Last night, after a month of strange events, something extraordinary happened. A bunch of guys, mostly bearded, rose from the dead. They threw things, struck them with weapons that exploded into splinters, and slid along in the dirt. They were quirky and had superstitious mannerisms. They spat and ran, chewed and slammed into walls. Hordes of […]
When Paul Czajak invited me into Jody Jenson Shaffer‘s Children’s Writers’ Blog Hop I thought – why would I not? The plan, as you may already know, is that each author answers the same four questions on his/her own blog, then invites three others to do the same. Like the branching of a tree, the ideas […]
Millions of people are familiar with the acronyms used in texting every day. w@ (What?) you say? u r ok (You are okay.)  ne1 ne sec (Anyone, any second) can see it’s a word puzzle where some are obvious, others not so much, or are acronyms as learned symbols. But texting isn’t as new as […]
If you’ve ever wondered why the average picture book is usually thirty-two pages long, take a look at this post I did today for Writers Rumpus. Bookmark
Dutton, the Publisher of This Star Won’t Go Out by Esther Earl, Lori Earl and Wayne Earl, wiht an introduction by John Green, has released a wonderful teaser which you can see here. On January 28, 2014 we can read the words of Esther Grace Earl the “star” who was the inspiration for John Green’s […]
Recently I wrote a two-part article on royalty paradigms for a critique group blog called Writers’ Rumpus. In Part II I summarized the results of a survey showing responses by people who have current published books. It was an attempt at getting a pulse on the type of contract deals children’s authors are receiving. You […]
What earnings can writers and illustrators of books for children today expect to receive from a publisher? The range of payment options has widened, sometimes not in your favor. If you would like to see whether the basics of the deal you now have is comparable to what others receive and help your colleagues too, […]
Kristine Asselin has been juggling many talents. She is the 2014 NESCBWI Conference Director, writes non-fiction books for the school and library market, has intriguing YA and MG fiction projects in process, and her first picture book was just released. Worst Case of Pasketti-itis, which was illustrated by Luisa Gioffre-Suzuki, tells the tale of a […]
Friday and Saturday, May 31 and June 1 from 9:00-4:00, the Concord Museum in Concord, MA is sponsoring Garden Affairs, this year’s iteration of their annual garden tour. For the first time, one of my sculptures will be included In October of 2010 Di & Jack Clymer commissioned a kinetic steel sculpture that was a […]
Three powerful books about kids dealing with major issues. Troubled kids, wise and compassionate kids. Be Someone’s Hero is the message on a sign that foster child Carley finds in her borrowed bedroom. She’s in need of a hero herself, having just been released from the hospital after being severely beaten by her mother’s boyfriend, […]
I was at my ninety-one-year-old mother’s house in Lawrence today when I turned on CNN because my mother likes to know what goes on in the world. We watched the mid-list runners of the Boston Marathon near the finish line by the colorful flags of eighty countries that were snapping in a brisk spring wind. […]
Incubators help things hatch. What emerges are success stories. At an SCBWI crit group in Andover, MA fifteen people sit around a table giving input to the five presenters each month. Marianne Knowles is the well-experienced coordinator who keeps everything moving in a productive, positive direction. With that many voices, good input on developing stories […]
Denizens of the night sky, nine foot children, a steampunk moth, eerie coincidences, and electric connections between people… SCBWI New York this past weekend was surprisingly poignant and permeated by an encouraging optimism about children’s book publishing. But first was the getting there. Kristine Asselin, co-cordinator of the SCBWI conference in New England this May […]
Jennifer Malone one of my critique group buddies, has gone from being the New England Head of Publicity and Promotion for 20th Century Fox and Miramax Films to writing for YA and MG. Jen is fun, fabulous at networking, and her stories are contemporary tales full of humor. Right after Hurricane Sandy did its thing, […]
Hnefatafl, also called The King’s Table, is a two-player game originating about 400 A.D. in Iceland, Scandanavia, Ireland, and Lappland. One unusual aspect, rare for a board game, is that the two sides are uneven, one having the king and twelve defenders, while the other is comprised of twenty-four attackers. The gameboards were often of […]
This charming book by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch, which I bought in Zurich, cleverly presents its theme on the cover as a title: “Vom kleinen Maulwurf, der wissen wollte, wer ihm auf den Kopf gemacht hatâ€. Egils translates this as “From small Mole, who wanted to know who dropped this thing on his head.†[…]
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. -Thomas Merton Bookmark
Like Dark Striker ((Nidhogg), the dragon who was an enormous force of evil in Norse mythology, Hurricane Sandy has left a broad swath of destruction and darkness in her path. Large areas of New York and New Jersey are swamped and disconnected to an extent never seen before. The fires that reduced acres of homes […]
John Flanagan’s strengths are dramatic action, innovative conflict, and complex male characters who breathe and sweat. This fantasy adventure trilogy with a Middle Ages setting combines humor, intelligent language and complex characters to propagate a fast-paced, engaging tale awash with daring plot twists. Although mostly promoting good morals, the level of violence over these first […]