SIREN SISTERS by Dana Langer published by Aladdin, January 2017 suggested age range: 9 – 13 SUMMARY: A soon-to-be siren finds herself responsible for the lives of her sisters–and the fisherman they curse–in this haunting debut novel. Lolly Salt has three beautiful sisters. When they’re not in school or running their small town’s diner, they’re secretly luring ships to… View Post
It’s a funny story how I chose my MFA Writing Program. Warning: don’t do what I did. (For the 7 tips, scroll down.) I was twenty four and in my second year as a full-time math teacher when I stopped by a little bookstore near my house in Uptown New Orleans and my eyes fell on a paperback… View Post
The first six weeks of my baby’s life I didn’t do any writing except a bit of blogging, but I did do some manuscript swapping with other writers. I managed to read one full manuscript for my writer friend Bethany Veinman, often while breastfeeding. Ironically, her work-in-progress was a diary novel, which is the format of my most recent… View Post
FLYING LESSONS & OTHER STORIES, edited by Ellen Oh published by Crown Books for Young Readers, January 2017 suggested age range: 8 – 12 years *This post contains affiliate links. SUMMARY: Whether it is basketball dreams, family fiascos, first crushes, or new neighborhoods, this bold anthology—written by the best children’s authors—celebrates the uniqueness and universality in all of… View Post
Rookie Magazine has a feature called “Ask a Grown” in which young people ask questions about love and life, and impressive grown-ups (like Hillary Clinton, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Stephen Colbert, and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys) answer them. So I thought it would be cool to do something similar except adults would ask the questions and young people would answer… View Post