I'm celebrating two things this week:

1. I'm celebrating our nephew's wedding, which takes place Friday - just two days from now. It's an Indian wedding that starts early in the day and goes on for quite awhile, and Thursday (tomorrow) I'll be on the plane to Pittsburgh, PA, where the wedding is taking place. I'm celebrating early, since I know I won't have time to post. I'll get to see a lot of relatives I haven't seen for awhile, and I'm looking forward to meeting the bride.

2. I'm celebrating being a guest on the wonderful Kirby Larson's Friend Friday post. Here is the link to her webpage: http://www.kirbylarson.com/blog/

She has a series of columns, one for Mondays, Tuesdays, etc. Fridays are always "Friendship Friday". If you click on it now, you'll get last Friday's guests, author LaurieAnn Thompson and illustrator Paul Schmid, who teamed up to write what looks like a charming picture book, My Dog Is Best. My post will be on the 26th, two days from now. Please do take a look Friday.

In the meantime, please go next door to my Fourth Wish Blog  to read about a wonderful Fado singer whom we met in Portugal when I was doing research for my next book.

Celebrate the Small Things is a nifty blog hop sponsored by Lexa Cain ,  Tonja Drecker of Kidbits Blog , and L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge 
Do have a look at these three great sites, and look into the links of others who are part of this blog hop. You'll meet some nice friends!

School Visit in Braga, Portugal

Wonderful students at Escola
Secundaria Maximinos

It's been such a busy time, that I'm opting out of the "Celebrating Small Things" blog hop for about two weeks to catch up on events in Portugal and Galicia. Then I'll get back to it, as I really enjoy all the friends I've met there.

Now that book events of the last week are winding down, I can get to a school visit in Braga that give me the opportunity to meet some of the wonderful students at Escola Secondaria Maximinos, a secondary school equivalent to our middle and high school levels in the United States. (Braga is divided into civil parishes, and Maximinos, where the school is located, is one of those parishes.)

The visit was arranged by Carla Pereira, a lovely person I met on a previous trip while doing research who has become a dear friend, and one of the teachers at the school. Carla had corresponded with me and asked if I would visit her daughter's school. Of course I said yes! The teacher who set up the event, Senhorita Carminda, arranged for us to meet in the library, which provided a warm and welcoming environment.

Carla, her 12-year old daughter,
Beatrix, and me.

Carla's daughter, Beatrix, is twelve, but the majority of students were between 13 and 15. Students from two 7th grade classes and two 8th grade classes met in the library, which hosts visitors and various programs. (You can learn more about the library programs HERE.)

A table had been set up at the front of the room, and what really amazed (and delighted) me was a screen that had a picture of my book cover! I had bought posters to pin up, but they were entirely unnecessary.

What to my wondering eyes did appear.

Senhorita Carminda, me, and a charming
supervisor from the school district. I'm
sorry I can't tell you her name. I met a lot
of people all at once. But she was warm
and welcoming, like all the staff. 

The students were a great audience: attentive, curious, serious, well-behaved. They understood English and asked interesting questions: everything from what made me come to Braga (another book I'm writing), what did I like about Braga (oh so much!), how long I had been writing (all my life), and a few other questions.

Following along. . . (you can see my
husband, Rajan, near the door.)

The students were pretty focused.

And attentive.

I really enjoyed their questions.

Some of the students told me they write, too. And -- impressive -- one young man is studying both Spanish and French, in addition to the English he already has been learning. Here are some
    pictures of these cool young
    students:

 
 Altogether, the visit took about 45 minutes, and the time went by very fast.


Before it was over, I was presented with a gift from the school - a pen with a wooden shaft in a beautifully crafted wooden box. And because they do things in such a special way, the box was wrapped in paper with a picture of my book cover!

The wrapping.

The special pen. My poetry pen. 

Even though I write my fiction on the computer, I write my poetry by hand, and this is now my poetry pen, which will always hold special memories for me of this lovely event. (I took these pictures when we got back to our house in Galicia.)


After the students went to their next class, we had some pictures taken with our hosts, two hard-working librarians who also teach classes. They set everything up for us and created this inviting and comfortable atmosphere.

Rajan, Senhorita Carminda, me,
supervisor, and 2 gracious librarians.

Senhorita Carminda, Beatrix, Carla,
me, and charming supervisor. 

But there was another surprise, too! I actually received this the day before when I walked over to Casa Stop to arrange with Carla the meeting time to go to the school. Casa Stop is a cool shop with a little bit of everything, including needlework. (I waited until we returned to Galicia to take this picture in our little dining area.) The embroidery work featured is a logo of the Sé Cathedral in Braga.

A beautiful apron and potholder, and a little "pocket" to keep them in. Of course, I wouldn't dream of cooking with them. I'm a cook who sometimes spills things. These are a gift I will treasure, along with my new poetry pen, and the memories attached to them - examples of the generosity and kindness so typical of Portuguese culture.

