Ah, Bob. Our little green not-Zombie. And Livy, the girl who saves him. Or does he save her? Let’s agree that they save each other. Writing their story was a true labor of love that Rebecca and I escaped to for over seven years. We passed chapters back and forth while working around our other […]
Category Archives: Author Posts
April
28
10 Middle Grade Books That Will Help You STEAM UP Your Classroom! by Jennifer Swanson
posted by CBethM
STEAM –Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math—books are more popular than ever today. And they should be. STEAM book Engage. Excite. and Inspire kids. Most importantly, STEAM books show diversity. Science works best when it is a collaboration of ideas, particularly those that come from people of all different backgrounds. Using these books in your […]
April
27
Researching The Art of the Swap for Nerdy Book Club by Kristine Asselin
posted by CBethM
*We’re excited to be giving away a FULL classroom set of hardcovers of The Art Of The Swap for the Nerdy Book Club—read on for instructions on entering!** I am so happy to be at the Nerdy Book Club today. I’m thrilled to be talking about my new book co-authored with my friend Jen Malone, […]
April
26
The Guns in Our Stories by Jeff Seymour
posted by CBethM
It’s 4:30 a.m. I am exhausted. My teething son is finally asleep, and I should be too. But I can’t stop thinking about Parkland and the responses to it, and instead of sleeping I’m wrestling with a question: What do we do with the gun deaths and violence in our stories? I write fantasy adventure […]
April
25
A Summer of Study, a Summer of Reading by Penny Kittle
posted by CBethM
So what are you planning for this summer? I’m going to see Dave Mathews in concert five times (ridiculous, right?). I will walk my dogs in Whitaker Woods every chance I get, and I will climb a few mountains in the Presidential Range. I’ll also be reading, writing, and thinking about teaching, of course. It’s […]
April
24
A Letter to Our Struggling Readers by Jen Petro-Roy
posted by CBethM
I was one of those stereotypical bookworm kids. The glasses-wearing girl who curled up with a book on the corner of a couch, who sprawled out on my bed or ignored everyone else from the backseat of a car. (Bless my lack of carsick genes!). I loved long books with zillions of pages. I loved […]
April
23
The Joy of Reading Together by Holly Niner
posted by CBethM
The swing hung from the branch of a willow tree split in two by lightening. It was my quiet place. Under its shade I observed the world, contemplated life and read more books than I can count. The books came from a wonderful city library with circular stair cases and a heady book-smell, a school […]
April
21
Read José Martí for National Poetry Month (A Plea) by Emma Otheguy
posted by CBethM
While recovering from an illness in New York State’s Catskill Mountains, the nineteenth-century Cuban poet and independence leader José Martí wrote these words: Mi verso es de un verde claro y de un carmín encendido: Mi verso es un ciervo herido Que busca en el monte amparo. My song is of the palest green […]
April
19
What It Means to Hope by Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison
posted by CBethM
When we decided to write our middle grade novel Every Shiny Thing, our point-of-view characters materialized quickly, their voices pouring out of us. First came Sierra: a fiercely loyal thirteen-year-old who has been separated from her alcoholic mother and placed into a loving foster home, where she resists connecting with her foster parents because […]
April
17
Stay Wild by Alison Oliver
posted by CBethM
When I began a meditation practice as an adult, I was struck by how familiar it felt. It was almost like deja-vu, the sense that you’ve already lived the present moment. I realized that the experience of meditation wasn’t new to me; it was one I’d felt often as a child. Meditation begins when your […]
