ONE MITTEN by Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Maggie Smith (Clarion, 2004). What can one mitten do? Or, even better, how about two? (Unlike me) George is a master at light, happy rhyme for Pre-K, making this friendly book ith its endearing illustrations a winner. Ages 3-up.

As it happens, I received an update yesterday from Kristine’s Web site; this (reproduced with permission) is what she says:

“Greetings!

“Elves (well, at least one elf) have been hard at work updating my web site: www.kristinegeorge.com. Below are a few highlights.

“HUMMINGBIRD NEST: A JOURNAL OF POEMS (illustrated by Barry Moser; Harcourt Children’s Books) includes new links, resources, New York Times book review, and audio clips with a musical background. A free poster and other poetry goodies are available. (For details, click on Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems or For Teachers.)

“ONE MITTEN (illustrated by Maggie Smith; Clarion Books) was just published! We’ve launched a fast and easy Internet project to celebrate the joy and power of creativity: The One Mitten Imagination Challenge in which students in K-3 are invited to submit their ideas and tell us what they’d do with just one mitten. Students’ ideas will be showcased on the site and there will be a drawing from among the entries for 25 autographed copies of the book. See the One Mitten Teacher’s Guide on the site as well as the downloadable teacher’s guide for ideas on using mittens across the curriculum. Feel free to forward this e-mail to elementary teachers, librarians, bookstore owners, and homeschoolers. The more the merrier!

“SWIMMING UPSTREAM: MIDDLE SCHOOL POEMS (illustrated by Debbie Tilley; Clarion Books) was chosen as an IRA-CBC Children’s Choice. The downloadable teacher’s guide and the discussion guide are among the most popular features on my site and I’ve received wonderful feedback from teachers who have used the book and these guides in their classrooms. Curious as to what students think about middle school? Check out Middle School Musings.

“Other updates are scattered throughout the site. If you haven’t visited recently, there’s also a whole new look. As always, many thanks for your notes, encouragement, and suggestions. Knowing you are “out there” sharing poetry with young people keeps me going!”

Thank you, Kristine, and keep up the great work!

In other news, information for Kindling Words 2005 is available from the Web site. It appears that Susan Salzman Raab will be the keynote speaker, talking about establishing one’s own publishing identity.