Books By Donna

Broadfoots of Wendell had its Annual Carolina Event September 27th. As always I had a great time talking to teachers and librarians about my books. This event is a wonderful networking opportunity with authors exchanging tips, enjoying Eastern Carolina barbeque for lunch with live music to entertain while we sign books. I think this event gets better every year. Thank you to all you teachers and librarians who keep buying Pale as the Moon and An Independent Spirit for your schools. I even had one teacher tell me she has used The Book of Miniature Horses in her class when they were learning about Helen Keller with the chapter in my book about Panda, the miniature guide horse.

I just got word that The Book of Mules will be released in mid November – on schedule! I am very excited about this book. I met so many really nice people and made some lasting friendships. And this book is being printed in full color, which is a first for me. The first book signing will be at Coffeehound Bookshop in Louisburg on December 13^th. Not only will I be signing your copies, but cover-girl mule, Sadie Mae will be making an appearance and signing as well. Check back here for other events.

January 2008 - My visits to Havelock Elementary and Arthur W. Edwards Elementary January 24 and 25^th were so much fun! I met some of the nicest people in both schools. I enjoyed every minute. The students were so gracious; they made me feel like a star. Some of the students made beautiful posters welcoming me to their schools, created a puppet show, and wrote a song about me, and shared their own writing.

I especially enjoyed having lunch with the students and Mrs. Nancy Wall. Mrs. Wall is a very special lady. She planned the whole event, and was the perfect hostess. She met me at my hotel with a nice basket of goodies and drove me to both schools so I could find my way around over the next two days. She was my guide and helper for both visits, seeing to my every need.

I signed a lot of books and feel very grateful to all the staff and students who bought copies. I also look forward to hearing from some of the students who promised to email me and let me read some of their writing.

I got a nice batch of letters from the students after I got home. Mikala of Havelock Elementary asked me where I did my writing. So, here is a picture of my office. It has nice big windows at both ends of the office. I can look out at the fields and woods. Some times wild animals walk around in my front yard. I have seen deer, foxes, ground hogs, squirrels and lots of birds. I also love to watch the little calves playing in the cow pastures.

11/20/07 - Visiting Edwards Best Elementary

The fourth graders at Edwards Best were great fun, all four classes! Because they are observing National American Indian Heritage month, I visited them to talk about writing Pale as the Moon and share with them what I learned about the Native People who lived on the coast of north Carolina when the English came to start the Roanoke Colony, which wasn’t as much as I would have liked to learn.

We looked at sketches John White made while we explored the islands. I told them about the exhibition of his art going on at the North Carolina Museum of History. I also brought some “show and tell” that they passed around to see while we talked.

We also talked about the wild horses that roam free on the Outer Banks, how they got their and how those horse inspired both of my historical fiction books. They asked about my own horse. I must remember to take a picture of Mira next time I visit a school.

I ate lunch with some of the fourth grade students and their teacher. We had fun talking about horses. After lunch I had one more class to meet. It was fun announcing to each class that Ms. Jones had arranged for each student in the fourth grade to get a copy of Pale as the Moon. The books had not arrived in time for my visit, so I promised I’d go back to Edwards Best to sign each of the 100 copies!

October 2007

Any author of children’s books would envy how I celebrated my birthday. There was a cake and other yummy snacks and about thirty people helped me start off another year, the sixty-first one in fact. What was a little out of the ordinary about my celebration is I had only met a couple of those people before the night of October 16. The members of the Robeson County Chapter of the North Carolina Readers Association had invited me as their guest speaker for their monthly meeting.

All of the guests were teachers, except my daughter who drove up from South Carolina to join me in my over-night stay in Lumberton. After my presentation, in which I talked about my writing journey and how my two historical novels for young readers, Pale as the Moon and An Independent Spirit (Faithful Publishing 2006), have reached fourth grade social studies students throughout the state, I signed over thirty copies. And, yes, one of the members really did bake me a delicious birthday cake. Janice Gardner, President, was a very gracious hostess. She presented me with a handy tote bag stuffed with some neat items like pens, books and information about the organization.

After the meeting my daughter and I stayed at the Holiday Inn. We stayed up until the wee hours talking. I come from a long tradition of folks who like to stay up late with family and talk. I remember when I was a child we’d go to upstate New York to visit my Dad’s people. Daddy often made the 12-hour drive through the night and we’d arrive well after bedtime. The coffee would be waiting for us, along with some homemade goodies. The grownups stayed up all night, and even though my sister and I were shuffled off to bed, I’d lay awake and listen to their voices drifting up through the heater grate on the floor next to my bed. I was about twelve, I think, when I was allowed to stay up and drink coffee with the adults.

The Robeson County Reading Association is part of an international organization (The International Reading Council) that promotes literacy, improvement of reading instruction, and lifelong reading through a variety of professional development and community service projects. They are made up of teachers, administrators, parents, college students and others interested in promoting reading. That would surely include authors! Go to http://www.reading.org/ and see if your state and/or county have an affiliate association.