Author of over 400 Books for Children and Adults
Short stories and poems, all written by me, having to do with dragons. This was the first of the five HERE THERE BE. . .books. Since I’d already written many dragon short stories, I only needed to write one new one–a Chinese dragon story. Included here is “Cockfight,” which started the Pit Dragon Trilogy
Pat Gauch at Philomel wanted me to write a follow-up book for John Schoenherr after our success with OWL MOON. I wrote this book in the first person hoping it had the same tone. Perspicacious readers will note that the book is not illustrated by Schoenherr (he was already at work on a goose book)
I am a cat person. My husband is a dog person. We’ve owned both and so these poems are from experience! And no–there is no mistake. Half the book is upside down so you can start from either end, depending upon whether you prefer cats or dogs. Janet Street’s uproarious pictures are right on beat!
More than fifty weather related poems from poets as various as Carl Sandberg, Robert Frost, Eve Merriam, Lilian Moore, Ralph Fletcher, Emily Dickinson and four new poems by me, too. My poems are “Weather Report” (which has been quoted by local weather men on tv), “An Awkward Arrangement”
This is a book of poems all about the moon. Ruth’s warm and loving illustrations are a real highlight of the book. (See “Old Dame Counterpane” for more about her work.) A few of the poems were reprints, but most are original to this book.
A collection of my stories, poems, and essays (a few whose only publication is in this volume), this was produced in a small press limited edition by the good folks who run Boskone, the premier Boston science fiction convention. It is a limited edition of 1000, of which 8 are lettered and slipcased, the first 200 numbered
The idea for an adult novel on the subject of the Holocaust came to me when I was watching the documentary “Shoah” in which the concentration camp Chelmno was described. It was a camp in a castle. Castle, barbed wire, and the gassing of innocent folk. It suggested the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty” in a horrible way.
The editor at Owens, a small educational publisher, asked me if I’d like to write a picture book autobiography for a newly created line of photo books. I said only if my son Jason, a professional photographer, could do the photos. She agreed readily, loved his work, and so Jason’s first book was published.
This is the story of Columbus’ landing in the Americas, as told by a boy of the Taino people who already lived there. The 500th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage was coming up, and my Harcourt editor of the time–Bonnie Ingber–suggested such a book was needed. I thought a Taino should write it.
Eeny and her sisters are moles, but the older two are conservative and nervous. Eeny is a young adventurer. Someone once described this book as “Beatrix Potter with a kink!” I’d tried writing this story in rhyme: “Once at the bottom of a deep, dark hole lived Eeny and Meeny and little Miney Mole.”