Author Julie Darling reading at Schuler Books
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December News

The STEM storytime at Schuler Books was really fun!

I read Little Hackers and Little Computer Scientists, we sang some songs from the guidebook and participants made Tasha’s decoders to use to send secret messages.

Author Julie Darling reading at Schuler Books

In January, I’ll take a break from writing this newsletter. I hope you all find some rest and rejuvenation after the hustle and bustle of the winter holiday season. I’m certainly looking forward to resting, recharging, and recalibrating. Do you make resolutions? Mine will be to establish a reasonable, regular schedule for working on my novels.


Forthcoming Events

On Tuesday, December 17th, I’ll speak on a panel at the Michigan Virtual 2nd Annual AI Summit.

If you’re there too, I’d love to connect!

I’m also reading Little Hackers for Iowa’s Computer Science Education Week on Thursday, December 12th. Anyone can register to attend here, you don’t have to be an Iowa resident. Consider checking out the additional events they have going on that week. They’re pulling out all the stops for this week-long computer science in education celebration.


Media

Ed Tech magazine published an article about the books and my inspiration. You can read Q&A: Embrace Age-Appropriate Computer Science Concepts for Elementary Students here.

I was also featured in Ann Arbor Family magazine. You can read Author Julie Darling Teaches Computer Science by the Book here.


What I’ve Been Reading

I’ve been diving into all things A.I. in preparation for my presentation and for some secret activities that I’ll tell you more about later on. There has been a lot of content dropped by several organizations, recently. 

UNESCO has been weighing in, with frameworks designed for students and teachers. The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology has listening sessions,toolkits and more. I’m re-reading Co-Intelligence in anticipation of Dr. Mollick’s keynote at the forthcoming A.I. summit and of course pouring over our district content too. It’s a lot. I feel equally excited and terrified by how quickly everything is moving. I’m curious about your thoughts, share them in the comments?

Resources, News and Updates

November News & Media

Book Launch! Photo Credit: Jan Gray

Thank you for those who made it to the book launch. I was so honored by those who made it that night and those who wanted to come but couldn’t make it. Thank you so much for your support!

Media Recap

We were on the radio!
Darren Cools (the illustrator for the books) and I were interviewed by April Baer on Stateside, Michigan Public/NPR. If you missed it, it’s not too late to listen, here’s the link. Our interview starts at around the 22 minute mark.
I also spoke to Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Ann Arbor Public Schools, Library Service Department about librarianship, teaching, writing and how I’ve wanted to be an author since elementary school.  SCBWI also interviewed Darren and I for our “book birthday”, a feature posted on the day the books released. They asked about our inspiration and creative process. If you’re interested, you can read that interview here.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be at the YpsiWrites 5th Birthday Celebration this Saturday 10/26 at the Ypsilanti District Library, Whittaker Branch. The event will be 1-4 p.m. I’m scheduled to read at 2:55. Ill be in the vendor area at Ann Arbor Community Bookfest selling and signing books on Sunday, November 3rd. This year, this event will be hosted at the Downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Don’t miss my STEM Storytime at Schuler Books on Saturday November 16th, at 11 a.m. I’ll be reading Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers, guiding participants through making a Caesar Shift cipher decoder (and selling and signing books).