Wildlife Rescue Series!

It’s Wednesday night, the last night in February, and I’m looking forward to an early morning meeting with Catherine Bentivoglio, a teacher at Academie de la Moraine in Toronto. We first met over a year ago, at EarthRangers, when I was touring with my first book, Flight or Fight, and her enthusiastic students had me signing everything from bookmarks to books to the t-shirts on their backs.

This unusual teacher kept in touch with me throughout the year. First contact was through a student named Jonathan, who sent a letter to me via my publisher — my first-ever letter from a reader. From there, Catherine emailed to let me know she was using Flight or Fight in the classroom … and building a curriculum unit around it!

By the time I was writing Crow Medicine, she was sending me sheaves of letters from her students, as well as the lesson plans she’d created based on my book. They were incredible — writing exercises, question-and-answer, even theatrical improv and video-making! With her permission, those plans will appear on this site in future for other educators to use.

A big HELLO to the students in Ms. Bentivoglio’s class! I look forward to seeing you in the morning.

This title makes me sound very “courier de bois,” but in fact it refers to the school I’ll be visiting in Toronto, Ontario, on Wednesday, February 28. It will be my first presentation about my new book, called Crow Medicine, and fittingly, this is my first post on my first blog. I’m nervous - I always am before I speak - but I’m excited, too, because I’ve met some of these students before and they asked AMAZING questions. I’m about to start work on the third book in the series, and I have a feeling the questions that come up will find their way into my research, and into the writing. So HI to the students of Portage Trail, and I’ll see you soon!