Ellen Gaffney’s picture book WINGS FOR A FLOWER tells a story of disability and freedom. I have a friend so close he is like my brother. He has never walked and from the time he was a toddler he got around in a wheelchair. I had not thought about what a person would do if they…
For a School Library Journal article, I interviewed many librarians about their recommendations of verse novels to kids and teens in their libraries. And I interviewed many writers about their process in writing verse novels. A new direction was given to the article by SLJ and a lot of these wonderful speakers are not…
The Good Braider has won the Lupine Award from the Maine Library Association. Here’s some backstory on this award. The award is named for the flowers grown in Barbara Cooney’s picture book, MISS RUMPHIUS. I just listened to the story on this beautiful audio book version:
An essay for spring published in New Hampshire Home‘s back page feature “At Home in New Hampshire.” Madhu’s Seeds by Terry Farish Madhu Bhandari tells me, “When I bring the greens home from the garden, that is the best thing.” I am in her home in downtown Concord where she lives with her husband; her children, including…
Follow my journey to Kakuma, a village in the Turkana district of northern most Kenya. I volunteered with KVDA in the Kakuma Semi Arid Boarding Primary School where children of the nomadic Turkana people and children from Kakuma Refugee Camp go to school. See images and follow the journey here.