On her blog, Beth Anderson describes writing as “mining” — from digging deep to find little-told stories to digging deep to find the heart of a story once she’s ready to write. I certainly share her desire to tell stories of the past to readers of today. And I so admire the way she’s taken… Read more »
When I think of kind and caring, I think of writer Barbara Dee. She cares so much about her kid readers, that she bravely writes about the challenges so many of them face and I so admire that about her. In addition, I genuinely appreciate what she shares in the essay below regarding adult characters… Read more »
Karen Rivers is an inspiration to me; not only does she write fine and imaginative novels, she does it on a nearly yearly basis! I fell in love with her work upon my encounter with A Possibility of Whales, which led me straight to Love, Ish, and now has led me to Karen’s latest, Naked… Read more »
One of the best laughs in kidlit belongs to the effusive, kind and creative Natasha Wing. All I have to do is think of her and I begin to smile! Natasha and I met eons ago through our mutual friend, Mary Nethery because they were in the same critique group when they were both living… Read more »
How lucky I am to call so many fine writers friends, Frances O’Roark Dowell among them? I first met her through her wonderful book, Chicken Boy (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), and have been a huge fan of her work ever since. Her newest novel, The Class (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books) ambitiously tells the story of… Read more »
I met J. Albert Mann when I was a guest lecturer at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program for Writing for Children and Young Adults. We instantly bonded over our love of historical fiction and I was delighted when she was a Friend Friday guest for What Every Girl Should Know: Margaret Sanger’s… Read more »
What an honor to host Caroline Starr Rose, who shares my passion for bringing stories (and people!) of the past to life for today’s readers. And her experience writing her latest book, A Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland, illustrated by Alexandra Bye (Wendy Lamb Books) provides a… Read more »
A big shout out to Dana Sullivan for introducing me to the work of Julie Hampton. I was thrilled when Julie agreed to be my Friend Friday because illustrators are less frequent contributors to this blog (a situation I would love to change, hint, hint). And I am always grateful when someone shares about their… Read more »
After being a fan for years, I had the pleasure of meeting — and sharing a VRBO with!– Marissa Moss at the Texas Library Association Conference this past spring. I suspect if you looked up “prolific” in the dictionary, you’d find an image of Marissa. She has been hard at the work of being a… Read more »
I love learning new things and I’ve found children’s books a rich resource for providing glimpses into times, places and people I hadn’t been previously aware of. Today, Friend Friday is shining the spotlight on Michelle Markel and her wonderful picture book, Out of this World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington (HarperCollins). I was… Read more »