My husband, author Greg Leitich Smith, and I would like to thank the Texas State Reading Association for its hospitality last Friday. Greg gave a keynote address at a dinner that night, and Barnes & Nobel Westlake sponsored a quite successful signing. Thanks also to the Writers’ League of Texas for inviting us to do a breakout session, “The Kid in You: Writing for Children and Young Adults” at the 2006 Agents & Editors Conference last Saturday. Highlights of the event included a Q&A panel featuring authors Kathi Appelt (author interview), Chris Barton, and Anne Bustard (author interview), which was moderated by author-illustrator Mark G. Mitchell (author interview). Read my full report on these events at Spookycyn. See Chris Barton’s take from Bartography.

In other news…

American Indians in Children’s Literature: a new blog from Debbie Reese (Nambe Pueblo). See A Sampling of Recommended Children’s and Young Adult Literature about American Indians. Thanks to Debbie for featuring three of my books, Jingle Dancer (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000), Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001), and Indian Shoes (HarperCollins, 2002) on the list as well as an anthology, Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today (HarperCollins, 2005) edited by Lori Marie Carlson, which includes my short story, “A Real Live Blond Cherokee and His Equally Annoyed Soul Mate.”

Congratulations to Anne Bustard, author of Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus (Simon & Schuster, 2005)(author interview), which was named to the the IRA list of notable books for “Primary Nonfiction” award (only seven “notable” books were chosen for that section).

Talking Books: official site of Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic editor Cheryl Klein. Cheryl offers a series of articles, including: “The Essentials of Plot;” “The Rules of Engagement: Part One: The Rules;” “The Rules of Engagement: Part Two: How to Disengage a Reader in Ten Easy Steps;” “Finding the Perfect Publisher for Your Manuscript;” “Submissions Guidelines and What I’m Looking For.” See also Cheryl’s blog, Brooklyn Arden.

Create-Relate: News from the Children’s Book Biz by Anastasia Suen (author interview) is back online.

“Cricket Books and the Other Bug Magazines: Connecting for the Sale” with editor Deborah Vetter, editor of Cricket, Cicada, and Cricket Books: a chatlog from the Institute of Children’s Literature. June 23, 2006.

“The High School Experience” by Colleen Mondor from Bookslut. Highlights Open Ice by Pat Hughes (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, 2005), Nothing But the Truth and a Few White Lies by Justina Chen Headley (Little Brown, 2005)(author interview)(excerpt), Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)(excerpt), Chicks with Sticks by Elizabeth Lenhard (Dutton, 2005), Nailed by Patrick Jones (Walker, 2006)(blog), and King Dork by Frank Portman (Delacorte, 2006).

Editor Alvina Ling: an interview by Paul Maniaci from the Career Cookbook: Inspiring Career Paths. Alvina is an editor at Little, Brown. June 24, 2006.

“Icing the Cake: Writing Stories in Rhythm and Rhyme” by Dori Chaconas (author interview).