Institute. Thanks for letting me participate.

Presented on the Books at the Ascanius Conference

Had the chance today to present on the books at the Ascanius Conference in Derry, NH. Ascanius is a Classics organization that focuses on elementary and middle school Latin teaching. It went well. Relatively small crowd (Matt Webb, the organizer, whom I know, said that yesterday's crowd was about double; I'm sure the fact that it was the first beautiful day in about a week didn't help), but gave me some great feedback and thoughts on where to go from here. Maybe I'll be writing a Caesar biography this summer.... And Stephanie had a great idea about using the books as an assessment for her special ed students, i.e., after studying the Odyssey, their test is to make it through the book by making the decisions that Odysseus made in the original. Loved that idea!

I've posted the PowerPoint from the presentation here.

Author's Night at Millbury B & N

As much as I'd like to say that the author's night at the Millbury (MA) Barnes & Noble was life- and bank account-changing, it was predictably not. No lines out the door. No huge royalty check or offer of representation. Nonetheless, it was a fun night and I got some good press out of it. And I met the Latin teacher from AMSA (Marlboro, MA) whose husband was there and told her about the books.

There were seven of us there, all of us different authors: one mystery writer (she was the most successful of the night), one fantasy writer, one photographer (who chronicled the Springfield-area tornado of last year), one poet, one children's book author, one memoirist, and I. We each spoke for a couple of minutes about our books, and then people were free to browse, visit, talk, etc. I've included a few pictures below from the evening (thanks, TH). 

I've linked here to newspaper articles that the night spawned, both from Wayland (MA) where I teach. The first is from the town paper, and the second is from the school paper.

FYF to be Featured at Millbury (MA) Barnes & Noble New Author Night

I know it's been a while since the last update; I'd like to say that's because I've been so busy with the unremitting success of the books. I have, of course, been busy but, needless to say, FYF news has been slow recently. Until today.

Liz (my wife) ran into a neighbor of ours who used to work at Scholastic Books, and to whom I had given the books when she was at Scholastic. She now works at the Barnes & Noble in Millbury (MA) in Community Relations, and is organizing a new authors night, and asked Liz if I would be interested in. Lori & I met today, she gave me the details, and of course I'm in.

So if you're in the Millbury, MA area (or want to be) on Friday, February 17 at 7.00 PM, come on by the B&N for the New Authors Event.

I'll update soon when I know more.

The Follow Your Fates Website

Well, I finally got around to creating a website for the Follow Your Fates series, which is a bit more complete than this (though this is linked from it). So here it is:

http://followyourfates.weebly.com

Interview with Brian Delandro Hardison, the FYF Illustrator

Andrew Reinhard of Bolchazy-Carducci, who publishes the Follow Your Fates series, recently posted an interview with award-winning illustrator Brian Delandro Hardison, who did the illustrations for the series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdbaaCZBDsI

Exile of Aeneas Reviewed in Midwest Book Review

Just stumbled upon this new review in the August 2010 Midwest Book Review Bookwatch (Lorraine's Bookshelf):

"The Exile of Aeneas" is a "Follow Your Fates" series rewrite of the choices facing Aeneas in 2,000 year old Greek epic literature. The object is for the reader to face the choices originally faced and made by Aeneas, and in making original decisions, learn to compare and contrast values and cultures between modern and ancient times. In addition to learning Classical history and literature through this re-imagining of "The Exile of Aeneas," the reader will achieve another goal effortlessly: entertainment. Third in the series by the author, "The Exile of Aeneas" follows "The Wrath of Achilles" and "The Journey of Odysseus," other Follow Your Fates titles. The prose story of "The Exile of Aeneas" places the reader directly in the action of the "Aeneid," its original source, but based on reader choices, there are 32 possible different endings to the story. Five black and white illustrations by award winning comic book artist Brian Delandro Hardison add to the impact and appeal of "The Exile of Aeneas." Written by a famous teacher of Latin and the classics, "The Exile of Aeneas" is sure to bring an ancient epic to fresh young adult (and older)audiences and new awareness and fame.

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/aug_10.htm (toward bottom of page)

Not sure that I quite qualify as a 'famous teacher of Latin and the classics' but I'll take it (despite the apparent identification of the Aeneid as Greek rather than Roman / Latin literature).