Is all reading important? You bet. Because you never know which words will steer your life in a new direction. A nonfiction (grownup) book came out in December 2015 called First Bite: How We Learn to Eat by Bee Wilson. One of the things Wilson talks about is that we dislike food we’re forced to […]
Category Archives: Trifecta
November
10
How We Wrote a Children’s Book about “Uncle Frank” by John Seven
posted by CBethM
The questions Jana and I most often get, being a married couple that makes children’s books together, usually involve our process, that is, how it works, who comes up with what, how a book is formed. The simple answer is: Lots of ways, and no two books are alike. Sometimes, Jana will come up with […]
October
06
The Art Room by Philip Stead
posted by CBethM
A few weeks ago Erin and I were visited by an old friend. Our friend is a big bear of a man with a fluffy white beard. He is the kind of person, both in looks and in demeanor, who must spend much of his December every year convincing children that he is not, in […]
September
22
No Easy Way to Say It by Katherine Applegate
posted by CBethM
An awful lot of authors are introverts by nature. If you like solitude and imaginary friends, it’s the perfect vocation. Nonetheless, every couple of years or so, depending on one’s prolificity, the specter of Book Tour — that magical time when introverts transform into faux-extroverts — returns. The only thing worse than going on Book Tour, someone […]
May
05
Interstellar Alchemy: Turning Crushed Dreams into Stardust by Deborah Underwood
posted by CBethM
Imagine you’re a little girl. Your dad takes to you to planetarium shows on the college campus where he teaches. You love everything about the shows, from the silhouette of your town around the rim of the dome to the fact that the night sky somehow, miraculously, is brought indoors. You especially love listening to […]
April
28
I Can Do It Myself by Linda Urban
posted by CBethM
Years ago, when my son was a preschooler, I watched one of his classmates struggling to put on the many layers of snow gear that can sometimes be required for a Vermont recess. His mom hurried over to help him remove his leg from the armhole of his parka. “I can do it myself!” said […]
