Hello, everyone! What a spud-tastic honor it is to have the book trailer for my upcoming picture book, Potato Pants!, revealed here at the Nerdy Book Club! It was shown in July at Nerd Camp but this is the first time it will be shared online. In Potato’s words: “EEEEEE!” (translation: WOOHOO!). The writing […]
Category Archives: Author Posts
August
10
Cover Reveal for The Iliad by Gareth Hinds
posted by CBethM
My graphic novel adaptation of The Odyssey was first published in 2010. Since then it’s gone on to be (without question) my best-selling book, used in classrooms throughout the country and lauded for its respectful treatment of the text and for bringing the story to life for many thousands of readers. Teachers have a […]
August
07
Shame Clings by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
posted by CBethM
I didn’t grow up poor, but my mother did. She grew up in an unheated home, eating the occasional squirrel shot by my grandfather, and when there was nothing else, a bowl of crackers floating in milk. Her poverty was not the only thing that caused her humiliation. Her mother, while suffering from schizophrenia, was […]
August
06
TONIGHT I CAN STILL HOLD YOUR HAND ––INSPIRATION FOR “ELLA & MONKEY AT SEA” BY EMILIE BOON
posted by CBethM
This story was inspired by my own experiences as a young child emigrating to the U.S. by passenger ship. In reality I was even younger than Ella, not yet four. So my strongest memories of this journey were not of the events themselves. I remember bits and pieces as well as the stories I heard […]
August
03
New Resources for Teaching Nonfiction by Melissa Stewart
posted by CBethM
In July, I was lucky enough to attend nErDcampMI for the very first time. And all I can say is WowOhWowOhWowOhWow! I met so many dedicated educators and had so many great conversations that sometimes it felt like my brain was about to explode—in a good way. I’d been connected with many of these folks […]
August
02
Cover Reveal for THE FRIENDSHIP WAR by Andrew Clements
posted by CBethM
August 2, 2018 West Baldwin, Maine Dear Fellow Book People— Many years ago I worked in an old textiles mill that was soon to be remodeled into apartments, and my company was the last to leave the building. One day as I looked through some junk left in a hallway, I found a […]
August
01
A MUSLIM GIRL AND HER FAMILY by Saadia Faruqi
posted by CBethM
I grew up in Pakistan, where books were scarce. My mother would drop me and my two younger sisters at the British Council library and leave on errands. We’d roam the halls all afternoon, from the colorful children’s section to the quiet and somber reference area, and back again. I remember dozing off on a […]
July
30
I was that kid. I still write for that kid. by Kevin Sylvester
posted by CBethM
I just returned from NerdCampMI and heard Dav Pilkey (and many others) talking about “finding the right books for the right kid” and also “any reading is reading”. Dav talked about his own experience of being told he wasn’t reading the right kind of books – usually comics or silly stories. And I […]
July
26
Weaving with Words by Lisa Graff (A Cover Reveal for Far Away)
posted by CBethM
One of my earliest memories is of waking up on Christmas morning, only to discover that my beloved Cozy Coupe toddler car had been stolen right off our porch. I was devastated, but when mother told me that the person who took it probably didn’t have money for their own child’s Christmas present, it eased […]
July
24
Finding Inspiration by Jo Hackl
posted by CBethM
Growing up in a ghost town is the perfect childhood for a writer. When I was eleven, our family moved to Electric Mills, Mississippi. The town was one of our country’s first electric lumber mills and once had been called the “brightest town South of St. Louis.” By the time our family moved there though, […]
