When I wrote Moose and Magpie (Sylvan Dell, 2009), I knew it would be a good school-visit book.
The book uses fiction to tell the story of a moose’s first migration with jokes, songs and riddles. I wanted find cool props to bring the imaginary to life–a hook to keep kids’
Continue Reading Guest Post: Bettina Restrepo on Propping Up Your School Visit »
Lisa Ann Sandell on Lisa Ann Sandell:
“I have written three young adult novels, including The Weight of the Sky (Viking, 2006), Song of the Sparrow (Scholastic, 2007), and A Map of the Known World (Scholastic, 2009).
“I love to sculpt, travel, and spend time with my husband,
“My Heart Belongs to Daddy” a’ la (Cole Porter, 1938).
Okay, maybe not my heart, but certainly the inspiration for my two latest picture books belongs to Daddy, wherever he may be….
I grew up without a father. My parents married young and hatched two babies: my brother Joe,
“I spent three days a week for 10 years
educating myself in the public library….”
—Ray Bradbury
American Way magazine
(May 1, 2010; pg. 62)
Congratulations to Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson, illustrated by R.G. Roth (Knopf, 2010). From the promotional copy:
“Brewster is excited about starting first grade .
There are three things all writers do without even realizing it:
1. Use a particular word over and over again in a manuscript (mine is “so”).
2. Perk up at email notifications and then deflate when they turn out to be spam.
3. Use their lives to write every single story.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Jo Whittemore on Everybody’s Doing It: Writing From Life »
Huge thanks to Nathalie Mvondo for celebrating the 10th anniversary of my first book, Jingle Dancer (Morrow, 2000) at Multiculturalism Rocks! A blog on multiculturalism in children’s literature.
Surf over to check out her thoughts on the book and to enter to win a copy of Jingle Dancer for the school of your choice.
Mara Purnhagen is the first-time author of Tagged (Harlequin Teen, 2010). From the promotional copy:
Can Kate Morgan stand up for herself—without being labeled a snitch?
Kate is just as confused as her best friend Lan when she arrives at Cleary High to find the building’s been “tagged” with a life-size graffiti mural.
Borderline (HarperTeen, 2010) is my first thriller/mystery/suspense. As with my other recent fiction, it has a teen lead — in this case a funny, gutsy Muslim-American named Sami Sabiri, whose dad is charged with being part of an international terrorist cell based in Canada.
I approach writing for young adults the same I approach writing any of my books.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Allan Stratton on Writing for Young Adults & Writing Thrillers »
By Jane Kurtz, author of the American Girl Doll of the Year 2010 Books
I was doing author visits in Indonesia when I got a surprise email from the editor at American Girl that I worked with when I wrote Saba: Under the Hyena’s Foot (2003)(part of the short-lived “Girls of Many Lands” series).
Continue Reading Guest Post: Author Jane Kurtz on American Girl: Lanie and Lanie’s Real Adventures »
Adrienne Sylver is the first-time author of Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog, illustrated by Elwood H. Smith (Dutton, May 13, 2010). From the promotional copy:
If we are what we eat, Americans are hot dogs.
We ate them on the way to the moon and served them to the king of England.
Continue Reading New Voice: Adrienne Sylver on Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog »
