Years ago, I met Jerry Spinelli at a conference. He was warm and helpful. In between workshops one afternoon, while sitting on the steps in the sun, he told me about a manuscript he had spent a long time writing and that he thought had terrific promise. He had sent it to his editor, sure [...]

I’m sorry that these photos don’t show every step in our creation of George, the Scribble, at the  Zigler Head Start Center, in New Haven, Connecticut last month. Because he is quite a character: he wears a hat, plays the trumpet, and rides a motorcycle. A dozen different preschoolers helped draw him, beginning with one scribble. [...]

The Tassy Walden New Voices in Children’s Literature Awards ceremony is a stellar event. I mean it, this hard-earned recognition for a writer is a moment when the clouds clear and the stars shine and shimmer not on everyone, or that one, but on you.
I was a finalist, and after a friend suggested I try [...]

Waiting for the print-publishing world to settle down and start buying again a a real downer. You can start to spend way too much time trying to read the minds of editors and publishers. You wonder if you should change your style. Switch subjects? Do a complete rewrite of the [...]