Wheee! Piggy galleys!

Lovely surprise in the mail today: "F&G" (folded & gathered) galleys of my upcoming book, I KNOW A WEE PIGGY, illustrated by the hilariously clever Henry Cole. Here's the eye-catching cover. Ain't it perty? Look for it in June of 2012. It's dedicated to my dear friends, Doris and Atwil Gwaltney, and our beautiful town of Smithfield, Virginia, "The Ham Capital of the World."

Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, published by The Penguin Group. Pictures and cover copyright © 2012 by Henry Cole.

And here's the layout for the dust jacket:


When I do school visits, I tell the kids that one of the most important things a writer needs is patience. This book definitely took that, but holding these gorgeous, colorful galleys, it was worth the wait!

Kim Norman

TradiTIONNNNN!

Mike (Tevye) Willard and I (Golde) with the talented Dempsey girls, the two elder of whom are playing our two youngest daughters in Fiddler on the Roof at Smithfield Little Theatre. (I know, that's a little confusing!) Such a talented and fun cast. I'm really glad I did it -- and still 3 more weekends to go!

FREE BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY!

Last year's Free Book special was so popular that I've decided to run another special for the 2011-2012 school year:
Any school that hires me for a 3/4 or full day author visit will receive a complete set of my hardback books for the library. If the school happens to be located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, I'll even extend that offer for a HALF day visit!

See more about the offer on my website: kimnormanbooks.com

Kim Norman

My fuzzy new grand-dog!

My son with his 40-pound (yes, 40-POUND) Newfie puppie, Niles. Oof!!

Dear Jim, how we miss him!

Clearing out a room in my house, I came across a box of theater memorabilia -- photos and newspaper clippings. Here's a nice old clipping from the 80s featuring our dear Jim Hurst with Monica Crusner, an exchange student who lent us her talents during her stay. Many of us have reconnected with Monica -- thank you, FaceBook! -- who still looks this great NOW.

Remember those Peppermint Patties, Monica? We remember you fondly. We all miss dear Jim every time he cheerfully tells us to "silence your cell phones and beepers."

Kim

Four on a sled!

Lots of snow around here in southeastern Virginia. Deeper than my 17-year-old son has seen in his whole life.

The best sledding hill in this flat little tidewater town is right behind our house (lucky us!) so I went out with the super-sized Scholastic paperback of Ten on the Sled and found a quartet of good-natured models to pose with the book. So thank you to Kathryn, Emily, Marnie and Ev for being such good sports. And thanks to their moms and dads, too!

Happy sledding!

Kim Norman

ps: I think the super-sized Scholastic paperback (as well as regular-sized Scholastic paperback & an audio CD) are only available thru Scholastic Canada right now. I haven't seen it yet on the Scholastic US site -- but I could be wrong about that. The Sterling hardback is available... well... "everywhere books are sold" as the advertisements always say.

Warmest wishes to all!

Pretty! A sideways Christmas Tree!

Well, isn't that a pretty shape? Kind of like a sideways Christmas tree.

Since we're nearing the end of 2010, I decided to check my website's stats on StatCounter.com, which I've been using to track the site's visitors for over 3 years. (2007 is much lower because I started tracking partway thru the year.) I check it not infrequently for daily totals, but don't think to check yearly stats very often.

I'm pleased that I did. Here's a screen shot. I like the shape of this graph. Up up and away! (I blanked out my actual numbers. Hey, I'm not sharing EVERYTHING on this blog!) But the basic upward march is nice. Probably explains the spike in author school visit inquiries this year, although not entirely, since inquiries have more than doubled.

Merry half Christmas tree to you!

Kim Norman