Today is the book birthday for Liberty — hooray! Writing Liberty was like wrassling alligators in a vat of gumbo. My creative process is always messy but it was downright discouraging as I struggled to reel in the heart of this story. It wasn’t until I gave a young German POW his own space on the page that the… Read more »
My newest book, Liberty (it publishes in a few short days, on October 11), is set in New Orleans during WWII. I adore this city, which has the kindest citizens in the world. But in the 1940s, New Orleans shared similarities with other southern cities. My main character, Fish Elliott, has a pesky neighbor named… Read more »
The newest book in the WWII Dog series that I’m writing for Scholastic is Liberty (due out October 11) , which features Fish Elliott who had been stricken by polio at about age five. In 1952, one of the worst years for polio here in the states, nearly 58,000 people were afflicted. Sadly, Salk’s polio vaccine… Read more »
I may look sweet and innocent but I have an evil plan: I want to turn kids into ravenous readers of historical fiction. And, serendipitously, I’ve discovered one way to be successful in this scheme. Write about dogs! On October 11, the third book in the World War Two Dogs series (Scholastic) will be published. Liberty… Read more »
This will be my last throwback to 1910 (at least for awhile; the sequel is due out in January 2017). It’s been fun providing some historical context for the first book in the Audacity Jones series, Audacity Jones to the Rescue. I’ve shared about newsboys, cars and voting rights. I’m closing with something light. I so… Read more »
It’s pretty special to be able to host a friend AND a neighbor. Well, Dan Gemeinhart and I are almost neighbors; we live in the same state, me on the west side of the Cascade Mountains and Dan on the east. And that eastern Washington terrain/setting plays a big role in his newest book, Some… Read more »
I spent ten days in January in Vermont, as the Writer in Residence for the Vermont Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. It was COLD but the students and faculty were incredibly warm. I was fortunate to meet J. Albert Mann and very quickly our conversation turned to historical fiction and Jennifer’s new novel,… Read more »
I have a special spot in my heart for fellow historical fiction writers; we’re a rare and odd breed. There aren’t too many other people you can talk to about archives and primary sources and Sanford maps (I’m getting giddy just typing those words!). That is why it is a double delight to host Carole… Read more »
What a delight to host the very patient Janie (J.B.) Cheaney here today. I say patient because I messed up on scheduling, causing Janie to have to wait a loooong time after I initially promised her a slot. And yet she is still my friend and still willing to share her thoughts with you today…. Read more »
Today is the book birthday of Audacity Jones to the Rescue. I’ve never had so much fun writing a book. I hope you have as much fun reading it! Do let me know what you think.