Spring in New York City

I'm still playing catch-up here at Live Your Poem, and today I'm excited to share about the school visits Charles Waters and I had last month in Manhattan.

the superfun SPONGEBOB stage

I was so happy Paul was able to join me on this trip -- he and I have a long history of enjoying New York City together! This time we stayed at Mansfield Hotel (near the library), thanks to a special deal from Travelzoo. We loved it! It was quiet and in such a convenient location. Unfortunately Paul got sick on our trip... and it was a bit colder than we would have liked... but we still had fun. Part of that fun included our younger sons who came in mid-week (one of whom also got sick, unfortunately)... of course we had to see SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS on Broadway. :) We also saw THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, which had us laughing pretty much start to finish.

Other fun stops included the Empire State Building first thing in the morning -- which was so, so lovely and inspiring! -- and a carriage ride around Central Park. We joined Charles at Champs Diner, one of his favorite all-vegan restaurants and met him for a walk along the High Line and also a peek inside the Langston Hughes house, now home of i, too arts collective.  One morning when it was raining I got several new book ideas at National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey. Good times!

Our first school visit was another picturesque location... PS 276 Battery Park School. Those kids enjoy a view of Lady Liberty outside the library window every single day! Basia Tov and the kids made us feel so very welcome... and many of them showed up later in the week for our big shin-dig at Poets House. (more on this next post!)

Irene Latham, Basia Tov, Charles Waters

 Next we visited PS 15 in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, thanks to Michele Wiseman of Meet the Writers, where we met another group of of great kids and educators! We loved working with Michele and appreciate so much the work she does to bring authors into schools. Both Charles and I believe we'd have gotten to writing a lot sooner if we'd been able to meet an author when we were going to school. Here we are in the library:

S. Matz, Charles Waters,
 Irene Latham, Michele Wiseman

Our final school visit was arranged through Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn: the Co-op School: Joyful Learning in Brooklyn. We loved seeing all the art on the walls at this school, and the kids asked some fabulous questions. What fun! Thanks to all involved at all these schools.

I'll leave you with a final picture:

Two Grateful Poets