Writers who take on political stories—stories that focus on conflicts within and between communities—face daunting challenges. How does a writer keep the focus on the story rather than the political issue? How does he or she present background information without the story grinding to a halt? How does the reader come to empathize with individual…
When I was growing up in Houston, Texas, one of the high points of my year was going to the rodeo in February. While most of my peers looked forward to the circus, I enjoyed watching the competition among the bull and bronco riders and the calf ropers. One of my early fiction efforts, a…
Unplug & Read Week is an annual event to encourage children and teenagers to back away from the “screens”—computers, tablets, smartphones, and television—and do something in the real world. This year’s event runs from April 29 to May 5, 2013. In the hope that reading a book will be one of the real world activities…
This coming Sunday evening, April 7, marks the beginning of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jews around the world will place candles in their windows and recite prayers to remember the six million Jews who died between 1933 and 1945 at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators, as well as the others who…
Earlier this month, I was asked by the Children’s Book Council to contribute a post to the CBC Diversity 101 blog, which helps editors, librarians, teachers, reviewers, and authors identify basic misconceptions and problems in writing about diverse populations. My post addressed dos and don’ts in creating characters with emotional and developmental disabilities, and you…
For me, one of the biggest surprises of the ALA Youth Media Awards was the selection of Beverley Brenna’s The White Bicycle as a Printz Honor Book (for outstanding YA literature). In the past, few Printz honors have gone to books published abroad and by small presses. Published in Canada by Red Deer Press, The…
When it appeared in 2009, Kekla Magoon’s The Rock and the River took historical fiction about the African-American experience out of the “safe” terrain of the Underground Railroad and the Civil Rights Movement to an armed revolutionary organization that confronted racial and class-based oppression. In that novel, 13-year-old Sam Childs is torn between the nonviolent…
One of the treats of last month’s inauguration was listening to Richard Blanco read the poem he wrote especially for that day. Blanco, a gay Cuban American, is the youngest person to present a poem at a Presidential inauguration, and his presence sent a message to young people of all backgrounds that they could stand…
Adalyn is a bright student but has trouble fitting into her fourth grade class. Friendless and prone to tantrums, she frequently has to take refuge in a small tent in the school counselor’s office. One day, a yellow Labrador retriever puppy joins her in the tent, and quickly the two—Adalyn and the therapy-dog-in-training that she…
What’s a questioning girl to do when the world demands answers, and then doesn’t like the ones you have to give? For seventeen-year-old Astrid Jones, the questions feel huge and the answers too scary to face head on. Who is she, and what does she want, and when does her real life start? Until…
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