Thank you to the Georgia Center for the Book for this award!
| Hello friends, Here we are in the last month of the year! I’m trying to be as simple as I can which still isn’t all that simple, but I’m trying :) My girls are 13 and 9 and I am very aware that my littlest won’t be a “kid” much longer, but for now… |
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| (This comic was inspired by a moment with my 9-year-old. She even asked for a new Barbie Dream House this year!) We visited my husband’s family in Colorado for Thanksgiving and exchanged Christmas gifts while we were there. My sister-in-law gave me a book called, “Unwrapping the Names of Jesus”. It’s an Advent devotional that is moving me to linger in the awe and wonder of Jesus in a way I haven’t in a long while. It’s very simple, and that’s just what my heart needs right now. |
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| Also while visiting, this happened (between my 9-year-old and her grandma) but my daughter says that what reeeeally happened was that her grandma didn’t hear correctly. At any rate, it’s funnier this way! … |
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| We also got to see some snow while we were there! And a little snow is a BIG snow if you’re a Georgia kid (or a worm)! And yes, we obviously do not know how to dress for such weather. |
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| When we got home, it was time to send out those holiday cards (since we happened to have survived getting family pics taken in early November). |
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| Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, y’all! It’s such a gift to me that YOU are here! |
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| Need a bookish gift idea? Here are 6… |
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| If you’d like a SIGNED (by me) book, order here. They’re on sale FOR $12 each! I ship quick too :) |
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| If you enjoyed one of my books, I hope you’ll write a review on Amazon. Reviews truly help the discoverability and sales of books like mine. |
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| Write a letter to Santa! |
| It’s a great time to practice writing letters (to Santa!) and Little Red and the Big Bad Editor can help make it extra fun to review things like using finger spaces, capital letters, and a greeting/closing. Here’s a free printable to color and write a letter on! |
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| See ya next year! |
| Your Friend, Shanda |
At a local school, I collaborated with the Technology and Science teachers, and the students built their own robot figure out of “spare parts” and then made it talk (with Makey-Makey and Scratch), just like Charlotte did in DOLL-E 1.0. (Here’s the lesson guide if you want to do this project with your own students!)
I had a blast working with some fun third graders making CHEESY COMICS together! Then, we compiled them into a hardcover book for their library. They look SO good, and I couldn’t be more excited to mail these off for the students to see their work published!
If you are interested in having me come do a CHEESY COMICS WORKSHOP with your students, get in touch! I like to spend about 2-2.5 hours with the same students spread over 1, 2, or 3 days. I am happy to work with group sizes of 10-60 as long as each student has a desk or plenty of table space to create.
In the workshop, we talk about character creation, story, the unique medium of comics (art+text, panels, and word balloons), and the comics creation process (sketches, pencils, inks, and color). By the end of our workshop, the students each have a zinger of a cheesy comic to go in an anthology hardcover book for the library or classroom that will “melt” you into a goo of joy :)
