My third and last (I swear) Holocaust novel, hung on the armature of Hansel and Gretel, about twins Chaim & Gittel who are 14 when the Holocaust begins and they and their parents are moved from a lovely cozy house with a front and back yard
Meet Me at the Well: the Girls and Women of the Bible
My old friend (ex-student of mine, then a member of my critique group, winner of the Jewish Book Award among other citations—Barbara Diamond Goldin—and I decided to write a book that would be feminist, 21st century midrashim about the girls and women of the Hebrew Bible. That meant for most of them
Monster Academy
It took Heidi and me close to fifteen years till this book finally came out. I tried it as a picture book, a middle grade novel, an easy-reader. When Heidi signed on and we did it together as a picture book (MUCH better than my first feeble attempt) we actually had a book. Scholastic bought it and put the very inventive John McKinley
On Gull Beach
Third rhymed picture for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with pictures by my old friend Bob Marstall. Each one about a place and a resident kind of bird. In this one a boy on the beach works hard to rescue a sea star (starfish) from greedy gulls passing it around from beak to beak.
Sanctuary
Son, Adam Stemple, and I wrote this second book of our graphic fantasy novel noir mystery trilogy. The first book, Stone Cold, set, as this one is also, in 1930s Edinburgh, Scotland. stars Silex, a talking gargoyle on top of a church in Scotland who works as a detective, assisted by a team of Scottish street urchins who do the grunt work.
Before the Vote, After the Vote
Hard- hitting political poetry for adults. Remember—-I lean left. Far left. So Trump & Co. get no kudos from me. I began writing the poems slightly before the vote, Finished it in January when it was published. Wonderful intro by Bill Newman, head of the Western Mass ACLU, a writer himself. And Civil Rights lawyer.
The Emerald Circus
My first book of short stories with Tachyon, a small San Francisco Press. (Think The Little Engine That Could because everyone there does double and triple duty—with full heart!) These fantasy stories are all about fantasy worlds (Wonderland, Neverland, Oz, Camelot)
How Do Dinosaurs Choose Their Pets
I think this is the funniest of the Dino-Sty books, because the basic premise is so absurd as Dinos bring home tigers, etc from the zoo. And Mark Teague has gone all wild and crazy with the art.
Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs
I can’t seem to get away from dinosaurs! Here J. Patrick Lewis (former Children’s Poet Laureate) and I have done a picture book’s worth of humorous poems about the “interesting” demises of prehistoric creatures, from trilobites to T Rex to dire wolves.
Little Frog and the Spring Polliwogs
The second book about Little Frog (of four, one for each season) with pictures by the new but very professional and suddenly sought-after illustrator, Ellen Shi. (The first frog book was her first published book! And I found her!) In this one Little Frog is a reluctant big sister until danger threatens her baby brothers, and…