Today Greg and I had the pleasure of joining Austin author Jerry Wermund at Katz’s for lunch. Jerry is a retired University of Texas geologist, poet, and his own children’s book publisher, living in nearby Buda.

His books are The World According To Rock and Earthscapes — Landforms Sculpted by Water, Wind, and Ice.

It is difficult, nearly impossible, to offer self-published books that are just as good, if not better, than most literary trade titles, but Jerry has done it. The writing, art, and production are all top notch.

He decided to take the harder road after he found his work rejected because east-coast publishers didn’t think kids would be interested in rocks and landforms.

Don’t get me wrong. I hugely love all my buddies in NYC, but it’s a big nation, a big world, and a lot of kids hike, collect rocks, and so forth. Jerry’s books have been huge hits, filling a tremendous market need in the sciences and poetry. One of their great strengths, too, is that cross-curriculum appeal.

I highly recommend both titles and Jerry himself to anyone looking for a speaker.

News & Links

“Number The Newberys” with Lois Lowry, a Jan. 20 chat transcript from the Institute of Children’s Literature.

According to Debbi Michiko Florence’s blog, former Harper editor Stephen Fraser has joined Jennifer DeChiara’s literary agency.