Betty Birney’s Blog

Library hamster Dewey

S.S. Golden Hamster from Adventure According to Humphrey

I’ve been GONE-GONE-GONE from this blog for a while now. My trip to Omaha was too busy, too whirlwind (and too tiring), for me to keep up. Now I’m in DePere, WI (outside Green Bay) for a couple of days of Sassafras presentations.

The week  started at Prairie Wind Elementary (great name) with media specialist Annette Luedtke. I got a warm prairie welcome there and the next day moved on to Picotte Elementary, thanks to an invitation from Kathy Day. I saw a great video of kids and last year’s hilarious hamster races and met some of the school hamsters. Last year, they decided to get a hamster for the school, thanks to THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HUMPHREY, which won the Nebraska Golden Sower Award. That hamster gave birth to 8 hamsters the very next day. Now those hamsters are in various classrooms and students’ homes and I have to say, they were among the friendliest and easiest to handle hamsters I’ve known.  Of course, like Humphrey, they do occasionally doze off during the day.

Can you find the napping hamsters?

The next day, I was at St. Vincent de Paul School where I didn’t meet any hamsters but I ran into a very sweet dog named Sierra! Oh, and some GREAT-GREAT- GREAT kids, thanks to media specialist Carol Nish. At St. Wenceslaus School on Thursday, I had another eventful day (once media specialist Mary Stratman calmly “talked me in”  – Mapquest failed me). Lots of Humphrey fun as well as an interesting script writing session with 7th and 8th graders. On Friday, I was at Montclair Elementary School where, after my heart recovered from a tech problem with my own projector, I had a rollicking day with the avid Humphrey fans there and had a great time with reading specialist Ellen Miller and the friendly staff there. Thanks to all the helpful and supportive Omahans who made my visit there so easy.

As if I hadn’t signed enough books already, I finished the week at the Bookworm in Omaha, a great independent bookstore, thanks to Ellen Scott and some intrepid fans who braved a rainy Saturday morning. Okay, it was Omaha so they’re used to rain. (At home in L.A. everybody pretty much stays inside when it rains, which is a good thing because those who venture out go insane and completely forget how to drive. Sort of like bumper cars.)

And now, I’m in beautiful DePere on a not-so-beautiful day and a busy schedule at Foxview starting tomorrow and a signing at the Butterfly Bookstore tomorrow night (Monday) at 6!

Next … a very special evening in Omaha.