The Milkwood Farm Librarian and Educator Retreat

Back in May, Ms. Alegre was delighted to learn she had a won the lottery! No, not the famous lottery that involves winning money (sadly), she won the entry lottery for the first ever Librarian & Educators retreat at the brand new center for picture book artists and educators at Milkwood Farm. Milkwood Farm was started by the two-time Caldecott winner Sophie Blackall and her husband Ed Schmidt. Together, they purchased and renovated a dilapidated farmhouse in the Catskills Mountains of upstate New York. Ms. Alegre was joined by a cohort of librarians and educators from around the country including those from Washington, Tennessee and Indiana. Together, they exchanged book ideas, classroom strategies and new projects to introduce to their students. All the while they ate delicious meals all cooked and baked by Sophie Blackall herself. They even got a sneak peek of her next book, Farmhouse, and helped to load the artwork into Maurice Sendak’s art cabinet! During a presentation session, Ms. Alegre was proud to introduce Book-A-Day, an original Allen-Stevenson project that many other educators found very exciting.