I had an interesting experience two days ago when I visited Winterhaven School here in Portland. The kids were great. I especially enjoyed my program for the 4th and 5th graders. We were able to look at writing in much more depth. A number of children came up to me after the program. One girl—I [...]
Does it get better than this? JoAnn Berg, a preschool teacher, took the time to write to me about my book, The Three Little Tamales. Here’s what she wrote: I am a preschool teacher. I teach mostly children whose families are from Mexico. I found your book, The Three Little Tamales. My children loved the [...]
I’ve tossed the Blog Tour ball to Nina Laden. Her response to the questions is posted. Click HERE for the link to her blog page. Elizabeth Winthrop and Ann Angel wanted to join, too. I don’t see their entries up yet. I’ll post links when they’re up. This is fun. Let ‘s keep the tour [...]
“How many books have you written?” That’s the question I’m asked most often whenever I do a school visit. It’s also the first question adults ask when they learn I’m a writer. It always struck me as a peculiar question since I really don’t care. What matters isn’t how many books you’ve written; it’s how [...]
Yow! I just checked my website and realized that I haven’t posted anything since June. What’s going on, Bro? Well, it wasn’t much of a summer. In fact, it’s just about the worst I can remember. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. She underwent surgery twice. The results were even better than [...]
I’ve suddenly seen several articles in newspapers and online discussing the value of a college education. Ron Wyden, one of Oregon’s most respected political figures, has called on colleges to provide undergraduates with statistics about employment and income prospects for various academic majors. In other words, if you’re going to invest all that money in [...]
Mating season is over. Pirate ate a big, fat mouse this morning. He didn’t take more than a minute to notice it and grab it. He must have been hungry—especially since he hasn’t eaten anything in a month. I wish people could do that. We could lock ourselves in a closet with a case of [...]
Barbara Williams of the Montgomery County Schools in Rockville, Maryland, wrote to me with a special request. Montgomery County schools are using my books as part of their elementary writing curriculum. Ms. Williams wrote to ask if I might use my blog to elaborate a topic that teachers feel needs special emphasis. The topic to [...]
I read an article in this Sunday’s NY Times about a glitch at Vassar’s admissions website. Here’s the LINK if you’d like to read it yourself. Apparently, acceptance notices were posted online. Students could visit the website to find out if they had been admitted. Back in my day they sent you a letter. You [...]
I’ve noticed a funny thing about writing over the years. When you’re stuck and find yourself with no idea of what you’re writing or what you’re supposed to be doing, you can always find dozens of excuses for not writing anything. You have to go shopping; you have to run a wash; you have to [...]
