Today is the official release date for Come Fall. I’m very excited. The novel has gotten great reviews from Publishers Weekly (starred!) and Horn Book Magazine. I’ll be throwing a book party on August 28 at the Alphabet Garden Bookstore to celebrate its release.
But today, nothing much happens. There won’t be confetti. Or a special [...]

All of Your Messages Have Been Erased. Miss Fox’s Class Earns a Field Trip. Incomparable treasure, gifts from beloved friends, these books on my desktop inspire me to write. And intimidate me to silence: peering down at the covers hovering on the ledge above my keyboard, words seem inadequate.
Vivian Shipley arrives for dinner with her [...]

I loved poetry as a child. My father read us picture books written in rhyme; my siblings and I read to each other Hilaire Bellock’s The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts and Cautionary Tales for Children; and we studied Struwwelpeter to keep us appalled. But the poetry books I kept coming back to were A.A. [...]

Apologia

In this spot
My post is not.

But stay tuned, friends –
Writer’s block
Always ends.

So take a look
Another time.
You’ll find I’ve blogged –
And not in rhyme.

It all starts with a trip! 
This is near the Gold Bug Mine in California.  It is a mine that has been sealed up because it is not safe anymore.  Probably wasn’t too safe when it was getting dug either.  I wonder how much gold they found here?  What if . . . ?
And the story begins.
 
 
This is [...]

‘Tis the season for lists. So, in this spirit I offer you one of my own: Read-aloud books that fit the season. These are books that our family has read to each other over the years and have been perennial pleasers. This isn’t a comprehensive list of books for the season, not even the best [...]