CLiF would like to introduce or re-introduce you to Terry Farish of Kittery, ME/Portsmouth, NH. Terry writes children and young adult books. She writes about the New American experience, and, as she wrote, “to understand us in our small world.”

Watch a clip of Terry’s presentation from CLiF’s Virtual Author’s Series here.

Things to think about:

• Terry writes for InDepthNH.org, The New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism. How is this writing different from writing your books?
• How do you get started creating a character?
• In what ways did your own travel inspire your work?
• What interests you about folktales?

Here are a few ways to get to know Terry’s work better:

• See her outline for a workshop on Writing a Picture Book
• Read her journal entries about her trip to the Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya
• Learn more about the collaborative writing project A Story of a Pumpkin, a bilingual Nepali English folktale
• Resources from Terry: Read, Write, Imagine our World
• Discussion guides: Joseph’s Big Ride (picture book) and The Good Braider and Either the Beginning or the End of the World
• WORLD STORIES & THE GREAT U.S. MOSAIC OF STORIES
• Watch this PBS presentation on Terry
• Terry reads Luis Paints the World

CLiF has created literacy activities for students of all ages here. Here are some that would go nicely with Terry’s work:

For younger kids:

• Read with animals – share a story with a favorite stuffed animal
• Folk Tale Fridge Magnets – borrow some ideas from folk tales and tell your won stories

For older kids:

• Local Pen Pals – correspond with someone in your school that you don’t know well
• The Best Part of Me – share what makes you special

For families:

• Extra Extra – put together some current event articles about places from which book characters come
• Kindness Month – build kindness by learning about experiences of people living in other places