I made a playlist, coming soon, of the songs in the novel. You’ll find Laura Mam, a Cambodian-American singer. I listened to her songs over and over while I wrote. And here’s the gorgeous “Spanish Dancer” by Patti Scialfa and “Rabbit in the Moon” by Aztec Two Step. Hearing Aztec Two Step’s “Rabbit in the…
Posts Categorized: One Moon Reviews
IBBY Congress in Mexico City Honors Stories Around the World
How proud the people of IBBY Mexico were to bring creators of children’s literature and educators from all over the world to Mexico City. They showed us palaces beyond beauty, feted us with tequila and tiny hordeuves with hibiscus at galas, seduced us with the art of Mexican illustrators. The word seduction was the word…
Mosaic: Our Characters in the World
“Mosaic: Our Characters in the World”: A workshop for writers of children’s and young adult books. Maria Padian and I presented this workshop at the New England SCBWI conference in May. I’ll add resources on this topic regularly here on my site. Here are the first two handouts. Mosaic – Our Characters in the World~ Description,…
Luis Paints the World – set in a city of murals
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city of murals. A “Bread and Roses” mural is on the Lawrence Family Health Center building. Students create murals in the alleyways. Next year, Carolrhoda Books will publish my picture book LUIS PAINTS THE WORLD set in this city. It’s a story of going away to war from the eyes of…
Readers Write Viola’s Next Chapter
Heather Flanders, ELL Specialist at Gorham High School in Maine sent me two stories. She wrote, “I hope you are as moved as I was,” and I was. The stories were written by her students Amna and Megan, their own visions of the next chapter in my novel The Good Braider. Amna is from…