Young Heroes: Jason and the Gorgon’s Blood
For the fourth (and alas final) Young Heroes book, Bob and I decided on Jason because the old tales tell about how he was raised on a mountain by the kindly centaur, Chiron.
History Mystery: The Salem Witch Trials
When we were still in the research phase of this book, Heidi and her daughters and their friends, the Napiers of Myrtle Beach, went on a road trip to Salem to get the feel of the area and pick up more books. Heidi came back with a bumper sticker that said,
Fine Feathered Friends
After having done WILD WINGS with Jason’s bird photographs–which won a National Wild Life Book award–I realized that he still had many gorgeous bird photos left over. Not only that, each time I went to South Carolina to visit (his baby twins, not Jason and his
Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories, The
So there I was, walking around the halls of the International Reading Assn conference, and I stopped at the small but elegant display of Barefoot Books. I was immediately struck by their distinctive style. One in particular was The Barefoot Book of Opera Stories.
How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?
My editor thought that two very young board books about the Yolen/Teague dinosaurs might be a great idea. She suggested a counting rhyme for one of them. I came up with the Clean Their Rooms idea
How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?
My editor thought that two very young board books about the Yolen/Teague dinosaurs might be a great idea. She suggested a counting rhyme for one of them. I came up with the Clean Their Rooms
Take Joy
TAKE JOY is filled with 40 years of my insights, rants, jokes, and pleasure in the writing trade. Some of the essays began as speeches, some as articles, some as journal entries, some as moments of inspiration. I hope all of them help writers–old, new, and in-between.
How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?
The Dinosaur books keep on rolling along. This was one of two board books I wrote at the same time, and Mark did a wonderfully compressed version of the bouncy, adorable dinos for it. In record time, I might add. The book was ready long before the contract!
Sea King, The
After Shulamith Oppenheim and I handed in the manuscript for the adult folklore collection, THE FISH PRINCE & OTHER MERMEN STORIES, the editor called us up. He thought that there was actually a wonderful picture book that could come out of the collection, and he had
Least Things
LEAST THINGS began when I read the quote, “Nature excels in her least things.” I told my photographer son Jason and he began taking photos of nature’s smallest things–jingle shells, tiny crabs, butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, etc. Slowly he gathered his photographs