My new book for adults is out in the world. I hope you check it out. Links in the comments. Thanks for considering it. ❤️

'This country is so great to visit. The people are amazing, so welcoming. The culture is amazing. It's like Europeans are getting a new view of America right now.' German Football YouTuber Fiago on tourists embracing American culture during the World Cup.

Snoopy Happy Flag Day 🇺🇸

All in for U.S.

Macy’s in Chicago. To be honest with you I only went in there because I desperately had to pee during my 4h walk but wow that’s giant flag 😂🇺🇸 I respect how proud Americans are of their country, unimaginable back home in Germany.

Kids don't get confident from being told they're great. They get confident from doing hard things and finding out they can.

WooHoo! Didn't even know my book had received a @PublishersWkly review until I was searching for something else - and it's a good one too. I'm so grateful! It's a fun read. I hope you check it out for yourself or your 10-12yo.

'Vacations.' The word is 'vacations.'

Dear @WhiteHouse, my name is Rodney Smith Jr., founder of Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Alabama. Through our 50 Yard Challenge, over 6,000 kids across the country have signed up to mow free lawns for the elderly, disabled, veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and single parents. With America celebrating its 250th birthday this year and me also being born on July 4th, I wanted to humbly ask if a few kids from our program and myself could travel to Washington, D.C. to help mow the White House lawn for this historic celebration. More than anything, I want these kids to see how a simple act of service something as ordinary as mowing a lawn for someone in need can lead to extraordinary places. What better lesson in community service than showing them that helping others can take them all the way to our nation’s capital? I’d also love to bring my American flag-themed mower in hopes that the President might sign it, so I can later auction it off and donate 100% of the proceeds to a nonprofit supporting veterans. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight the importance of service, patriotism, and the impact young people can have when they choose to make a difference. 🇺🇸

A herring is a fish. When a herring is preserved by salting and smoking, it turns red and smells. It's so pungent that it's a great diversion to distract hunting dogs from their trail. Now, a ‘red herring’ refers to anything that diverts attention from the issue at hand.

With everything we are hearing right now about ticks this seems like good information to share. “Here’s what I’ve learned after more ticks than I care to count. First, whatever your uncle told you, forget it. No matches. No nail polish. No Vaseline. No soap on a cotton ball. All of those do the same terrible thing, they stress the tick out, and a stressed tick empties its gut back into the bite before letting go. Which, if you think about what that actually means for a second, is literally how Lyme and the rest get transmitted so you’re not speeding up its exit. You’re making it throw up into you. Fine-tipped tweezers. Grip right where the mouthparts enter the skin, not the body, the head. Pull straight up, steady, no twisting, no jerking. It’ll feel like it’s resisting because it is, the mouthparts are barbed. Just keep the pressure on and it lets go in a few seconds. If a piece breaks off in the skin, leave it alone. Your body pushes splinters out. Digging around with a needle does more damage then the fragment ever would. Clean it with alcohol or soap. Wash your hands. Now here’s the part most people skip: don’t flush the tick. Tape it to an index card. Clear packing tape right over the body, write the date and where on your body it was, and stick the card in a drawer. If you come down with anything weird in the next 30 days, rash, fever, joint pain, that flu-that-isn’t-flu feeling, that tick goes with you to the doctor. Some labs will test the tick itself, which is faster and often more reliable than waiting for antibodies to show up in your own blood. A dated tick taped to a card is one of the most useful things you can hand a doctor who’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with you. The other thing worth saying out loud: if the tick was engorged when you pulled it, and you can’t swear it was off your body within 24 hours, call your doctor that same day. Don’t wait for a rash. Fewer than three out of four Lyme cases even produce the classic bullseye. A single preventive dose of doxycycline within 72 hours of a deer tick bite cuts the Lyme odds way down, and most docs in tick country will write that prescription without giving you a hard time, especially if you walk in with the tick taped to a card and a clear timeline.”

