Sometimes you start reading a book and you know immediately you’re going to love it. That’s how I felt about author/illustrator Constance Lombardo’s Mr Puffball: Stunt Cat to the Stars, the story of a young cat from Jersey who seeks his fortune in Tinseltown. The writing is warm and witty, with just enough cat-themed puns […]
That’s a picture of Tales of a Fifth-Grade Knight in the #1 spot among kids’ books at Malaprop’s, our local indie bookstore. That was pretty satisfying, as you might imagine. But what was even more satisfying was the book event Malaprop’s hosted last Saturday afternoon, which I’ve posted pictures of below. If you’d like to […]
Although the ending leaves things open for further adventures, The Return of Zita the Spacegirl may mark the final volume in what has turned out to be a full-on classic science fiction trilogy. For anyone just tuning in, Zita is an accidental heroine whose courage and empathy (she just can’t stop saving people) has made […]
September 20th marks the birthday of American fantasist James P. Blaylock. Apart from the Narnia books and the work of JRR Tolkien, no other works of fantasy I read in high school have stuck with me in quite the same way. In fact, there was a time when I would turn to the books of […]
I’ve made a commitment to posting an update on Tales of a Fifth-Grade Knight at least every couple of weeks because some folks have expressed an interest in knowing what’s happening with me and the launch of my first book. I can’t thank you enough for your interest! So what’s the first thing I’m excited […]
This One Summer is a graphic novel by Mariko Tamaki with charcoal-and-ink art by Jillian Tamaki, a team of cousins whose first collaboration, Skim, won a New York Times Illustrated Children’s Book Award. Summer tells the complex and ultimately edifying story of Rose, a tween (her age is never stated) who deals with family tensions […]
I’ve been reading graphic novels with Griffin since he was old enough to understand stories. One of the earliest graphic novels we read together was Jellaby, a delightful story about two human friends and the monster that brings them together. I was thrilled when Capstone, the publishers of Knight, took on Jellaby creator Kean Soo. […]
Well, actually, you can’t get posted to Tuvalu. Sorry. But— We’re now a month into the release of Tales of a Fifth-Grade Knight, and things are going swimmingly: Last week Knight was given a “Best Seller” badge on the Capstone website. On Amazon the sales ranking commonly bounces between about 500,000 and 50,000, which means […]
I have already read The Map to Everywhere once, and very quickly (I can’t imagine anyone reading it slowly). But now I’m reading it again, to Griffin, at night. This book has already enjoyed a lot of fully justified praise, so there’s not much to add. Except that on a second reading, with some of […]
The thing about having a book out that has always made me most excited (and nervous) was doing author visits at schools. Excited, because what could be more fun than talking about a bunch of crazy stuff (that is, the plot and characters of Fifth-Grade Knight) with kids? Having been lucky enough to spend lots […]
