Meet Sue Fondrie, 2011 Grand Prize Winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for “Worst Opening Sentence in a Work of Fiction”
Thursday, July 28th, 2011 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, the writing process | No Comments »On Monday, July 25, Sue Fondrie was announced as the grand prize winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. As a longtime fan (and occasional perpetrator) of spectacularly bad writing, I blogged that sucker up and, to my surprise, Sue dropped ...
The Stack of Books on My Night Table: Summer Reading
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, Readings | No Comments »Many of us have a big stack of books that we hope to read. Sometimes there's a plan, often it's a spur of the moment grab. Here's some of the titles I currently hope to get to -- soon, someday, ...
Cue the Inspiration: Krazy Kat & Nancy Comics & Nicholson in “Five Easy Pieces”
Thursday, April 7th, 2011 Posted in Around the Web, Interviews & Appreciations, the writing process | 1 Comment »Ah, the writing life -- or a book gone wrong, or right, I don't know. Hat tip to my newest blog find, a most worthy site for inspiration: The Improvised Life. Check it out. Great photos, easy reading. A site that always ...
James Preller Interviews . . . Thomas Newkirk, author of “Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy, and Popular Culture”
Sunday, March 6th, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom, Interviews & Appreciations, The Gender Gap in Reading | 3 Comments »I recently read Thomas Newkirk's outstanding book, Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy, and Popular Culture. I sent him a complimentary email and, to my great surprise, he agreed to an interview. My reasons were selfish. I simply wanted to learn more ...
Alan Silberberg Interview . . . Part Two
Thursday, February 24th, 2011 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, Six Innings | 1 Comment »If you missed Part One of the Alan Silberberg Interview, it's absurd for you to be here. I mean, really. Please follow the link to catch up. Don't worry, we'll wait . . . [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8Fv0AJA4] Late in the book, Milo gathers ...
James Preller Interviews . . . Alan Silberberg, author of “MILO.” Part One (that’s right, there are “parts!”)
Sunday, February 20th, 2011 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, The Gender Gap in Reading | No Comments »Readers can connect with Milo, by Alan Silberberg, in very different ways. I suppose that's true of any book, we all bring our disparate selves to the text, but it seems especially true for Milo, a story for middle grade ...
The Ultimate Dad is an Adoptive Parent . . . and Wears a Yellow Hat
Monday, February 14th, 2011 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations | 1 Comment »As a kid I loved Curious George and nothing's really changed about that, despite a slew of less-than-stellar books published after the passing of H.A. Rey in 1977. There was a particular series done in the late 80's, ...
Cue the Inspiration: “For the Good Times”
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, Music | No Comments »This morning I was listening to the remarkable new double-CD by Jamey Johnson, "The Guitar Song," and toward the end he covered one of the Truly Great Songs, Kris Kristofferson's 1970 classic, "For the Good Times." 1970, Monterey Pop Festival. Photo: ...
Art for Sale: Sylvie Kantorovitz Wickstrom
Sunday, November 28th, 2010 Posted in Around the Web, Interviews & Appreciations | 1 Comment »My friend, the lovely and talented and confusingly-named Sylvie Kantorovitz Wickstrom . . . . . . who was born in Casablanca, raised in France, and ended up in Albany, NY . . . . . . where she has not only illustrated ...
My Interview in Bangkok (sort of)
Saturday, November 27th, 2010 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, Jigsaw Jones | No Comments »It's never a good sign when a reviewer confesses that he's "not into children's books that much." Basically, I get to read them out of necessity, mostly with my students. Such is the case with The Case of the Vanishing Painting ...