I've always liked Eric Carle's heart for children. He grew up in Nazi Germany after the age of 6 when his family moved back to their homeland. He was conscripted to dig trenches at the age of 15 with other children during the war. By all accounts he had a very traumatic childhood and grew up during a time where there were very particular ideas about what art should look like and what its purpose should be for children. He was surrounded by military-grade children's propaganda that called any art that wasn't photorealistic "degenerate". As an adult, you can see that his reaction was different. He could see through the eyes of the child. Instead of imposing the worldview of any group or political ideology onto children, he wanted to meet them where they were and to respect them as people. He understood the traumas of childhood and was cognizant of what children found comforting. Any political spin that people tried to place on his work he dismissed as "psychobabble" and would simply emphasize that he is only thinking of what children need. I found this quote from Carle to be particularly relatable to what I've personally seen as a teacher, "With many of my books I attempt to bridge the gap between the home and school. To me home represents, or should represent; warmth, security, toys, holding hands, being held. School is a strange and new place for a child. Will it be a happy place? There are new people, a teacher, classmates—will they be friendly? I believe the passage from home to school is the second biggest trauma of childhood; the first is, of course, being born. Indeed, in both cases, we leave a place of warmth and protection for one that is unknown. The unknown often brings fear with it. In my books, I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun."

Guys, many young Americans can't make a boxed cake because many young Americans CAN'T READ. When you CAN'T READ you can't follow basic instructions. The literacy crisis touches everything. The literacy crisis is a public health crisis, it's a mental health crisis, it's a financial wellness crisis, it's a human dignity crisis...

Wading in: I work full time in an office & take my lunch every day. On Sundays, I make lunches for the week. This week it's lunchmeat/cheese sandwiches w lettuce & tomato bag of store brand chips divided into containers store brand yogurt cups. $2.75/day. Basic. Good.

Today, I was the only one in my office from 12-5. What did I do? My assigned tasks & stayed 'til 5. Want good employees? Hire paranoid GenXers who need the money. (And we're mainly paranoid & need money).😅

When The Bones Sing Book Giveaway #giveaway #win kingsumo.com/g/1070zv3/when-…

Y'all, I've worked with a fair few publishing professionals as ARA and now RA of the @SCBWIOKAR region, and while they all have a job to do, they've 100% been lovely people. Extra shoutout to @vickyweberbooks whom I know is active on X. She's been kind and accommodating. 👍👍🥰

Home, again! Mission complete. I hope we glorified God, humanity, our families and our terrific teams a @NASA and @csa_asc. Time to share the good news!

If I have to pay $7.99 to rent a 30 year-old movie off Amazon when I have a Prime subscription, then we should just reopen Blockbuster. I’d rather have their employees judge my life choices.

Brian Jacques explains where the inspiration for Redwall came from: "Among today's writers for children, I may be the luckiest one of all. During my adult life I've had several careers, one of which was driving a milk lorry (a delivery truck, for you Yanks!). One of my stops was the Royal School for the Blind in Liverpool. When I realized that there were people on the staff whom I had known when I was growing up, I asked if there were anything I could do to help the kids? I felt, I suppose, that children are the most defenseless beings in the world; they have no power, no money, no political lobby. And to be deaf or blind made them even more defenseless. It was suggested that I might want to come and read to the children once a week, and I agreed. The books I was given to read were about dark subjects — alcoholic parents, teen-age pregnancy, drug abuse — all perfectly horrid and depressing. The children didn't like the books very much and I positively hated them. I wanted to give them the sense of adventure that I had when a boy, reading Robinson Crusoe or Treasure Island. Something that could take them out of themselves and their situation. So I went home and decided to write a story about defenseless mice — there's no creature on earth more helpless than a mouse, is there? I thought the children could identify with a mouse, and I also knew that I had to make the action of the story fast and furious to keep their interest. It had to be highly descriptive so that the children would be able to 'see' the story in their minds as much as they were able. Well, a published author, a friend of mine, read the raw manuscript and without my knowledge sent it to a London publisher and the Redwall books were born."