I’m a huge fan of Robin LaFevers. She’s a wonderful resource on writing craft and actually shares her writing process on her blog. Robin, under the name of R. L. LaFevers, is also the author of a wonderful series, well actually two, that my children adore. And that is magical in my book. We first…

One of the first blogs I discovered, when I started blogging almost three years ago, was Cynsations. Then I quickly found Cynthia Leitich Smith’s website. Between these two resources (talk about organized and easy to navigate), one can pretty much find anything worth knowing in the children’s book world. I’d read Cynthia’s books TANTALIZE and…

I was pleased when I heard The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate was on the Mock Newbery reading list in my fifth-grader’s class. Spy Girl loves science and I’m hoping she’ll enjoy reading this book as much as I did. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate has only been out since May, and already, it has garnered…

Three years ago, I discovered The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I loved the intrigue, the clever foreshadowing, the characterizations and plotting. When I finished reading the next two books — The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia — I knew I needed to read these three books again, more slowly, to study…