Behind the Books: Turtle Heaven
For the last few weeks, I’ve been reviewing final art from uber-talented illustrator Higgins Bond and making final edits to the text for my 2013 book A Place for Turtles. So it seems fitting that my husband, brother-in-law, and I took a trek to the Oxbow Wildlife Refuge in Harvard, MA. Not only is it […]
Behind the Books: A New Year, A New Direction
Each January, I make a list of goals for the year. Some I accomplish, and some I don’t. I design the list that way on purpose. There are always a few over-the-top, pie-in-the-sky ideas that I just want to put out there in the Universe. This year I’ve been looking back as well as forward. […]
Sunny Santa Barbara
Earlier this month, I was on the faculty of an SCBWI writer’s retreat held at a mission-turned-retreat center in Santa Barbara, BA. I enjoyed getting to know fellow faculty member Kathi Appelt, organizer Alexis O’Neil, and many of the writers who attended the retreat, which featured an all-day critique session, three 30 minute presentations, and […]
Behind the Books: Festival of Trees
I have fantastic news. My book Under the Snow has been included in this year’s Family Trees Festival at the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts. A group of ladies from the Concord Council on Aging got together and sewed all kinds of wonderful animal ornaments for the tree. Take a look. There’s a fish, a […]
Behind the Books: Who Wrote that Book?
Last July, I had the pleasure of speaking at the League of Vermont Writers’ conference in West Dover, VT. In my personal and professional lives, I always strive to see ideas and situations from other people’s points of view and doing just that allowed me to have a surprising insight at this conference. In one […]
Behind the Books: Cybils Awards
The nominees for the 2010 Cybils Awards were announced last week, and I was thrilled to see three of my books in the list. I’ve already blogged about two of the titles, A Rainbow of Animals and A Place for Frogs, but I’ve never gotten around to the third book, Ants. Ants is a Level […]
How to Save School Libraries and Independent Bookstores and Better Prepare Our Kids for those Dreaded Standardized Tests
Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Nonfiction books for children are meticulously researched and expertly crafted to delight as well as inform. They engage young readers in a way that textbooks and other standard teaching materials can’t. Teachers know it. Librarians know it. Even the people who write the standardized tests know it. […]
Behind the Books: It’s National Library Week!
As many of you know, Newbery medalist Sid Fleischman recently passed away. During his long career, Sid wrote many wonderful fiction and nonfiction books. Among his nonfiction titles were brilliant biographies of Mark Twain and Harry Houdini. Studying these books has helped to make me a better writer. But before I was a writer, I […]
Behind the Books: More Fun in Philly
A couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days in Philadelphia for this year’s NSTA conference. But one morning, I skipped out on the conference to visit my friend Doug Wechsler. Doug is the author of lots of great science books for kids, including Frog Heaven: Ecology of a Vernal Pool (Boyds Mills Press, […]
Behind the Books: NSTA
Last week, I spent four glorious days in Philadelphia. The weather was perfect, and I was hanging out with some of my favorite people on Earth—science teachers. There weren’t many book children’s book publishers exhibiting at this year’s conference, but I did get a nice shot of Charles and Emma (Holt, 2009) by fellow I.N.K. […]