I was really surprised by our University of Chicago visit. I expected the campus to be more urban and be spread out into the city. Instead, it has gorgeous Neo-Gothic architecture with a defined campus. It reminded me a lot of UCLA because both have large quads surrounded by beautiful old buildings. We sat in…
I’m thrilled to be going to my first Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival where I will be representing How To Coach Girls and Sumo Joe. I’m also interviewing three authors on behalf of KidLitTV: Phil Bildner, Sandra Neil Wallace, and Joyce Wan. Today, I’m preparing for my interview with Sandra Neil Wallace. I met Sandra Neil…
I think the Holy Grail of Halloween picture books is the classic, Room on a Broom, which combines so many delightful elements into a Halloween-themed book: counting, friendship, humor, and a search for missing objects. Room on a Broom by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler These Halloween picture books have some of these elements. What…
December 3, 2019 I have nothing but good memories of your mom. I was new to LA in the mid-1950’s and started working for the Air Force on Maple Street and met Rose there; we worked in different departments but on the same floor. I remember having many Friday-after-work Mexican dinners at El Cholo. We…
Our recent trip to Kauai was filled with outdoor activities like the beach, fishing, and hiking to beautiful spots, but I was glad of a few teachable moments for my kids to learn about Native Hawaiian culture. Interestingly, this Native Hawaiian was charged with commercial vending for these presentations. “A Native Hawaiian charged with…
It’s so easy to get free diversity children’s books through Multicultural Children’s Book Day. You don’t have to be a blogger to review multicultural children’s books for our MCBD 2020 online event. You just need to have a love of diversity in children’s literature and be willing to share on your social media platforms such…
I recently joined a new diversity committee for New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (NESCBWI). The other members of the committee are: Jeanette Bradley, Lisa Stringfellow, Janet Costa Bates, Amitha Knight, Autumn Allen, and Valerie Bolling. One of the first tasks our committee accomplished was create a mission statement: The mission of…