Disney-Hyperion Books for Children will publish my new cumulative rhyming picture book Baby Says, "Moo!" in spring 2011 with adorable illustrations by David Walker.
Exciting news! Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move received the Growing Good Kids - Excellence in Children's Literature Award from the American Horticultural Society and the National Junior Master Gardener Program at the 2009 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 24. The awards were presented at Case Western Reserve University. Afterward, I signed books at the gorgeous Cleveland Botanical Garden. What a wonderful day! 
Look for me at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago! I'll be talking about Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move on a panel called "Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks Your Reluctant Readers Can’t Resist" on Sunday, July 12 from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Seventeen authors and a moderator will present booktalks librarians can use to interest young readers in nonfiction. The panel appears from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Convention Center Room W181 (Level 1 of the West Building). Participating authors include Lisa Rondinelli Albert, Mary Bowman-Kruhm, Laura Crawford, Jeri Chase Ferris, Kelly Milner Halls, Amy S. Hansen, Gwendolyn Hooks, Katherine L. House, Patricia K. Kummer, Suzanne Lieurance, JoAnn Early Macken, Carla Killough McClafferty, Wendie Old, April Pulley Sayre, Anastasia Suen, Christine Taylor-Butler, Rebecca Hogue Wojahn, and Donald Wojahn. Library media specialist Sharon Mitchell will be the panel moderator. Hope to see you there! We have also collaborated to produce a wiki (Nonfiction Book Blast) that includes all the booktalks, searchable by title, author, subject, and intended age level. The front page includes links to the authors’ web sites. After the conference, other authors, librarians, and interested readers can add booktalks of their own. Check it out! After the Panel I will be autographing Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move at the Holiday House Booth, #2138 in the West Building, from 1:00-1:30 p.m.
April, 2009 Teaching Authors, a blog about writing and teaching from six children's book authors who also teach writing (including me!) is officially open for business. Check us out at www.teachingauthors.com. * Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford * Esther Hershenhorn * JoAnn Early Macken * Carmela Martino * Mary Ann Rodman * April Halprin Wayland
March, 2009 Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move received an Honorable Mention in the Tofte/Wright Children's Literature category of the 2008 Annual Awards Competition of The Council for Wisconsin Writers, Inc. Hooray! 
November 30, 2008 I finished a draft of a novel for National Novel Writing Month: 50,117 words in 30 days. Exhilarating, exhausting, & fun! Revisions will keep me busy for a long, long time. 
The book is divided into five sections: Getting Started/General Business, Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's Writing, and Poetry. Each section includes helpful articles from experienced authors.
November, 2007 I took part in my second National Novel Writing Month this year. I have to admit I did not reach my goal--I didn't even finish a first draft! But I got a good start on a new novel I hope to keep working on.
February, 2007 I have just turned in my 100th book! Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way, The Vein of Gold, The Sound of Paper, etc.) says to celebrate the milestones, so I'm looking for confetti!
May, 2006 Candlewick will publish Waiting Out the Storm, a rhyming picture book in the form of a poem for two voices (a conversation between a mother and child).
In January, 2006, I traveled with six other volunteer authors and illustrators to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, an area hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. We spent three days working with school children, each presenting four talks per day. After school, we met with parents and teachers. I hope the students were as inspired as I was! Penguin Group graciously donated copies of Sing-Along Song for each school.
December, 2005 Holiday House will publish Flip, Float, Fly! Seeds on the Move, a nonfiction picture book about the many ways seeds travel. 
Well, I didn't reach the goal of 50,000 words by the end of November, but I did complete a draft of a middle grade novel based loosely on a disastrous canoe trip I took with my family in spring. I'm thrilled to have made it that far. Now comes the really hard part--revising. Wish me luck!
September, 2005 My article "Writing for the School and Library Market" is in the 2006 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market. Check it out!
February 10, 2005 Yippee! The Texas Library Association has chosen Sing-Along Song for the 2005 Texas 2 x 2 Reading List. Twenty titles are chosen that are appropriate for children from age 2 to grade 2. Click the link below for more information and the annual reading lists.
September 19, 2004 SING-ALONG SONG By JoAnn Early Macken. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham Viking "An ebullient toddler, inspired by the robin outside his window, serenades the pleasures and delights of a long, busy summer day. Bubbling, high-spirited illustrations." 
Sing-Along Song is on the shelf! Here I am at my neighborhood bookstore.
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