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 Terry’s presentation from February 10, 2021.

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