Career Builder & Giveaway: Barbara O’Connor

Career Builder & Giveaway: Barbara O’Connor

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Barbara O’Connor grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in English, she headed to Southern California. An interest in writing for children led her to take classes at UCLA to learn the basics.

Since publication of her first children’s biography in 1993,

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Guest Post: & Giveaway Gigi Amateau on How Fire Changes Everything

Guest Post: & Giveaway Gigi Amateau on How Fire Changes Everything

By Gigi Amateau

While writing my first historical novel, Come August, Come Freedom: The Bellows, The Gallows and The Black General Gabriel (Candlewick, 2012), I scoured primary and secondary sources for a self-guided crash-course on eighteenth-century blacksmithing.

Court documents at the Library of Virginia describe how my main character,

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Author Interview & Giveaway: Martine Leavitt on My Book of Life by Angel

Author Interview & Giveaway: Martine Leavitt on My Book of Life by Angel


By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Martine Leavitt has written several award-winning novels for young adults, including Keturah and Lord Death (Front Street, 2006, Boyds Mills, 2012), a finalist for the National Book Award, and Heck Superhero (Front Street, 2004), a finalist for the Governor General’s Award.

Martine holds an honors B.A.

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