Breezers in Your Neighborhood: September!

It's September already! Around the Southern Breeze region that means the weather is...still hot. But those warm days are perfect for getting out and about in the neighborhood where you'll find these Breezers:

Saturday, September 8th

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen is inviting everyone to her book launch for Dog Science Unleashed: Fun Activities To Do with Your Canine Companion.

Where:  City Dog Market

              4244 Peachtree Rd. NE

              Brookhaven, GA  30319

When:   10 - 2 PM

Jodi says "drop in anytime! There will be fun activities, giveaways, and more. And bring your canine!"

And Nancy Day is launching her newest book, Baby's Firsts!

Where: G. J. Ford Bookshop

             600 Sea Island Rd.

             St. Simon's Island, GA

When:   11 to 12 noon

Sunday, September 9th

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen will be taking her latest release, Dog Science Unleashed: Fun Acitivities To Do with Your Canine Companion to Tennessee!

Where: Barnes & Noble

             2615 Medical Center Parkway

            Murfreesboro, TN  37129

When:   3:00 to 5:00 PM CDT

Saturday, September 15th and Sunday, September 16th

Look for Sucheta Rawal and Beato Goes to Japan at JapanFest. She'll be in the Children's Gallery area at this popular cultural festival. (Tickets are required to attend this event, though 6 years and younger are free.)

Where:  Infinite Energy Center

             6400 Sugarloaf Parkway

             Duluth, GA

When:   10 to 6 PM

Monday, September 17th

Heather Montgomery will be celebrating launch day of her latest release, Bugs Don't Hug: Six-

Legged Parents and Their Kids.

Where: Page & Palette

             32 S Section St.

            Fairhope, AL 36532

When:  4:00 PM

Heather promises "spying on some really fun insect mommies and daddies and also a chat about what it takes to make a picture book work. And of course, there will be some icky-fun science involved!"

Wednesday, September 19th

Nancy Day is celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day with another of her new releases, Pirate Jack Gets Dressed.

Where:  Brunswick Public Library

              208 Gloucester St.

             Brunswick, GA

When:   10:30 AM

Saturday, September 22nd

Nancy Day's celebrating with a pirate launch party for Pirate Jack Gets Dressed!

Where:   The Book Loft

               214 Centre St.

               Fernandina Beach, FL

When:    1 to 3 PM


Monday, September 24 thru Saturday, September 29th

SCBWI Southern Breeze is sponsoring the Dekalb County Public Library's Lit Story Fest AND Illustrators Showdown!

Lit Story Fest is a literature and storytelling festival held throughout libraries in the Dekalb County Library system during the week. The festival includes author talks, art exhibits, and live performances. The week ends with an adult StorySLAM competition (Friday, September 28th) and Children's Literary Day (Saturday, September 29th).

For all the locations and happenings, please see the website here!


Illustrators Showdown Manuscript Contest!

Send your unpublished picture book manuscripts of 400 words or less to be reviewed and selected for LIVE ILLUSTRATION by illustrators R. Gregory Christie and Kelsi Jackson!

The Showdown will take place on Saturday at 3 PM at Stonecrest Library, 3123 Klondike Rd., Lithonia, GA. You must sign up in order to send your manuscript!

See the sign-up link here for details about manuscript submission and how the showdown will work. Deadline for submission is September 22nd!

Saturday September 29th

It's a busy day (and month!) for Nancy Day! She'll be in the Georgia neighborhood with Baby's Firsts at the following locations:

FoxTale Book Shoppe, 105 E. Main St., Woodstock, GA at 11:00 AM

Horton's Books, 410 Adamson Square, Carrollton, GA at 3 PM

Author Vanessa Fortenberry will be appearing at a collaborative author event featuring works in a variety of genres.

Where:  Douglas County Public Library
              6810 Selman Dr.
             Douglasville, GA  30134

When:  11 AM to 2 PM

Come out and say hello to your Breezers this month. And if you're new to SCBWI, attending these Breezer events is a great way to get to know your community! If you have an event for October, contact Cathy Hall at southern-breeze-ara2@scbwi.org with all the details. See you around the neighborhood!

EVERYBODY A WINNER AT WIK'18: Nature Nuts and Nonfiction!

Hey Breezers,

You have a passion to share with readers. Kids have endless curiosity. Put those two together and you have great nonfiction for kids, right?

If your attempts end up a little too encyclopedic, if you are forcing rhyme just to add something fun, if you struggle to cram 1,000 pages of notes into 32 sparse pages, you are not alone. 

Passing along your passion for nature or science through the written word is not simple. But we Breezers don’t give up easily. When our manuscript – which we were sure sung the praises of nature or clearly clarified a complex concept – doesn’t quite do our subject justice, we dig in and learn some more.

That’s what Jodi Wheeler-Toppen and I, Heather Montgomery, will be doing on a Sunday afternoon in March. Come join us for “Curiosity Meets the Printed Page,” one of the many intensives offered as a part of wik18.  

It will be an extravaganza of nonfiction fun! We’ll explore the terminology of the nonfiction world. What does that editor mean when she says she’s looking for “commercial” nonfiction? Why did a reviewer describe a particular book as “narrative”? What is trade versus the educational market?

Come discuss different structures in used in nonfiction to turn bits of trivia into timeless lessons.  Compare and contrast different texts. Examine structural frameworks which might fit your topic. 

What techniques turn dry data into an “Aha!”? To understand that, we must become students of nonfiction. We must learn to read like writers.

Join us for an afternoon of analyzing mentor texts, discovering ways to make tough topics

understandable, and – my favorite! – reveling in rowdy research.

We hope to see you there!

Heather L. Montgomery is passionate about the underappreciated creatures of the planet and loves to wade in – literally – to her research. Learn more about her 12 nonfiction titles at www.HeatherLMontgomery.com.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! 

CLICK :::HERE:::TO REGISTER!

Author Meet & Greet for #SBreeze16

Author Meet & Greet for #SBreeze16

~OPEN TO THE PUBLIC~

The fun doesn't stop when the conference does.
A select group of authors will be at the Homewood Public Library Sunday, October 9, 2016 from 2 pm to 4 pm. This is your chance to meet the authors, buy their books, and have them autographed.

PARTICIPATING AUTHORS: 

Bruce Coville

Don Tate 

Heather L. Montgomery 

Jo S. Kittinger 

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen 

Delia Blackstone  

Lucyann Wagner 

Kami Kinard

 

Come out and have a great time. See you there!

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK with Jodi Wheeler-Toppen

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK
with Jodi Wheeler-Toppen 

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen is a science author and educator with 10+ books for children and teachers from National Geographic Kids, Capstone, and NSTA Press. She is a former high school science teacher, with a Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Georgia. She loves having adventures with kids—her own and any others who come her way. Find her at www.OnceUponAScienceBook.com or on Facebook @JodiWheelerToppen.

WORKSHOP

• Getting your Books (and you!) into Schools How do teachers decide which books to use with their classes? What makes a teachers’ guide for a book really useful for a teacher? How do you get a teacher’s guide noticed so that teachers will try it out? In this session, we’ll hear from teacher interviews on how they select books. We’ll look at some lesson plans that teachers love and figure out why they work. We’ll look at some publications coming out of educator’s groups that can help us highlight our work for teachers, and help them see how valuable our author visits can be. And it will be fun! Audience: Writers and illustrators, all levels. 

 

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

 CLICK HERE to be directed to our registration page! 

~See you in October~