Fan Mail Wednesday #23
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 Posted in Along Came Spider, Fan Mail | 2 Comments »Every year I hope to be better with Fan Mail. But I guess I might as well confess this, even if it makes me look like a creep: While I'm grateful for fan mail, and amazed, and often touched, there's a ...
Books for Boys?!
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, Bystander, Greatest Hits | No Comments »School Library Journal recently ran a review for Along Came Spider. Written by Elizabeth Swistock, you can read it in full by clicking wildly right here and scrolling insanely downwards. I think Ms. Swistock gives an accurate, sympathetic review, while noting ...
Around the Horn: The “Me, Me, Me!” Edition
Friday, November 21st, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, Bystander, Mighty Casey | 2 Comments »Weird confluence of things in a 24-hour period, with five books colliding. Let's recap: * In the mail yesterday, the first hot-off-the-presses copy of Mighty Casey! I love this book, it's beautifully published, and I'm so happy that it brought ...
Fan Mail Wednesday #18
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, Fan Mail | No Comments »Sometimes I receive amazing letters from classroom teachers. And boy, I love amazing letters from teachers! Mr. Preller, Thanks so much for writing Along Came Spider. I've just finished it as a read aloud with my 4th and 5th graders. I selected ...
New York Public Library Top 100 — Part Two!
Friday, October 24th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider | 3 Comments »Well, this is crazy. I just got a call from Shannon Penney, the Scholastic editor for Along Came Spider, who informed me that Spider, too, was named by The New York Public Library in its 2008 list of “100 ...
Readings: Autism
Monday, October 20th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, Readings | No Comments »Recommended reading: A fascinating article in The Sunday New York Times Magazine, October 17, 2008, titled "Reaching an Autistic Teenager," written by Melissa Fay Greene. The article focuses on a small private school that serves -- educates -- teenage boys with ...
Inside Scoop: Book Covers, Along Came Spider
Sunday, October 19th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, the writing process | No Comments »On Sunday night I began to write a post about my new "Jigsaw Jones" cover, but didn't have all the info I needed to make it happen. So, instead, let's just dub this COVER WEEK and begin here: A while back, ...
Fan Mail Wednesday: #15
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, Fan Mail, the writing process | 3 Comments »Okay, imagine that I'm holding a large cardboard box filled with thousands of paper scraps. I roll up my sleeve, reach in my hand, stir things up a bit, and pull out a note. Wow -- what are the odds? ...
Backstory: A Sense of Smell
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, the writing process | No Comments »Like most people, I have a nose. But mine doesn't seem to work very well. Smells don't really register with me on a conscious level. I mean, sure, I get the big unavoidable ones, like fresh brownies in the kitchen ...
More Backstory: Writing Spider
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 Posted in Along Came Spider, the writing process | 1 Comment »Teachers often ask about "the writing process." That's an uncomfortable thing for me, since it seems fertile ground for pretentiousness. But to answer the question honestly, "my" writing process is the only one I can speak about with any author/ity. ...