Heather Conrad

Joys of Spring: Spring Celebrations around the World is a children's picture book for ages 3 - 9. The story is narrated by a friendly parrot who flies around the world to visit 12 spring festivals on six different continents. The spring celebrations are: Noruz, Passover, Gelede, Kolla Raymi Killa, Wattle Day, Sakura Matsuri, Chun Fen, Basant Panchami, Holi, Easter, Yancuic Xuithuil, and Earth Day. There are 13 color illustrations. At the end of the story, there are simple and fun activities for children, parents and teachers, a map of the world, and a pronunciation guide for the 12 holidays. Joys of Spring would add to any family, school or community celebration of spring. It is a valuable enrichment book for the classroom and library, touching on subjects of geography, history and anthropology, in clear, child-friendly language with colorful illustrations.

It is the year 2011 and the comet Raven is entering our solar system. A Mayan woman—an astronomer and teacher, predicts there is more to Raven than first appears. Her former student, Karen Rune, is living in San Francisco. Karen is troubled by strange dreams and sleep-states since the death of her lover. Recalling her teacher’s words about the baktun cycles of the ancient Mayan calendar and the concept of zero, Karen travels with a friend through Mexico in search of her teacher, the apparitions in her dreams and the meaning of Raven.