Kristin's Author Blog


A Swim through the Sea
goes to Ouagadougou!

April 15th, 2008

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My Aunt Kim is the Elementary School Principal of the The International School of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, and she sent me this adorable picture of the Pre-K class, who read A Swim through the Sea in their classroom, and painted lots of happy clownfish for an art project. Adorable!

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Book Signing: Orinda, CA

December 22nd, 2007

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As many couples do, my husband Gabriel and I alternate spending the holidays with one side of the family and then the other. This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family here in St. Louis, MO and Christmas with his family in Orinda, CA. Since The Lord’s Prayer, (my newest book with the Christian Science Publishing Society) had just been released, my mother-in-law kindly set up a signing for me at her local Christian Science Reading Room, which is a kind of Christian bookstore/study center. It was a perfect place to have a festive Christmas event. I sold a bunch of books, and lots of kids came by. I read to them, and they colored some wonderful pictures. There were also cookies and hot cider. Thanks for organizing this event, Anna Lisa!

School Visit: St. Louis, Missouri

October 3rd, 2007

As you can see, I have not been doing very many school visits in the last year. It’s kind of hard to write & illustrate books and go on the road to talk about them at the same time…

I have 5 new books coming out during the 2007-2008 school year, so get ready! Of course I will post here as soon as these new books are available.

Well, today I had a chance to visit with the teachers at Wilson School after classes. I talked with them about how I got started making children’s books and the new books I have been working on. I also brought a few original acrylic paintings on canvas to show them. That’s the nice thing about visiting local schools here in St. Louis – I can bring out originial pieces on occasion.

It was a good surprise to find out that Christina Hoerner is now teaching science at Wilson. We went to high school and college together, and I hadn’t seen her in a long time.

I look forward to speaking with the Wilson students next week!

New Book: Papa’s Opera

September 18th, 2006

Remember hanging out with your dad when you were little? Did you go to a ball game? Did you read a book together? Did he help you with your homework? Papa’s Opera is the true story of the day Karl and his dad went to see an opera called The Magic Flute. Karl’ s dad wrote all the music. Karl’ s dad is Mozart. How cool is that?

To find out more and purchase signed copies, please visit: letterstomozart.com

New Book: Letters to Mozart

August 4th, 2006

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

Arts For The Soul: Steamboat Springs, CO

September 12th, 2005

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.

School Visit: Steamboat Springs, CO

September 9th, 2005

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!

School Visit: Steamboat Springs, CO

September 7th, 2005

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!

School Visit: Altoona, PA

May 19th, 2005

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!

School Visit: Altoona, PA

May 17th, 2005

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!