Once upon a time I posted many, many book reviews on here. I’ve gotten away from that due to writing time constraints, but there are a few middle grade series I do like to keep on top of. I’ve got one I’d like to highlight for you today. Perhaps five or six years ago, one […]
Confessions of a Newly Full-Time Writer
I’ve been pretty silent on here lately. Those who have been hanging with me awhile know everything changed for me last spring when I decided to send my last homeschooler to public school. I made the decision to go mercenary–write in a popular genre and see what I could accomplish and what kind of money […]
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham, 1955
One of my favorite things as a reader is to find an aging book that has worn well. That is certainly the case for this 1956 Newbery winner. It tells the life story of historical figure Nathaniel Bowditch. Bowditch spent most of his life in the seaport of Salem, Massachusetts. He was only two years old […]
M. C. Higgins the Great, by Virginia Hamilton
This book wasn’t my favorite, but I want to review it because it won the Newbery in 1975, and as many of you know, I’m on a (long, slow) quest to read all the Newbery winners. It also won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the National Book Award and became the only book to […]
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
I’ve wanted to read Cold Mountain for a while, but I waited until I was finished with my Ella Wood trilogy so it wouldn’t be influenced by other works of Civil War fiction. Since I’m no longer concentrating solely on middle grade or young adult literature, I thought I’d throw it out here. It is the […]
Wonder, by R. J. Palacio
I’ve seen this book everywhere in recent years, with scads of glowing reviews, yet I’ve purposefully avoided it. I can only handle so many of the “social issues” books that are so popular these days. Even the better ones are usually too touchy-feely for my tastes, sometimes at the expense of a solid story. I […]
The Evolution of an Author
Some of you guys have been with me on this publishing journey from the beginning. You’ve watched me break out into the self-publishing market in 2011, make some major mistakes, learn how to rectify them, and gradually come to produce children’s literature that has consistently received high ratings. I was an elementary school teacher, and I’ve […]
Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, 2009
I have terrible timing. After three consecutive posts about the research that went into my upcoming novel, this was supposed to be the grand finale, the big announcement that Ebb Tide has released!!!! But it hasn’t. It’s coming soon. I promise. In ten days, in fact. It’s undergone final revisions and is currently out to my last […]
Ebb Tide: Mitchelville
This is the third in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ebb Tide, the third book in my Ella Wood trilogy. (Part 1: The Port Royal Experiment; part 2: African American POW Trial.) Mitchelville, on Hilton Head Island, which was located in close proximity to the Union […]
Ebb Tide: African American Soldier POW Trial
This is the second in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ebb Tide, the third book in my Ella Wood trilogy. (Part 1: The Port Royal Experiment.) Ebb Tide continues the theme of the evolution of Black soldiers in the Civil War, begun in Blood Moon. The First (July […]