WIT is Back! ...

Hello, WIT readers!
 WELCOME BACK!

I have some fun in store for you because this blog is about to go through a bit of a change. Change IS GOOD, right? (The correct answer is YES!) Don't worry, the focus of WIT will remain the same. The posts will still be kid-friendly, short, and hopefully...um...witty.

But, beginning soon, a few of my famous friends will take over a Thursday post now and then! Pretty cool, huh?

Drumroll, please. (This is the part where you tap your knuckles on your desk really fast!)

MEET ALISON FORMENTO! Alison is the author of the award-winning picture book This Tree Counts! and its abridged board book This Tree, 1, 2, 3. From Booklist: "Teachers and parents will welcome Formento's 'going green' tale." Other titles include These Bees Count! (2012), These Seas Count! (2013), and her debut young adult novel, Twigs (2013). She loves visiting schools and libraries, and donates a portion of her book sales to AmericanForests.org.

MEET MARGIE GELBWASSER! Margie is a freelance writer who has written for a variety of magazines. Her first novel, Inconvenient (2010), was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens. Her second novel, Pieces of Us (2012), is told using four points of view. It deals with cyberbullying, abuse, family relationships, and how one teen's actions affect the other three. When not writing, Margie loves being a mom to her six-year-old boy, hiking, dancing, cooking, and watching bad television.

MEET LORI DEGMAN! Lori Degman is a teacher of Deaf/Hard of Hearing students by day and a writer of picture books by night, weekend and school holiday. Her debut picture book, 1 Zany Zoo, was the winner of the Cheerios New Author Contest and was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010. Her second picture book, Cock-a-Doodle Oops! will be released by Creston Books in 2014.

And of course, ME!
NANCY VIAU is the author of the picture books Look What I Can Do!, Storm Song, and City Street Beat (forthcoming in 2014). Her middle-grade novel, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head, was published in 2008. Nancy lives in New Jersey, but often travels to elementary schools where she channels her inner eight-year-old and creates enough of a ruckus to inspire students to write.

So, until next week, sharpen those pencils, and perhaps try these warm-up exercises:

Practice your ABCs...backwards.
Practice writing in cursive...with the opposite hand.
Practice those keyboard strokes...with your eyes closed.
Or...
Simply impress your teachers with your witty personalities and excellent behavior.

Later gators,
: )
Nancy, Alison, Margie, and Lori