Long, long ago I was working a job in marketing/PR, and I decided I would never be happy in it, when what I really wanted to do was write stories. I remember telling my husband, “Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll have a book reviewed in the New York Times.” That was how I decided I […]
The Closet Creative Blog
New Review from School Library Connection!
This charming story will appeal to teachers and parents with primary age children. Chloe has a new classmate whose name is Adrian Simcox. Clearly a new student, Adrian sits alone at lunch and appears sad and lonely. On the playground, he tells anyone who will listen that he has the most beautiful white horse in […]
I CAN Draw
I got a “B” in my elementary school art classes. That wouldn’t be a big deal, except that I got A’s in all the other subjects. And yes, it’s weird that I was graded in art. Was everyone back then? My kids don’t get letter grades in art, just a number based on participation. My […]
Be Still, Quoth the Raven
I don’t like to fly. I don’t do it often, so I’m out of practice, but I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Decatur Book Festival to talk about my first book, and so I just needed to put on my big-girl pants and get over it. I’m not the kind of anxious […]
Top 10!
I’m so excited to share that “Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse” is a Top 10 Indie Next pick for fall 2018! This is a list created by independent booksellers. There’s nothing I like better than browsing around a little indie bookstore, especially when the bookseller (quite often the owner) is there to talk […]
Here Wee Read-Blog Tour!
Thanks to Here Wee Read for this review! I appreciate the comments about Chloe’s mom and her way of allowing Chloe to recognize her own mistakes and figure out how to make things right. I wish I was as good a parent as Chloe’s mom! As I told kids during my book launch, I didn’t […]
Unleashing Readers Review and Discussion Questions
Hi friends, The blog tour continues with this lovely review from Unleashing Readers. If you are a teacher (or a parent!), check out the discussion questions at the end to use with your kids. I hope the book leads to lots of important discussions about kindness and empathy, though I’m also cool with kids just […]
Review from The Story Shop
I promise I won’t post each review that comes in, but this one really touched me because it gets at some of the concerns I heard early on about the book, namely that my 1st person, flawed narrator, shouldn’t be telling this story, or possibly shouldn’t be in the book at all. I was of […]