All those cold winter days melting into memory. But I feel like I have to account for them. What was I doing?A little bout of appendicitis reminded me in the most powerful way of the gift of good health, something to be grateful for every day. Getting excited about our new book Begin with a Bee (written with … [Read more...] about Waking Up to Spring
Blog
Four months til May
Illustrator Claudia McGehee, writers Liza Ketchum, Phyllis Root, and I are so excited that our book--Begin with a Bee--will also come out into the world in May. There will be celebrations and much reading and sharing. We are in deep winter, deep beautiful winter. But under our frozen ground sleep rusty-patch bumble … [Read more...] about Four months til May
Leaving while staying at home
Normally at this time in January I am packing my suitcase to leave home for 11 days and go to Hamline University to participate in the residency for the Masters program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. I always am energized by the preparation and the residency. Eleven days with other children's book writers at … [Read more...] about Leaving while staying at home
The Power of One Book
I was recently reading books by the wonderful and prolific writer Eloise Greenfield (at least 45 children's books published). Her book Night on Neighborhood Street (illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrest) changed the way I understood what children's books can be. They don't all have to have a "story"--problem encountered, … [Read more...] about The Power of One Book
Season of Bees
It’s the season of pulling out tomato plants and taking down bean towers. It’s the season of very few bees. And I’m wondering if the bumble bee queens in our yard have gone to their nests, tucked in for cold weather. Wherever the bees and butterflies are, I hope they are safe. I’m leaving a few flower stalks and brush … [Read more...] about Season of Bees
Begin With A Bee
Writing is most often a solitary act. We sit with paper and pencil, or computer, by ourselves, and build a story word by word, tear it down, build it again. But there is another kind of writing—collaboration—when we work with friends to create a story that is richer, more textured than what one writer alone might do. … [Read more...] about Begin With A Bee
