Tag: author visits

Wrapped In Love

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m grateful for readers like Tanya, a school counselor in Montana, for her touching post on IG earlier this week.

It makes my heart soar to see our book in the hands and on the heart of readers like her. And just look at the connection that she made with the book; her daughter’s handiwork (without needles!) is an incredible work of heart.

I had the blessing of gathering online with a panel of teacher authors; click {here} to listen in. It was so much fun to hear their stories and learn more about how their books came about. Special thanks to Josh Tovar and Dr. Moreno for including me in this group of educators.

My cousin texted a photo of Owen’s color sheet after my visit to his school. I just love how he connected back to the story by finishing off his slippers with a pom of a different color.

On this journey through life, I’m learning that love comes in all shapes and sizes, through a chance to connect in person or by receiving a phone call or text following up after the fact.

It might be coming by with a plate of cookies for my husband who just had knee surgery …

or posting a review of a book you liked, just to increase visibility or engagement with the product.

Mine heart happiness has always been sparked by baking, so this week, I baked our Halloween pumpkin, then made six batches of pumpkin bread. I posted on Facebook for anyone local to come pick some up. The Principal of a neighboring school took me up on it, so she could treat her front-office staff to some kindness from my kitchen.

It wrapped my heart in love to get this picture that afternoon. A couple of people I’ve never met came by to get one, too; one of the new friends is making pork egg rolls for us tomorrow. Talk about your win-win.

What’s your go-to way to wrap someone in love?

Second-Grade Superheroes

Barbara Gruener

Today I had the pleasure of visiting not one, but three classes of second-grade superheroes. The first two classes were classmates of my cousin’s son, Owen, in Grafton, WI. It was like a homecoming of sorts, because I was with them last year around this time to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys with them. Today I had the pleasure of sharing Knit Back Together.

Next stop, Mrs. Huber’s class in Cedarburg, WI, where I got to enJOY not only reading my book, but also sharing with them about the writing process, specifically the editing and revising step that some budding authors would rather skip.

I get it; I didn’t much care for the myriad edits that I kept on making, especially when they kept me up at night, but since I wanted the book to be the best that it could be, I kept on revising until I had it exactly the way it is now, two Focus Groups and so many versions later.

After falling for these incredible superhero friends, I left with a spring in my step and a request that they send pictures when they’d finished the coloring sheets we gave them.

Here now, their beautiful works of heart:

Slippers and smiles that exude their best-effort Dolphin pride.

Tomorrow, I’m off to another favorite, Howard Elementary near Green Bay.

As the sun sets on this incredible day, I’m counting my blessings . . .

. . . and that includes you, dear reader. Thank you for being a part of my journey.

Writing From The Heart

Barbara Gruener

Twenty years ago, a kind volunteer made this quilt for me as a school counselor, from the handprints of our son’s first-grade class family.

This week, I was invited to Mrs. Quigley’s first-grade class to talk about being an author, so I brought it along as a object for the lesson, to remind them that their hands and hearts are a huge part of their story, that they are a part of a whole, and that there are other hands and hearts in their stories. Who are they? I asked. Family, friends, siblings, grandparents, teachers, school counselors, principals, neighbors, coaches, teammates.

I had the pleasure of showing them my three books, talking about realistic fiction, then reading Knit Back Together aloud.

It was especially satisfying because my illustrator is their Art teacher, so they were super excited to see her artwork on the pages of our book. They knew exactly what she was doing with how the colors portrayed feelings, warmth, angst. One first grader even said, “Oh, she took away the color from this page because Levi is feeling empty inside.” How profound is that?

After we read, I gave them each a heart sticker, a page from the book to put on their writing journals …

… as a reminder to always write from the heart.

It left my bucket overflowing to share my stories with these Can-Doers.

Oh, and this past week I updated my Facebook page, so click {here} for all things SEL and charACTer education.

Appreciating Teachers

Barbara Gruener

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week 2025; how are you celebrating?

My Monday started out at Bales Intermediate, previewing my new book with Mrs. Dixon’s and Mrs. Thurman’s fifth-grade learners. I asked them to be my Focus Group, for feedback and input. Their former Art teacher is our illustrator, so that was a fun connection for them. More details to come; we hope to put it on the market this August.

When I was leaving, Mrs. Conn from across the hall asked if I could read to her class. So on Wednesday, I headed back to Bales to read Birdie & Mipps as we celebrate its one-year book birthday. When I get these amazing opportunities, I’m reminded how much I miss read-aloud time.

I left a copy for the class after our read-aloud; here we are, looking for Mipps’ given name, hidden within the text.

These curious learners had a lot of questions and connections, but my favorite reflection was a compliment: “Your voice is so good that you could actually read books on YouTube.” Is that not the sweetest thing? I thanked her and told her that back in 1979, when I won a State Forensics Storytelling competition, that one of the judges wrote, “You could make money with that voice,” and she agreed. “You could!”

Tomorrow my appreciation continues, when I Zoom to a classroom in PA, to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys. I sent them ’empa-KEYS ahead of time, so it’ll be fun to give those out from deep in the heart of Texas.

