The Boy Who Grew Dragons

Here is my latest book review for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. “The Boy Who Grew Dragons,” by Andy Shepherd, has all the elements of a classic middle grade story: plenty silly and full of adventure and magic. The main character has great relationships with his...

School Visits in the Time of Coronavirus

  Happy April!! I have a new, improved website and I’m not fooling!! One of my goals this year is to continue to build on my school visits. I love doing them, but nowhere on my website was it clear that I even did them. It has taken several months and I...

Show v Tell Redux

Show V Tell has been my struggle since I started writing kidlit. Strong verbs come naturally to me. Organization? No problemo. But over and over and over again, in critique after critique, I hear that I am telling when I should be showing. Even when I think I have it...
September Thoughts

September Thoughts

Happy September (even though it is mid-October..) To me, September feels more like the beginning of the year than January does. And I think my September got my year off to a good start. School Visits First, I’ve hired someone to update my website. I want it to...
Dragon Charmer is … Charming!!

Dragon Charmer is … Charming!!

​I have said before in this column that we have an incredibly talented community of writers here in central Illinois. One case in point is Ruth Siburt, who used to write this column. Her novel, Dragon Charmer, has just been re-released by Royal Fireworks Press, with a...