If there is any group of people who understand the joy of learning and making new connections, it's teachers. So it was a treat for me to speak at the Carlos Museum's summer Educator's Summit. We had a mix of art teachers and history teachers attend and I spent the morning yesterday "nerding out" with my people. My goal was to highlight just how drenched we are in the symbols … [Read more...] about The Joy of Talking to Teachers
Kids, Museums & Research
Cheating Customers is an Ancient Tradition
Animal mummification was big business in ancient Egypt. Often temples bred animals for the purposes of later killing and mummifying them. They sold these mummies as religious relics worshippers could purchase and offer to their patron god or goddess for protection. It turns out, however, that mummy sellers often cheated their customers. Out of 800 animal mummies scanned in … [Read more...] about Cheating Customers is an Ancient Tradition
A Day at the Museum
I love being a docent at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. Introducing kids to the world of ancient history is a great joy. Sometimes, being at the museum combines more than one awesome thing. Today was that kind of day. First I gave a tour to a bunch of wonderful sixth-grade boys. They and their schoolmates from two different schools had climbed onto a bus … [Read more...] about A Day at the Museum
Learning from the Poop Masters
Researchers have learned that dung beetles use the Milky Way to navigate in a straight line as they push their stolen balls of poop to safety. Let me repeat that--the smallest, smelliest, weirdest among us somehow orient themselves via the edges of our own galaxy to get around. Dude, the best we can do is plug into our GPSs and yet still manage to get lost (I speak from … [Read more...] about Learning from the Poop Masters
Best Made-up Word About One of my Books EVER!
Writing is definitely isolating, so when readers take the time to tell you that they enjoyed your work, it is PURE BLISS. Recently I got this amazing note from a parent: I am writing to let you know how much my daughter loved Anubis Speaks! We are homeschoolers currently wrapping up our section on Ancient Egypt, when we came across your book. I am so glad we … [Read more...] about Best Made-up Word About One of my Books EVER!