In the meantime, I’ve been sending these magnets to some energizing educators to remind them that they matter; this one made its way to Joe Beckman in Minnesota.

Dear Teachers,

YOU are appreciated. YOU are valued. YOU are loved, not only this week, but always, because YOU are showing up and doing the holy work, holding the hearts of our REAL national treasure, the children, our future.

Thank you, thank you.

Barbara

Meaningful Author Connections

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m feeling called to talk about connections, sparked by this Amazon review.

Just a few days into the new year, while I was at my childhood home caring for my Stepmom as she was dying, I received an email from a reader. Here’s a part of it.

Hello, how are you? My name is Michelle … I am a teacher in NJ. I have been teaching in the same town & school for 22 years … I absolutely love Mr. Quigley’s Keys … I am currently teaching 3rd grade and I LOVE reading to my class. We read 1-2 stories a day and I feel they are picking up a stronger passion for reading. Every month the students pick their favorite read aloud that I have read over the entire month to find the winner for our classroom. We call it “Bookflix” of the month.  Every March, I do the same thing but we make it like a tournament of books and each book battles another to make it through to the next bracket. We do this to celebrate March Madness with the NCAA basketball.

Well, being a relatively new basketball fan because of Caitlin Clark‘s days at Iowa, I think it’s soooooo cool to imagine Mr. Quigley’s Keys in a March Madness bracket. As you might imagine, it gave me great pleasure to send her class family a signed copy of Keys. I’ve also offered a virtual author visit, so, who knows? I might even get to meet them. Eeeeeeeek!

Michelle ended her letter with this: I look forward to hearing  from you if you have any time. I love telling my class I spoke to a REAL author. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Now here’s the thing: I will never forget the day that Phillip Hoose of Hey, Little Ant fame first emailed me. He’d enjoyed a blog post that I wrote about his rhyming “to squish or not to squish” treasure, and he invited me to write an article and submit it to Teaching Tolerance Magazine. I did, and it was not only accepted, but it was my first payment for a piece I’d scribed. My first author gig, if you will. Oh sure, I’d been writing for as long as I can remember, but getting paid for my words felt like next level, for sure.

Our friends Tricycle Press decided to put an excerpt from that article on the back of the hardback books 8th edition and beyond, and it felt so dreamy. Download a teachers’ guide from the publisher {here}.

Then when we invited Phil to come to Friendswood from the East Coast and lead a Family Character Night we hoped to call “Picnic With The Author Of Ant,” we were over-the-moon with delight that he agreed. Families brought their dinners to our gym, spread out their picnic blankets, and ate dinner while Phil lead a good old-fashioned Sing Along and then a read aloud of his blockbuster book.

So, Michelle, I can still feel what it feels like to hear back from an author, and I, for one, am grateful that you followed your heart and made this meaningful connection with me. Oh, and not that I’m uber competitive or anything, but I do so hope that Keys does well in your 3rd-grade March Madness bracket. 🔑💜🗝️

Leaning Into #Leadership

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m excited because this podcast episode with my publisher dropped first thing this morning. What a fun way to kick off the week of Christmas 2024.

It can be a little daunting to record a visit without knowing the questions ahead of time, but that’s exactly what I did with my Character Speaks podcast, to keep it fresh. I loved the authenticity and vulnerability of the on-the-spot responses that always came straight from the heart. Our visit is about 45 minutes long, so lace up your walking shoes and listen in on what we have to say about our leadership practices, habits and recommendations.

Spoiler alert: Darrin does get a little emotional at the end, a podcast first for this leadership guru!

Speaking of emotional, I just returned from WI, where I had not only a lovely early Christmas with my extended family, but also a chance to visit with two first-grade class families and then two second-grade classes. At the first school, I got to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys.

I left them each with an empaKEY on a red string, to remind them that they hold the key to unlock hearts by listening and loving, sharing compassion and kindness.

The teacher realized that she’d forgotten to order one; thankfully I always carry extras!

After the visit, I received this kind affirmation from her:

Hello Barbara,

Your presentation was absolutely wonderful! I thorughly enjoyed it and the kids were so engaged! You have such a gift. Thank you for sharing it with us! I look forward to seeing your future books … maybe about Winthrop … maybe a whole series! 😉 The kids adored him!

Thank you again for sharing your holiday time with us. Have a very blessed Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

In His Service, Deanne

Who’s Winthrop, you ask?

He’s the bird that helps me set the stage for my empathy explanation since that’s one of the themes of Birdie & Mipps. Don’t you just love how the two girls on the left are responding to him? Perhaps he does need a book of his own … hmmmmm.

In the middle of our read-aloud, one of the boys wondered aloud: “Hey, is this a personal narrative?” Then he added, “Wait, are you the girl?”

I gave this group each a sticker with a cardinal on it and we talked about what the American male cardinal is said to represent.

On his way to recess, one boy showed his teacher his sticker and said, “I’ll use this to remember my dad.” Be still my soul.

So many text-to-self connections that morning; you just never know how each reader will engage and respond, and what they will take away and remember from the story and the visit.

And that’s how I’ve been leaning into leadership lately.

