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.
“My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich” and “Finding Orion”
Both “My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich,” by Ibi Zoboi, and “Finding Orion,” by John David Anderson, are about grandfathers. In one case it’s a beloved grandfather who is far away, and in another...
Other Words for Home
“Other Words for Home,” by Jasmine Warga, is a novel in verse about the grief and happiness of trying to adapt to an entirely new culture, while living an ocean away from your loved ones and...
What Can White People Do?
I was planning on talking about the simple pleasure of holding physical books again, as my local library is now delivering books curbside. And that is a simple pleasure that I am grateful for. But...
Looking For Silver Linings and Finding Puppies and Webinars…
Hellooooo out there!! Do you wake up every morning and forget for an instant that we are living in the midst of a pandemic? I often do and it can be so jarring. The other day I heard that...
Magic vs Logic: A Field Guide to Getting Lost
What happens when two adults with children start dating? In “A Field Guide to Getting Lost,” by Joy McCullough, we can enjoy what happens when two such kids fit together like “chalk and cheese.” In...
Travel Inside a Book
One of the first clues that A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff (Philomel Books) was going to be an unusual story was the revelation in the first pages that some people are Talented, with a capital “T.”...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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Thank you for signing up for my newsletter! Every month I’ll send a new post sharing my thoughts on writing — especially children’s non-fiction — and creativity, posting writing prompts, discussing my favorite middle grade authors and more.