Molly Beth Griffin & Claudia McGehee–Rings of Heartwood

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Molly Beth Griffin & Claudia McGehee–Rings of Heartwood

April 13 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Celebrate National Poetry Month by joining us for a special Sunday afternoon event for kids and families with Minnesota-based children’s author Molly Beth Griffin and Iowa City illustrator Claudia McGehee, who will talk about their gorgeous new picture book of nature and poetry, Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing. We’ll chat and read and move together, and then participants will be invited to make an amulet for growing out of a slice of real wood. All ages welcome!

In Rings of Heartwood, twelve poems about woodland, wetland, and prairie dwellers explore different kinds of growth. A tadpole grows legs and lungs and transforms into a frog. A fern unfurls from fiddlehead to frond. A spotted fawn hides in dappled sunlight; soon its coat will grow darker and thicker, ready for winter—it will never sport spots again. Molly Beth Griffin’s playful yet meditative lines paired with scientific facts invite readers into the life cycles of plants, amphibians, crustaceans, birds, reptiles, and insects as they grow and change. Claudia McGehee’s vivid scratchboard and watercolor illustrations entice viewers to carefully examine whimsically detailed naturescapes. In words and art, Rings of Heartwood encourages readers of all ages to appreciate the challenge of change, and feel a deep kinship with the natural world” (mollybethgriffin.com). Publisher’s Weekly describes Rings of Heartwood as a “collection of 12 contemplative free-verse poems centered on the excitement and challenges presented by change” and praises Claudia McGehee’s illustrations as “resulting in a work that proves both rhythmically and visually soothing and educational.”

Molly Beth Griffin is the author of many picture books including Ten Beautiful Things and Rhoda’s Rock Hunt, the YA novel Silhouette of a Sparrow, two poetry chapbooks, and a series of beginning readers. She is a teaching artist at The Loft Literary Center and a graduate of Hamline University’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She critiques manuscripts, visits schools, and hosts a monthly Picture Book Salon in Minneapolis, where she lives with her partner and their two children.
Claudia McGehee is an Iowa City based author/ illustrator of several award-winning picture books. She works in scratchboard, a unique medium that celebrates nature and story with lively, woodcut-like lines.