JenFW #kidlit writer, puzzler
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jenfw.bsky.social
JenFW #kidlit writer, puzzler
@jenfw.bsky.social
520 followers 1.1K following 210 posts
Children's Author / Puzzle Specialist

Author of 30+ #kidlit books, including fiction, text books, NF puzzle books, and comic books.

The Puzzler's Guides to Alaska, Oregon, and California: one part puzzle book + one part natural history guide.
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jenfw.bsky.social
Come play! Alaska Book Week scavenger hunt/puzzle contest.
Randomly drawn winners will receive prizes. I'll send The Puzzler's Guide to Alaska to someone--maybe you?!

Find the pieces, solve the puzzle, submit your answer. Visit AlaskaBookWeek.org for instructions.
In the center, my hands extend from four layers of shirts in bright right red, purple, pink, and a multi-colored pile jacket. I'm holding a long skinny gray rock in my left hand and a round gray rock in my right, stacked to look like an exclamation point. The background is a pointy gray mountain with dark green and brown vegetation at lower elevation and Aialik Bay in Kenai Fjords National Park. Inset is a screenshot of puzzle instructions from the Alaska Book Week website and the Alaska Book Week logo. There's a pink stripe down the right side because the exclamation photo didn't extend as far as I wanted! I would love for you to come play my game, solve the puzzle, and submit an answer. Winners will be randomly chosen from entries.
October 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
jenfw.bsky.social
Last night, I participated in my first-ever live social media event: #kidlitchat! I want to give a hearty shout-out to @gregpincus.bsky.social whose tips, encouragement, and forbearance made me feel welcome. Thank you, Greg! I learned heaps and had some fun. Cheers to rhymers and first-timers!
A tiny bluish butterfly or moth (not sure which) sitting on the corner of my notebook as I write by hand in the Alaska Bush. This little butterfly spent a looooong time with me, sitting on my hand as I wrote, on my pen, on my notebook, on my hat, and on my ratty sneakers. I wrote down everything we discussed. Cheers, y'all!
April 2, 2025 at 7:58 PM
jenfw.bsky.social
I discovered Italian remnants of WWII on top of Mt. Skoumbardos on Leros, Greece (they were the inspiration for the movie "Guns of Navarone"). One bunker was converted into a chapel in 2021. I was on the island seven years ago, but never got here. It's now my favorite place on the island!
A photo of a woman and a man (me and my husband) standing on a rocky hilltop looking out over the Aegean Sea. We're on top of Mt. Skoumbardos on the southern edge of the island of Leros in Greece. The island of Kalymnos in the background, and the sun is shining brightly on the water on the right side of the photo.
January 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
jenfw.bsky.social
I am excited to receive the 2024 Lin Halterman Grant from Alaska Writers Guild! This organization is full of worthy creatives, so I take this honor seriously, and I look forward to the challenge and opportunity it provides. Cheers to a new writing adventure! Thank you, Lin Halterman and AWG!
This is a screenshot of an announcement on the Alaska Writer's Guild website. It says, "Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024 Lin Halterman Grant: Jen Funk Weber and Kersten Christianson. Each winner will receive $500 toward their writerly pursuits." I am thrilled and feel validation that I don't like to admit I crave.
January 16, 2025 at 7:22 AM
jenfw.bsky.social
It's Puzzle Monday. This "Question Maze" is page 17 in The Puzzler's Guide to California. I had six puzzles I wanted to do about John Muir. What a life he lived! Alas, space is limited. Anyone up for a John Muir puzzle book?! #PuzzleMonday #kidlit #Puzzler'sGuides #non-screenFUN #puzzles
This is a maze titled "Father of the National Parks" that presents three questions. Each question has two answers. If you choose the correct answer, you'll continue happily through the maze, but if you choose the incorrect answer, you'll get stuck. The instructions are as follows: John Muir and Yosemite go together like marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. His camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt helped preserve Yosemite as a National Park. Learn more as you wend your way through this maze from START to FINISH. It will be easier if you answer the questions correctly. The questions in the maze are as follows: 1. John Muir co-founded this environmental organization: Save the Wild or the Sierra Club. 2. John Muir was a naturalist, an author, and an activist. Briefly, he was also: an astronaut or a shepherd. 3. He built a cabin in Yosemite that incorporated this wild feature: a creek or a sequoia. This puzzle is page 17 in The Puzzler's Guide to California, by yours truly, Jen Funk Weber. Cheers, y'all! Thanks for reading!
January 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
jenfw.bsky.social
#KidLit #PuzzleMonday Solving a puzzle can "encourage and improve problem-solving skills" in kids.

