The Angel in the Woods
Big Green Pocketbook
It was the early eighties and I was grappling with my first middle grade novel, a pitiful imitation of Daniel Pinkwater’s Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars. The boy in my aptly-titled “The Doomsday Kid” played Dungeons and Dragons and attended a rock concert that ended in a bottle-and-can riot. For “research,” I tried to […]
The Christmas Alphabet
Red Reading Boots
When our kids were small and we were building our Christmas book collection, the night on which we brought out the holiday books that had been in storage since the previous year was always a very special night. With #1 Son, this was but a handful of books at first; but once we added Darling […]
Teaching Writing to Reluctant Writers
—and Who Isn’t One?
Articles
“What’s next?” kids—ask, as they whiz through life at warp speed. You’ve seen them constantly check their phones for texts, Snapchat, and Instagram. Kids at video game kiosks hunch over the controls, zapping animated figures and blowing up characters by the dozens. Should the adrenaline abate for even a second, they turn to the next […]
Outstanding Short Biography Collections
Reading Ahead
You know the young readers, and striving readers, who will love all three of these books. They’re a collection of biographies, two of the books focused on women, and one of the books choosing among children across the centuries and around the world. Whether you’re looking for your home bookshelves or your library’s these three […]
Blind Spots
Writing Road Trip
Blind spots are a driving danger, but they can also be a reading pleasure.
Nonfiction Setting and My Comfy Chair
Nonfictionary
I’m fussy when it comes to choosing where to sit. The comfy chair or the well-worn red sofa? Lights on high or nicely dimmed? Soft throw blanket? Sometimes even in a restaurant, I ask to sit at a different table than the one the host chooses because it doesn’t feel right. My husband rolls his […]
The Quiltmaker’s Journey
Red Reading Boots
Earlier this week I pulled out our small stash of Thanksgiving picture books. The kids are older now, but they seem to like it when the old favorites come out. I got lost, as I always do, in The Quiltmaker’s Gift by Jeff Brumbeau, illustrated by Gail de Marcken. I’ve written about that book for Red […]
Gobble up a Good Time
The Lamppost
It is amazing how quickly department stores move all of the Halloween items out and bring out Christmas lights, wrapping paper, religious items, different sized Santa Clauses and ornaments. Oh, and who can forget about the start of Christmas music at the beginning of November? I love Christmas, but for the longest time, I’ve been […]
If Da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur
Reading Ahead
At once ridiculous and sublime, If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur is magnetic. Which dinosaur will be featured in whose painting? Quick, turn the page! Amy Newbold, author, and Greg Newbold, illustrator, follow up If Picasso Painted a Snowman with this volume combining a herd of historic and imaginary dinosaurs included in 19 famous artists’ […]
Books about Somali Immigrants/Refugees
Quirky Book Lists
In an effort to help my children understand more about their own heritage, I have searched far and wide for books by or about Somali immigrants or refugees. Here are some of the best ones we have found. Though a number of these titles have not been written by Somalis, they have at least been […]
The Finish Line
Writing Road Trip
Nothing is a bigger thrill for the young writers I mentor than what we have come to call their “publication parties.”
A Long-Term Slog
Page Break
There is nothing, nothing, NOTHING so crucial for success as a writer as being able to sustain a long-term SLOG.
