In a few days a new year will arrive. Time to look back over the old one. What kind of year has 2012 been? It’s hard to say. The pluses came with minuses and the minuses came with pluses. A lot of fine things happened with my writing. The Golem’s Latkes won a National Jewish [...]
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 [...]
Authors have mixed feelings about reviews. A good one can make you feel as if you’re on top of the world. A bad one ruins your day. At least, that’s how it is when you’re starting out and trying to build a career. When you’ve been around for awhile—in other words, if you’re an old [...]
Something happened to me today that made me shiver. Every now and then I’ll get a postcard from the universe; a subtle hint of where things are going. I didn’t like this one at all. I just got back from Florida a few days ago. I leave for a school visit in Istanbul in less [...]
Is there anyone who didn’t read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies when we were in junior high school? Golding’s bleak view of human nature left me depressed for a week–which isn’t hard to do when you’re in junior high school. Well, here’s something to cheer you up. There is hope for us yet. Perhaps, [...]
Okay, I”m back! It’s been a long time since I posted anything here. January 21st was the last one. I hadn’t realized it had been that long since I put anything up here. All I can say is that a lot has been going on. My friend, author Bruce Colville, was visiting Egypt when the [...]
An interesting email came in yesterday that started me thinking. The writer was either a teacher or parent. She wrote to say how much she enjoyed my books. Then she asked me to tell her which ones corresponded to a list of values that she provided. The values were certainly the sort you would want [...]
Many authors and illustrators whom I admire present slide shows as part of their presentations. I’ve resisted using slides for decades. One reason was that it was something else to mess with; something else that could get fouled up and go wrong. I’ve heard too many tales over the years of broken projectors, burnt-out bulbs, [...]
I have snakes on my mind today. I’m reworking a story I wrote about a Latina girl who thinks she’s lost her pet snake. My good friend Carmen Bernier-Grand (Frida, Diego and many more) checked it over for accuracy. She also gave me some Spanish phrases to make the dialog more interesting. I had five [...]
