I have Mondays off, so I spend a lot of them with B. at the playground. We have two regulars — the little playground by the school about four blocks away, and the big playground at the park by the Mississippi, which we have to drive to. Either one is fine by B. He just …
I’ve been writing about the themes that play into Tanglewood Terror, and have been meaning to write about H.P. Lovecraft, the inspiration for the Max Bailey character (and really, the whole darned book). As luck would have it, this played perfectly in to the terrific author Nova Ren Suma’s series of posts by fellow authors …
Eric Parrish pushes people around. He’s a defensive back, after all. He jokes around with his brother and realizes his brother isn’t in on the joke. He’s a bit of a bully. I sketched out Eric that way before bullying became such a huge topic in the news and before my essay was picked up …
I’ve been wanting to blog more about Tanglewood Terror and the themes buried in it like mycelial cords. Laurel Snyder issued a pretty good challenge to start with his parents’ divorce/separation, which is part of Eric’s story and part of Rebecca’s story in Laurel’s Bigger than a Breadbox, which comes out in a week or …
I was recently at the bookstore looking for board books for my son, and left feeling thwarted and disheartened. It was all barnyard animals making noises and counting and going to bed on time. It was light, light stuff. I left empty handed.