Storm
Reading Ahead
That irresistible urge to jump into a cushioned pile of waist-high leaves, sinking into the vivid colors, the smell of earth and sky, the sounds of nature embracing you? Don’t miss Storm by Sam Usher (Templar Books). The glowing reds and golds of fall jump off the cover, inviting you to open the book and […]
The Books We Keep Forever
Big Green Pocketbook
A few weeks ago, I stood at the corner of 37th and Madison Avenue in New York City and gazed longingly at the elegant pink marble building that housed J.P. Morgan’s library, now the Morgan Library and Museum. In late January 2019, the Morgan will host the “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth” exhibit. I’m too early. […]
The Princess and Her Panther
Red Reading Boots
Last week, I was working on my WIP, a sprawling mess of a novel. I’d hit a rough patch and I set myself the assignment to just type away for ten minutes—ten minutes of nonstop typing just to Get Words Down—I wouldn’t let my fingers stop. I simply needed some words to work with, I […]
A Match Made in Heaven
Teach It Forward
A little more than two years ago I shared a Teach it Forward column entitled “Books for my Grandbaby and Me.” As I celebrated the arrival of my first grandchild and marveled at the joy of becoming a first-time grandma, I embraced the chance to share my love of reading with this most precious future […]
Pie and Gratitude
Two for the Show
November is a month of gratitude—and, for us, a month to celebrate Pie. We all have a favorite. Many of us have childhood memories of good times and pie. We all wait for the days when we can eat pie for breakfast. So we two thought this would be the perfect month to look at […]
Elements of a Nonfiction Booktalk
Nonfictionary
Not long ago, I saw this list of recommended components for a booktalk: Title Author Genre Main character Plot bit And boy, did it frost my britches. Why? Because the person who wrote it assumed the booktalker was recommending a fiction title. What about nonfiction? It’s important to booktalk these titles too because many kids […]
Getting Started
Page Break
Just getting started is HUGE. The inner drive to set down that image that won’t leave us alone …
History’s Mysteries
Reading Ahead
You pick up the brightly colored book lying on the table and open it near the middle. What’s this book about? In 1848, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror set out to find the link between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean by sailing into the Arctic waters. The ships and the crews […]
The BIG Umbrella
Red Reading Boots
I am extraordinarily lucky in that I have a group of wee ones who join me for storytime most weeks. They’re little—age three and under, with several babies in the mix—so we don’t tell long stories or read great doorstopper books. But with picture books, some of the best ones are pretty spare in terms […]
Catalyst Press
Small Press Medley
Catalyst Press has a bold and daring mission. As a new independent press, Catalyst Press brings to American readers books from the African continent written by Africans and/or about Africa, contemporary and historical. One of Catalyst’s first books is the startling graphic novel, Shaka Rising: A Legend of the Warrior Prince. It is written and […]
Virginia Euwer Wolff: The Guys’ Clubhouse
Knock Knock
I didn’t even ask why I was turning into Holden Caulfield. I was fifteen, a brochure girl for postwar innocence. And I was a farm kid, three thousand miles away from Holden’s Manhattan; I took violin lessons, rode my bike through orchards, memorized social studies facts, picked strawberries to make money, earned Camp Fire Girl […]
Literary Madeleine: Sing a Song of Seasons
Literary Madeleines
I believe this book belongs in every classroom, every home, and in every child’s life. It is a wondrous book to read, to look at, to memorize, and to talk about with the children around you. It is a Literary Madeleine, scrumptious in every way. The full title is Sing a Song of Seasons: A […]
Lucille Clifton: All About Love
Two for the Show
Poet Lucille Clifton in a 1998 interview “Doing What You Will Do,” published in Sleeping with One Eye Open: Women Writers and the Art of Survival, said, “I think the oral tradition is the one which is most interesting to me and the voice in which I like to speak.” Asked about the most important aspect […]
School-Themed Books That Build Empathy
Articles
During one of our visits to our local library in late summer, several of the books on display caught my eye. School was the common thread, and my family found some good conversation starters among the titles. I’ll highlight three that have merit as texts that help build empathy and/or broaden children’s views about school […]
Skinny Dip with Nicola Davies
Skinny Dip
We’re pleased to welcome author Nicola Davies to our Skinny Dip column. She writes such fine books about our natural world. Her most recent book, The Day War Came (Candlewick Press), relates the story of a refugee child who realizes that war follows her in the closed doors and turned backs. It is through the kindness of […]
Curiouser and Curiouser with Paul O. Zelinsky
Curiouser and Curiouser
Reading and admiring the books of Paul O. Zelinsky raises my curiosity. How does he work on the illustrations for his own books and those of other authors? What is he thinking about when he evolves his unforgettable characters? Of his newest book, All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah (written by Emily Jenkins), Mr. Zelinsky says, “Now that […]