I’ll be forever grateful to Susan Cain for making introversion cool. Her book QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, helped millions of chatty extroverts understand why our culture’s preference for people-saturated experiences exhausts some of us. She gave an excellent Ted Talk, too. I finally felt celebrated! We introverts… Read more »
Congratulations! You made it! Your first book is published! And now…you get to write another one! But you’re also marketing Book One and possibly even doing school or book club visits, even if you’re an introvert! (Watch for the marketing-for-introverts post coming May 27!) So how do you manage to juggle it all? Here are… Read more »
Graphic novels are enjoying a great deal of popularity these days, with some of them taking home some significant awards. El Deafo by Cece Bell, was named a Newbery Honor Book in 2015, the first ever graphic novel to win this distinction. The graphic novel Smile, by Raina Telgemeier, was an American Library Association Notable… Read more »
Self-censorship is a tricky topic for those of us who write for children and youth. People have very strong opinions about what they think children should be exposed to in stories—and not everyone agrees about it. Fiction may not be technically true, but the best fiction still tells the truth. What truth do you want… Read more »
When people consider writing for children, they often think about picture books first. You know the ones—the big ones found in the “E for Easy” section of the library with short text and illustrations. These days, librarians refer to this section as “E for Everyone” and with good reason. Everyone can enjoy a good picture… Read more »
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. What you may not know is that it’s also Picture Book Idea Month—PiBoIdMo! Tara Lazar created PiBoIdMo for picture book writers who want to get in on all the zany fun novelists have in November… Read more »
What’s up with all the long-running series for middle grade readers? For the purposes of this article, I’m talking specifically about books series that span more than fifteen books—in fact, some of them feel like they might never end! Kids love them, adults perhaps less so when our bookshelf threatens to collapse from the weight… Read more »
Some people imagine writing for kids and immediately picture Dr. Suess or baby board books. But the good news is you don’t have to use simple words to write for elementary kids if that’s not your style. Go ahead and use rich, succulent vocabulary and varied sentence structure—please! There are plenty of kids who are… Read more »
I have a confession to make. My two daughters loved Junie B. Jones when they were little. Adored that whole (giant) series by Barbara Park. And I hated those books with a fiery passion. As a narrator, Junie B. was rude, impulsive and disobedient, with poor grammar and misspelled words to boot. She was my… Read more »
Historical fiction is like your personal time machine. Hop into a book and whisk off to medieval England, the Wild West, or ancient Rome—the options are endless. Historical fiction takes facts and events from the past and deftly weaves them into a fictional tale about characters we grow to love. Plenty of recent books for… Read more »
