Our book club used the holiday to invite members of our local library\’s Teen Advisary Board to attend a meeting and discuss The Hunger Games. Besides the pizza, which was awesome, we all discussed what we did, and didn\’t like about the book. We were divided on whether or not we would have children in such […]
Intergenerational book club meeting Read More »
As of today I am more than an author. I am a publisher. Not exactly what I wanted to be. But then, life is nothing if it is totally predictable. My debut novel, PULL, a young adult novel geared toward attracting reluctant readers, was published in 2010 by Westside books. Unfortunatly, Westside ceased publishing new books
A new job description Read More »
Poison Tree by Amelia Atwater-RhodesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars First the cover attracted me. Although this book actually involves four protagonists (Two couples) they cohose to picture the one who is of African-Asian heritage (a tiger shapeshifter) on the cover. That meant I had to read it. The book did not disappoint. It has
I review a lot of books. That means I read a ton, because I don’t chose to review everything I read. I try to be careful not to give out spoilers in the review. I once mentioned a plot device an author used in a book I won’t name here. It was a totally phony
Her name would have been Camilla. She would have been my first grandchild, but she died two weeks ago, two months before she was due. She lived and grew and kicked inside my daughters body for six months. Then, for some reason only God and maybe the doctors know, she died. Doctors had to remove
Thanks to everyone who entered the contest, and double thanks to people who gave me the names of new books featuring Heroines of Color. I was not yet aware of. I\’m now on a crusade to find them and read. I was specially pleased to find out about TU Publishing, an imprint of Lee and
And the winner is… Read More »
Today I visited two classes in a local middle school, where the 7/8th grade humanities teacher and I are working to enhance the summer reading program for the kids entering 8th grade next year. The program is simple–the teacher forms the conduit over the summer. She gets the books first, looks them over, and decides which
Summer Reading Program Read More »
One of the things I\’m most proud of with my YA novel PULL is the way it brings different generations together. At a recent meeting with a Mt. Prospect United Methodist Mens\’ Club, one of the listeners bought a copy and had me autograph it to give to his grandson for his eighteenth birthday. A week later
The Atlantic Wire has a series they call YA for Grownups. In April, 2012 they published an article called The Greatest Girl Characters of Young Adult Literature. Never mind that this is one person\’s opinion. Never mind that many of the heroines in the list were actually from children\’s or middle grade fiction. Never mind
What Is The Color Of Heroism? Read More »
Last weekend brought the biennial writers conference presented by the Chicago North chapter of RWA – Spring Fling. This year the exciting event was held in a new venue, Marriott at Hoffman Estates. Things began with two-hour master class on pitching presented by Carrie Lofty. She gave us a great overview on pitching graciously stayed