I am honored to preview this book, which will be officially out on October 2! Don’t miss it. *Picture book, contemporary winter-themed, preschoolers through 2nd graders *Young girl as main character *Rating: When someone can rhyme and tell a story as well as Janet Lawler can, then you don’t want to miss her books. Snowzilla [...]

This is a lesson plan to go with my book, Finding My Place. It is a historical fiction middle-grade novel set in the U.S. Civil War during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. More details can be found at the link above. Common Core Standards in Reading for third, fourth, and fifth grade: Third grade: [...]

*Picture book for preschool through 2nd graders *A boy and a girl as main characters *Rating: That’s How by Christoph Niemann is absolutely brilliant! I love the concept and the illustrations AND the ending! Short, short summary: In the beginning, a little girl asks a little boy, “How does a truck work?” He says, “Hmmm, [...]

I am happy to have one print copy of Christ’s Cake (Tate Publishing) to giveaway to one person who leaves a comment by Sunday, September 23 at 8:00 pm CST. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. United States and Canada mailing address only please. Please leave your comment below–you can say anything [...]

On Wednesdays, I am going to start blogging again, and this time it is going to concern my book that should be in my hands by OCTOBER 3! (Imagine great cheers and celebration going on!) The book is titled Finding My Place: One Girl’s Strength At Vicksburg and is set during the Siege of Vicksburg [...]

If you live in one of the 47 states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards, and you are a teacher, parent, home school parent, librarian, or administrator, you are probably SICK of hearing about these standards–sorry! I think it’s a good idea to address them on my blog since I am all about [...]

In my critique group, my friend, Grace M., is writing a fantasy YA novel currently titled, To Take A Breath. Last Wednesday, when I did the game, I tagged the members of my critique group and told them how great the exercise was for learning how to talk about your novel and market it. Grace [...]

*Picture book, preschool through first grade *Squirrels as the main subject matter *Rating: This is a really cute and neat book with amazing photographs of squirrels in Central Park by Murray Head. Since my 22-month-old daughter loves animals and not many words on the page, this is a perfect book for her! Short, short, summary: [...]

I am posting on Wednesday this week because I was tagged in a blog game called THE NEXT BIG THING! (Writers are going to be answering questions around the web on the next big thing because we are all working on a possible Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games! ) Here are the rules per [...]

This week, my cyber buddy and fellow WOW! team member, Darcy Pattison, is hosting Random Acts of Publiclity 2012. The purpose is to talk about someone else’s book and be a cheerleader for a lesser known author and/or book. This year, she’d also like you to focus on conversations about a book. How do we [...]