From www.worksheetcloud.com/blog/9-reaso...

Here's a puzzle from The Puzzer's Guide to Oregon. #PuzzlersGuides #non-screenFUN! #puzzles
Page 14 from The Puzzler's Guide to Oregon, by yours truly, Jen Funk Weber. It's what I call a "ladder maze." Four birds are pictured at the top. Puzzlers follow lines downward and horizontally to discover where each one lives. The wildlife puzzle guides chat about the word "flammulated" at the bottom, explaining what it means (having flame-shaped markings). Queenie, the king salmon, jokes that if she had a waterproof marker, she'd make herself the first flammulated chinook. One of the birds in the puzzle is a flammulated owl, which is found in the ponderosa pine forests in the high desert in eastern Oregon.
December 30, 2024 at 7:26 AM
jenfw.bsky.social
Writing by hand, as required by write-in puzzle books, engages multiple areas of the brain, improves memory, and ignites creativity. Puzzle books make great gifts for school holidays! #kidlit #puzzlersguides #non-screenFUN! #think-kids-think #puzzles #ThePuzzlersGuideToOregon
Page 11 from The Puzzler's Guide to Oregon, by yours truly, Jen Funk Weber. The puzzle is called "Switcharoo 1: Nuts About Words. Queenie, a chinook salmon, and one of the running characters in the book, introduces the puzzle with these instructions: "Mature hazelnut trees typically produce 10 to 15 pounds of nuts a year. Your instructions for these Switcharoo puzzles are to follow the instructions I give you. Get cracking!" A table with instructions in the left-hand column instruct players to change HAZELNUT to another word in seven steps. At the bottom of the page is a fact and a joke. Fact: Most trees flower and pollinate in spring, but hazelnut trees flower and pollinate in winter. Joke: Who eats nuts and bolts? A squirrel in a hurry.
December 23, 2024 at 10:19 AM
jenfw.bsky.social
Merry Solstice! Many friends cheer the return of daylight, but I'm happy to celebrate the darkness. I love this quiet time of reading, thinking, and writing. #amwriting #kidlit
A swirl of green northern lights behind spruce trees above snow-covered mountains. Two green stripes run from the top left toward the bottom right, then curve around to the left and end in a jumble behind the mountains and trees. Photo taken from my home in Glacier View, Alaska. Merry Solstice, with love and cheer, from me to you!
December 21, 2024 at 12:57 PM
jenfw.bsky.social
Today's reading: the washing machine in Leros, Greece. I interpret the Greek letters as best I can; Mike types them into his phone for translation. Apparently, these instructions include "dead" and "male pain." Best laundry day ever! #amreading ( #διασκεδάζοντας ) Greek, albeit not well.
Images of the instructions on a Greek washing machine. One section has a dial with various temperatures, the word "cotton" (in Greek), something like "synthetics," and I-don't-know what else. I found "cotton" with "cold," and that's what I'm using, but the clothes come out warm, so . . . go figure. A second section has two columns with buttons at the bottom. One might be for water level and eliminating the spin cycle; the other seems to be for the door lock and then maybe the cycles the machine goes through. I push the button at the bottom of the right column to start the process. I'm not sure what the button at the bottom of the left column does. I haven't needed it!
December 19, 2024 at 6:47 AM
jenfw.bsky.social
I'm enjoying Jeanette Winterson's CHRISTMAS DAYS: 12 STORIES AND 12 FEASTS FOR 12 DAYS. I love how she includes recipes, and I am determined to try one! Anyone got any holiday story collections to recommend? #amreading #holidaystorycollections #holidaystories
Book cover for Jeanette Winterson's Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days. The title and author's name are surrounded by a frame of lovely holly leaves, mistletoe, other plants, some snowflakes and stars, with a unicorn torso, a bird, and, I think, a horse head tucked in amongst the flora. The words and images are white and gray on a dark blue background.
December 17, 2024 at 3:51 PM
jenfw.bsky.social
We know what crosswords and word searches are. A lot of puzzles I create have no standard names. What would you call this puzzle? #kidlit #puzzles #Minecraft #SkyPonyPress #non-screenFUN
A flow chart puzzle with instructions for filling letters in a chart to reveal a word.
December 16, 2024 at 7:16 AM
jenfw.bsky.social
Something I love about writing #kidlit puzzles: they teach kids *how* to think not *what* to think. We should all be thinkers. Well, that's what I think, anyway.
#puzzles #think,kids,think #puzzlesarekidlit2 #puzzlersguides #fun*stuff #non-screenFUN
December 15, 2024 at 10:45 AM