Neil Gaiman provides my favorite description of Beatrix Potter’s work: [Her] stories are fine, dark things. Odd little tales of anthropomorphic pigs and squirrels, of kittens and mice, foxes and rabbits, each story illustrated by gentle, precise watercolours. There’s nothing warm about Beatrix Potter’s world: it’s a dangerous, horrid place. Peter Rabbit runs for his [...]

Authors, like everyone else, thrive on positive feedback. Perhaps the greatest compliment of all is when a reader who loves one of their books, shares it with others. Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One has been in print for 19 years, and it stills garners fans. Aunt Isabel, with the help of her niece Penelope, [...]

I once heard an editor explain that for every thousand manuscripts her house received, only 2 or 3 were published in one year. Of course, that number is a bit deceiving. She also said that of the 1,000, about 900 manuscripts were rejected outright without reading more than a line because the writing was so [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]