POND SCUM TEXAS TOUR

Monday begins my two week voyage through the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District.

4 presentations/ 2 schools a day for 10 days! I am incredibly psyched and already fielding great emails from the kids I'm about to meet!

Tomorrow I get picked up at the Houston airport by the amazing Paula Morgan (from Sampson Elementary), who has informed me I'll be signing books late into the night in my hotel room to get ready for Day 1 of the "Pond Scum Texas Tour". (sadly it's an off-day for the Red Sox/Indians so I imagine I'll have to settle for the National League playoffs.)

A note on AUTHORS AND SELF-PROMOTION. The topic is always a hot button and the discussions go on and on. But I thought I'd share how this trip came about.

Last spring I discovered (in other words - Googled) that Pond Scum was one of 12 books to be selected for the Horned Toad Tales List. Google pointed me to the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District outside of Houston and by digging around (ie. reading the press release) I found the name of one of the media specialists involved and called her to just say, "Thanks!"

In the course of the conversation that made both of our days - Paula asked if I do school visits. I said, yes. She asked if I thought I might do a "few" schools in her district. I said, yes. And the next day I was booked for my 20 school book tour.

All this is to say - I always thank the teachers, media specialists, librarians who suggest Pond Scum to students - and I have been booked numerous times simply for saying "thank you". It's not the reason I reach out - it's just a natural reaction.

So reach out and say "Thanks". It's a nice thing - and sometimes results in your eating real Texas Barbecue for lunch on Monday.

THANKS CyFair ISD!