Welcome to my Blog!
This is where I put my musings that don’t make it into my paper journal. I try to write about things that might interest other writers and readers, including reviews of MG books I’ve been reading.
This Makes Me So Happy!
This review made me so happy because it begins with the premise I've always embraced; that the most interesting stories are not those of famous people but those people who fly under the radar but...
So Many Books, So Little Space
A Song From Somewhere Else and Summer of Lost and Found This week I’m reviewing two middle-grade books that, while very different, both have supernatural elements to them. The first one, A Song from...
Do We Need Sensitivity Readers?
This morning I was studying picture books. I read one about Bill Pickett, an African-American cowboy who invented bulldogging, one about Joy Chen, another about a famous singer and civil rights...
Reviewing Middle Grade Books
Recently I got the opportunity to begin reviewing middle grade books for my local paper, the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. I leaped at the chance, not for the fame or fortune, but because it...
How to Keep Going in the Dead of Winter, When You Mostly Want to Hibernate and Eat Chocolate
Well, one of my new year’s resolutions was to write a blog every week. And so far, so good. It turns out I wrote six in January. And I felt good in January! I felt productive! I was on track! I...
The Significance of Snowflake Bentley and the Power of Jealousy
I have read a lot of books in my life. But Snowflake Bentley, by Jackie Briggs Martin, stands out in my mind because it was the first picture book biography I’d ever seen of someone who wasn’t...
Non-fiction Conference in Iowa was Inspiring and Rejuvenating
This past Saturday I went to a non-fiction SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I went with mixed feelings: it’s a four-hour drive, I had...
I Start My Week With Sarah Aronson
Writing is a lonely endeavor. That is true whether you are struggling with what to work on, which is where I am often these days, or if you are lost in the thickets of your story. For those who feel...
Publicity … More Like Dud-licity!
I knew going into this part of my writing career that publicity was a whole different beast from researching and writing and even finding a publisher. For one you have much, much less control. For...
The Haskell Will Be Run This Sunday
This Sunday marks eight years since Rachel Alexandra won the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in NJ. She was only one of two fillies ever to win the event. Here are a dozen more fun facts about...
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