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“Fantasy is our imaginary life's blood,” Tamora Pierce told me recently. "It is simply an extension of our myths and legends, our fairy tales and our folktales. It is the stories we tell ourselves to give shape to our dreams and desires, and the forces that we suspect are working...
For years, while my publisher tried to call my books mysteries, I’ve insisted that no, they’re thrillers. It’s a lowbrow term, connoting blood, guns, and nefarious activities. Basically, thrillers tend to be about nasty people doing bad, illegal, and/or unethical things, although usually there’s also a blameless individual around as...
What makes a good translated book? When Roger Sutton asked this question of me and Cheryl Klein, the editor with whom I work on our imprint’s translation efforts, it seemed that our answer might possibly be unacceptably short: it’s the writing that makes a good translated book.What more could we...
Before the War . . .... the evenings lingered longer, and it was always summer when it wasn’t Halloween, or Christmas.Long, lazy light reached between the houses, and the whole street played hide-and-seek, called only by olly-olly-oxen-in-free and supper time.Before I could keep up, I rode my brother’s shoulders, hung...
We hear a lot about how stories should end: the ending should be inevitable, and yet we shouldn’t be able to guess exactly how it will occur (see Macbeth). It should be consistent with the story’s other elements (see Romeo & Juliet). It should make us cry without embarrassment (see...
Judging a Book by Its Cover (Because Sometimes That’s All We Get): What Makes a Good Bookstore Book?
As an independent bookseller, I have both the luxury and the responsibility of actively choosing every title on the shelves of my store. It’s a source of great pleasure but also much soul searching, because in order to keep my doors open I have to carry certain books that are...
Dear Parents,Reading is a big part of every second grader’s life. But reading can be fraught with anxiety for these new readers. Most seven- and eight-year-olds in my classroom can read, but their reading levels vary widely, and they are not yet very good at finding books for themselves. They...
There continues to be a flood of books for young people about the Holocaust, even more now than a generation ago. This is partly because many survivors who for so long did not want to talk about their horrifying personal histories are now breaking their silence. Every time I get...
Mention the word bibliotherapy, and children’s librarians and booksellers have similar tales to tell. The stories go something like this: a well-intentioned parent comes in and asks for a book about death. When questioned further, she explains that her child’s grandmother is dying and the child needs some books to...
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