Thank you for visiting my blog today; do let me know if ever I can visit the superheroes in your class family either in person or via Zoom.

Young Authors’ Day

Barbara Gruener

I had the most incredible time on Friday celebrating the 20th-annual Young Authors’ Day at Willow River Elementary in Hudson, WI; what a treat to be invited to be their special guest and get to share our story. I’m so grateful to Sarah and her beautiful school family for the warm welcome and loving kindness throughout the day.

To walk into the library and see our book among these special literary picks?

PRICELESS!

Sometimes it just doesn’t seem real, that I get to travel around helping young writers learn about the publishing process from seedling idea to hardback book. It gives me great joy to answer their questions and sign words of encouragement in my book for them. My favorite new phrase? Sometimes empathy is quiet.

So what’s next? As another school year winds down and we slide into summer, our release of Birdie & Mipps is just around the corner, set for next week, May 23rd, 2024. This Thursday, I’ll be at our Friendswood Library to talk with local young authors about publishing, then we’ll do a “Hello-my-nickname-is” activity before our fabulous librarian Christina and I read the book aloud. I get to play the older sister Birdie, while she tackles the role of a very curious Mipps.

Didn’t she do an incredible job on the invitation?

Oh, and before I head out, a huge shoutout to Julie Garnett for showcasing Mr. Quigley’s Keys on her Musical Storytime Plus. We are super grateful to be a part of her stellar storytelling family.

Do let me know if you’d like to schedule an author visit for your budding writers.

Something So Magical

Barbara Gruener

What a delightful trip home, to take in some Fall foliage and spend some quality time with family. While there, I was blessed by three opportunities to share my book and make some new friends. The first visit was to these two incredible young learners who are homeschooled.

Their favorite takeaways were the antique key necklaces we made, searching for the camouflaged keys throughout the book, and finding someone in Ms. Pittman’s class that looks like them.

They stole my heart as I got to sign, sing, and search with them. In the end, my second-grade friend even made a treasure map for me, complete with a key, of course, to find a special treasure chest hidden in his garage. Don’t you love extension activities?

Then it was off to Racine, WI, for a vist at both schools where my incredibly thoughtful friend Trish is the amazing school counselor.

Our friend Julia joined us and shared this beautiful reflection later that afternoon.

Look at how heartwarming this is, the Principal at Red Apple Elementary handing out keys to his kids. I love how he let them decide which key fit them.

I feel so blessed to have visited these two beautiful school families and shared our story. It happened to be World Smile Day, so I also got to challenge a few friends to a smile off. It was a fun way for a student to win a signed copy of our book for one of their teachers. Then it was time to head to the family farm, where I captured Autumn in all of its splendor.

We picked up my mom so she could go along on the third author visit.

She really appreciated how beautiful it was outside. The trees were so vibrant and the weather was absolutely perfect for this visit to a parochial grade school like the one I attended during my formative years.

It was extra-special because my invitation came from a 5th-grade student, a nephew of my brother on his wife’s side.

What joy to watch young leaders take the initiative and make something so magical happen.

Happy October, dear reader; I pray many KEY cotton-candy sunsets, like this one that I captured over our family farm, on the horizon for you as we head toward the most wonderful time of the year.

¿Puedes Oír Las Llaves?

Barbara Gruener

Can you hear those keys coming closer … in Spanish?! Today I’m overflowing with gratitude and joy to share that Las Llaves del Señor Quigley is on its way to the publisher. HUGE shout-out to my daughter, Kaitlyn, for her design help and emotional support in making this dream a reality. I started the translation back in August, but then my brother Mark passed away and my grief work detoured me.

Then, in December, I heard Diana, the founder of Asher’s Gift Box, on the Kindness Podcast with Nicole J. Phillips, mention that she was looking for picture books in Spanish to include with her boxes, and it was the sign that I needed to get back on track translating KEYS.

We had a few interesting issues arise, like every Spanish-speaking country having its own Sign Language alphabet, so we decided to stick with our ASL and just include the two additional letters from the Sign Language of Spain alphabet.

I’m so thankful to Eugenia, a friend of EduMatch, for helping proof my translation. We are so eager for this opportunity to put our picture book into the hands and onto the hearts of more readers just as the one-year birthday of our book rolls around.

Last week I had the opportunity to make my first in-person author visit to Salem Lutheran in Tomball to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys in English to my young friends at Salem Lutheran in Tomball; what a delight it was to watch (and feel!) the reactions as I read to learners in grades K through 4th. Each of the classes presented me with a creative KEY that they’d made as their entrance ticket to unlock the event.

We sang a song, we shared some sign language words, and I got to act out the story as they listened respectfully with wide-eyed wonder. My favorite was probably hearing a second-grade girl gasp with glee as I turned to the last page and she realized that Jenn was actually Mr. Quigley’s granddaughter. As they left to go back to class, each reader took an antique key as a touchstone to remind them that they are all a KEY part of their school family. What makes YOU a key part of your school’s success?

The following day, the librarian shared this with me; yes, it is well with my soul.

¿Puedes oír el tintineo mágico de esas llaves acercándose?