Keep your eyes tuned to Gregory K‘s blog every day this month to read previously unpublished poems by a plethora of wonderful poets, including my two special friends Ann Whitford Paul and Julie Larios. Julie has been my Tom (as in How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen, written by Russell Hoban, illustrated… Read more »
I don’t know whether she was born first or not, but on March 31, 1915, my darling grandmother, Lois Thomas Wright Brown, entered this world with her twin brother, Louis (called Bud). Shortly after this photo was taken,my grandma ran away to marry her beau. She ended up raising 4 daughters by herself, working two… Read more »
There are a lot of dreary, dystopic YA novels out there. This book, Running for My Life, by Ann Gonzalez is not one of them. Yes, it deals with a teenager who is recovering from dealing with her abusive schizophrenic mother but this book is much, much more than a problem novel. With honesty, humor… Read more »
Ta-dah! Dan Gutman‘s genius idea has come to fruition! As of today, you, too, can own a copy of Recycle This Book: 100 Top Children’s Authors Tell You How to Go Green, (Random House) in which, well, 100 children’s authors share their “go-green” ideas. I happen to know one of those authors quite well (ahem)… Read more »
Last night, Laurie Halse Anderson announced that she doesn’t “do things in a small way.” She was actually explaining why she’d picked 100 pounds of strawberries the day she finished the manuscript for Wintergirls but I think that phrase captures her perfectly. With equal portions of humor and pathos, she shared her writing journey, which… Read more »
Those of you in the Seattle area can get yourselves over to the Ballard Public Library tomorrow night (March 24) at 6:30 pm to hear the uber-talented Laurie Halse (pronounced “haltz”) Anderson read from and talk about her newest book, Wintergirls. In addition to being a darn fine writer, she has the distinction of being… Read more »
I met the kind and talented Robin Brickman at the Central Missouri University Children’s Literature Festival in Warrensburg this weekend. In addition to being a great walking partner and good listener, she happens to be an extraordinarily creative illustrator. I had admired her books but was blown away to see the originals of her cut-paper… Read more »
Something about doing 8 presentations in 2 days, a time change and a long plane ride home always leaves me feeling a bit woozy. But my head is clear enough this morning to tell you about a quiet and utterly delightful book I read on the plane ride home, Orwell’s Luck, by Richard Jennings. I… Read more »
Today was a day of renewing friendships made two years ago at the Warrensburg Children’s Literature conference (that means you, Marie and Glenda) and making real a very dear cyber friendship. I’ve shared with you some artwork sent to me by Kaelen, a talented young artist from near St. Louis. She and I had become… Read more »
I am in Warrensburg, Missouri. Not for the NCAA Championships (have you ever seen me try to throw a basketball?) but for my second ever visit to the University of Central Missouri’s annual Children’s Literature Festival. Today was mostly a travel day but I did catch up with the darling Jane Kurtz, the irrepressible (or… Read more »