On a grand, flamboyant scale, Mozart struggled with the same big questions that await every artist: Where does my creativity come from? Am I loved? Is my art loved? What will happen if I give everything I’ve got? Mozart’s life holds a lesson for all of us: There’s only one way to find out what will happen if you pull out all the stops. Get to know the man behind the music through the eyes of Aloysia Weber, the woman who broke his heart and sang his music. I wrote and illustrated this 142 page book to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday.

To find out more about this project, and to order signed copies, please visit: letterstomozart.com

Okay, so the reason I was out in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in the first place was to teach at Arts For The Soul for the second year in a row. AFTS 2005 had 3 one week sessions - each offering classes in poetry, fiction, children’s literature, drawing, watercolor, oils, nature journaling, flute, piano, violin, viola and cello. It was quite an adventure - both for the students and the staff. I taught journaling and children’s literature workshops - and did a lot of journaling myself. To see some of my unpublished journal pages, check out my other website: complicatedoctopus.com.

Happy Friday! Today I spent the afternoon with the kids at Strawberry Park Elementary School. Still in Steamboat Springs. They were super excited about journaling! These are my kind of kids… Here I am with one of the students right after I autographed her copy of A Fly in the Sky. Behind us is a giant mural that the kids created. It says: “Welcome Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini!” and is totally covered with students’ journal entries about local animals and plants. I love it! Thank you, Strawberry Park!

Welcome back to school, everybody! I started this school year with a visit to Soda Creek Elementary in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This is a picture of me with School Librarian Marty O’Leary. She was a magnificent host. I did two presentations this afternoon: one for 2nd & 3rd grade, and one for 4th & 5th grade. In between, I did an interview with Susan Cunningham, who wrote a very nice article about my visit for the Steamboat Pilot & Today. The kids here have only been back in school for about 2 weeks, so it was fun to kick off the school year by talking about how they could use their writing and illustrating skills. Thanks, Soda Creek!

And now for two days at Logan Elementary! This school was a joy to visit because it has a beautiful outdoor classroom on the edge of the woods. Just like the last school, I spent 2 days here talking with the students. On the 2nd day, the weather was so fabulous that we had to go outside with the big kids. Since it’s almost time for summer vacation, I talked with them about how summer is the perfect time to practice journaling. Writing and drawing over the summer will give them a headstart on the next school year. That’s what I plan to do with my summer! Thanks, Logan!

One more adventure for the 2004-05 school year! I am off to Pennsylvania this week. I just spent yesterday and today visiting with the kids at Juniata Gap Elementary. What a beautiful school! Over the course of 2 days, I got to speak with the entire K-6 student body. Both days I ate lunch with some students who were particularly interested in writing and drawing. They got to watch me paint in my journal while lunch was being prepared, and I got to have a look at their special placemats which they had decorated for this occasion. I also did an evening presentation for parents and teachers. Thanks, Juniata Gap!

After visiting with the kids in Loudonville, I zipped up to Amherst, OH. Kim Gambish, a wonderfully enthusiastic teacher friend of mine, invited me back for a 2nd visit to her school. I loved visiting this school because I did one large presentation with the whole school, and then had time to really answer a lot of questions and talk about journaling & bookmaking with smaller groups. Harris is a whole school of just 3rd & 4th graders. This is a picture of me out in front of the school with a couple of the students. It was taken by a newspaper reporter who came to interview me between sessions. Thank you, Harris Elementary!

Oops, so it is actually September 2005, and I am just now finishing my spring 2005 blog entries…
Sorry everyone! So this is a picture of me at C.E. Budd Middle School. (I know it’s hard to tell which one of us is not in middle school…I’m the one holding the book.) The kids were awesome. I think it’s sometimes fun to talk with the “big kids” because they are at a point when they can start to realize their education belongs to THEM. So what are you going to do with it, kids?

Tonight, after speaking with the McMullen students during the day, I came back to the library for a book signing. It was a fun time. There wasn’t a huge crowd, but it gave me an opportunity to talk a little more with the students who were really interested in writing or illustrating. I brought copies of my new book about journaling, Words With Wings, and sold a few. After the signing, my host teachers took me out to a cute little cafe for a delicious dinner. Thanks, everyone!

Hi from Loudonville, OH! This trip was a delight for many reasons. The only thing that was not so fun was how the airlines misplaced my luggage on a direct flight from St. Louis, MO to Columbus, OH. Urg. But that’s the first time in 12 years of author visits, so I can’t complain too much.

Anyway, The good things about this trip far outweighed this minor disaster. Today, I spoke with the K-3 students of McMullen Elementary, and as you can see from the photo above, these kids are very creative. They also decorated the doors of each classroom throughout the building with artwork relating to my books. What fun. One thing that made it easier for me to do my presentations was the fact that there’s a wonderful public library across the street from McMullen (K-3) and C.E. Budd (4-6) schools. So instead of moving from class to class, I set up in a conference room in the library, and the students from both schools came to visit me. I think the idea of a mini-field trip helped the kids be on their best behavior. Today I worked with the McMullen students. They were wonderful.

For lunch, the teachers prepared an ABC buffet. Each teacher brought a dish starting with a different letter of the alphabet. I got a chance to visit with the teachers about their students’ writing projects and some of my upcoming book ideas. Thank you, McMullen Elementary!