Thank you, Carla! Thank you Escola Secondaria Maximinos! 

Next week: A very special Fado singer. Stay tuned.

Book Release - Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls

I have so many things to blog about, but:


Hip Hip Hooray,
Caloo Calay!
My book was just released today!

Here are the links: Imogene and The Case of The Missing Pearls is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, Amazon USA,Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository. In ebook format it is in Kindle and Kobo and will soon be on iTunes.


Meanwhile, please come back Friday for the first of several blogs about the trip to Portugal.

A school visit,
arranged by my friend, Carla

A fabulous Fadista, Maria da Luz

And, if you like historical novels, please go next door to my Fourth Wish Blog for a review of Nancy Herman's fine book about the Donner Party, told through thirteen-year-old Virginia'Reed's point of view.

Celebrating A School Visit and a Guest Post Next Tuesday

Carla Pereira in her charming
shop, Casa Stop

It's again and I'm celebrating two events that  are actually going to happen next Tuesday, June 2nd. 

One of them is a school visit in Braga Portugal! How did this happen?
   
Last May, Rajan and I visited Braga, Portugal for the first time so I could do research on a new book that I've set in Braga. At that time, I met the very gracious Carla Pereira in a charming shop called Casa Stop which offers a range of things for the home. (You can see more about the shop at its Facebook page HERE.) Carla gave us directions when we got lost, and when she found out I was writing a book, we struck up a nice friendship that we continued by email. (Don't you love the Internet?)

My husband and I visited again in September, and when she learned we were returning in June, Carla asked if I would pay a school visit to her daughter's school. Well, of course I said yes! I'm thrilled! The students speak English (I don't speak Portuguese), and they are curious about American authors. It's a class of 30 I'll be addressing, ages 13 to 15. Pictures will definitely follow in a post visit blog!

The second wonderful thing I'm celebrating next Tuesday is that I'll be a doing a guest post on the cool blog, Mad About MG History, a blog about middle grade historical fiction. It's hosted by several bloggers, one of which is Chris Eboch, who has another blog, Write Like a Pro, a free online writing workshop. (I've heard Chris speak at workshops, read and liked a some of her books, and bookmarked several of her articles. She knows whereof she speaks.) You can visit Mad About MG History HERE and tap into some good reads for middle grade readers. Come visit me there on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I'm getting to celebrate all this with you, thanks to LEXA CAIN's blog and her co-hosts,
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Katie @ TheCyborgMom. Visit Lexa's blog and follow and join the other links. It's really nice to see what other people are celebrating.

Have a great day.












http://madaboutmghistory.blogspot.com

Guest Post and Giveaway on Natalie Aguirre's Literary Rambles

I'm excited to have a guest post and a giveaway of my new book, Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls, on Natalie Aguirre's wonderful blog, Literary Rambles. You can read the post and maybe win your free copy HERE. Please visit her site and check it out.

Here's a teaser of the book, a trailer a friend made for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBXxmTVdvM&feature=youtu.be



And at Natalie's blog, you'll find a wealth of information on agents and other authors.

Have you ever made a trailer for one of your books?

Friday? Already?

sheep grazie in pastures

one of the small villages

Add caption

It's time to celebrate small things again. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful for that week. It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  (Originated by VikLit)  Two wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are: L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Katie @  TheCyborgMom

What am I celebrating today? Long walks in the countryside. Villages are close enough that you can walk from one to another and see sheep and cattle on the way. Yesterday we encountered some of our favorite people, Pepe and Melucha, from a nearby village. Pepe introduced us to his brother, who invited us into the bodega for a glass of home-made wine. His wife brought us bread and cheese. It was a bright, sunny day, with a soft breeze, and we stood and talked awhile, enjoying their gracious hospitality. These are memories I will never forget. They will be with me forever.

How about you? Do you enjoy long walks? What is your favorite snack?

Belated Celebration and Things to Come

I'm a bit behind in Celebrating Small Things, the very positive blog hop sponsored by Lexa Cain @ lexacain.blogspot.com, L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Katie @ TheCyborgMom. There are lots of good links over there, so hop on over to see what people are celebrating -- including Lexa, who has just had a short story published that sounds great!

For my part, I'm celebrating two things.

1. Catching up on sleep at last! (My husband and I are in Galicia, Spain, our favorite place, but it's in a time zone nine hours away from Sacramento's time zone. You can imagine.

2. I'm being interviewed tomorrow at Rosi Hollinbeck's blog, The Write Stuff . Rosi always has a lot of good writing sites to share,  as well as interesting book reviews and giveaways. I learn a lot from her site and am so pleased to be interviewed by her. 

3. Tomorrow is also my husband's birthday, and we are having lunch at a restaurant in a small town by the river, called Belezar. Delicious food (we went once before), and swans drift by as you eat. How cool is that?

Have a wonderful day.