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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

April is National Poetry Month! Celebrate with:

Videos featuring the Children’s Poet Laureate, Mary Ann Hoberman, from The Poetry Foundation
The International Reading Association, lesson plans on “Composing and Performing Found Poetry“
Activites from The Academy of American Poets
Activities and more from Reading Rockets
Interviews with 36 poets from The Miss Rumphius Effect
30 Poets/30 Days, new poetry on Gotta Book

Any children’s book lovers in or around southern CT and RI, with free time this weekend and next? October is a big month around here, with two amazing Book Festivals coming up. This Saturday in Providence is The Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books and Authors, with an all-star lineup of authors and illustrators - [...]