Affect and Effect and Why We Hate Them
I think this is everybody’s least favorite grammar conundrum–affect or effect?
Granted, it’s annoying…but for the moment there is still a distinction between the two and you’ll look like a super cool style maven if you can remember it.
Here’s the trick:
“Affect” with the A is always a verb (with one exception*) and it always means “change” or “alter.” If you can swap the word in question with “alter,” the one you are after is “affect.” LIKE THIS: “The magical spell affected Eloise in startling new ways, such as her taste for munching on raw mice.”
“Effect” with an E can be a noun, which “affect” cannot. If the word in question is a noun, you want “effect.” LIKE THIS: “The effect of the magical spell was quite noticeable at dinner parties.”
“Effect” with an E can also, alas, be a verb, meaning “to bring about or cause.” LIKE THIS: “Will the magical spell effect a rupture between Eloise and her beloved Antonio?” But please note that this verb cannot be replaced with the verb “alter.” It is therefore “effect” with the E.
So your first question, when confronted with the affect/effect conundrum, is: noun or verb? If it’s a noun, it’s easy: effect. If it’s a verb, can it be replaced with “alter“? If so, “affect.” If not, “effect” again.
* The exception: “affect” is used by psychologists as a noun to mean “appearance or demeanor.” This is something you can ignore unless you are a psychologist.
* Also an exception: “Affect” can also mean “choose to wear or do in a pretentious and silly manner.” LIKE THIS: “Antonio affected a dashing hat with a feather to draw Eloise’s attention.” This is rare and can generally be ignored. If you’re using “affect” like this you presumably know what you’re doing.
Read MoreHappy Holidays
One of my holidays gifts was the recent news that WOMBAT UNDERGROUND will have a French edition. With the help of Google Translate, I have learned that the French word for “wombat” is “le wombat.”
This fills me with delight.
May the dark of winter bring you restful nights, and may the slowly returning light bring us all into a new year where hope continues to bloom–perhaps in unexpected places. And where even grumpy wombats can do a surprising amount of good.
Read MoreSLJ Star for A Pandemic Is Worldwide
Utterly thrilled to say that School Library Journal has given A Pandemic is Worldwide a starred review! They say:
Read MoreIn simple terms and with lots of explanatory illustrations, this addition to the “Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out” series offers an objective view of a pandemic that is easy to understand…. Stating that a pandemic is caused by a bacteria or a virus, the book describes ways in which readers can actively inhibit the spread of the disease through handwashing, covering injuries, and staying away from sick people; it emphasizes the importance of isolation with a very helpful chart, and even includes directions for proper handwashing technique…. VERDICT: This slender volume may alleviate fears and help readers understand how illness spreads, while its underlying message is that those who wear masks, wash their hands, and stay home can help to end pandemics.
Kirkus Review for A Pandemic Is Worldwide
Kirkus Reviews has given A Pandemic Is Worldwide a thumbs up! I like the last line best: “A gently worded explainer for young readers looking for answers.”
Young readers gain insight into what pandemic means….Previous generations of youngsters may not have been familiar with the word pandemic, but today’s youngsters surely are….Opening with a digestible lesson on how pandemics develop and a brief historical overview of medical plagues of the past, the text then turns a microscope on the Covid-19 virus—its physical symptoms, social effects, and what people can do to curb its spread. The role of vaccine development and scientific advances in the field of immunology is highlighted throughout the book. The illustrations of earnest doctors administering vaccines to willing children will rub anti-vaxxers the wrong way, but the wholesome overarching message of “we’re all in this together” will play well to the intended audience….A gently worded explainer for young readers looking for answers.
Can’t say I particularly care about rubbing anti-vaxxers the wrong way, so this review makes me happy all through.
Read MoreFrom Endangered to Extinct
John James Audubon Letters and Drawings, 1805-1892, MS Am 21 (31), Houghton Library, Harvard University
As I work on three books about endangered animals (elephants, frogs, and lions), I’m enthralled with delighted details about their lives–elephants are scared of bees, some frogs can glide from tree to tree, lions can’t purr but ocelots can. These are the little things that I hope will engage kid’s attention as much as mine, will hook them in and get them reading.
And sometimes I can actually forget how endangered these animals are and what a slim chance we have to create a world where they can thrive. Habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, poaching–all the threats we hear about over and over.
And then I read an article like this on in the New York Times, about the 22 species of animal removed from the Endangered Species List–and not because their population numbers have recovered. Because they’ve been declared extinct.
It feels like a small thing, maybe too small, to write books that could get a new generation of conservationists to care, to hope, to act to keep a diverse world alive. But at least it’s one small thing I can do.
Goodbye to the ivory-billed woodpecker, once called the Lord God bird for its astonishing call. And to twenty-one more animals we will never see again.
Read MoreVampires, Viruses, and (Im)mortality
By Mercy’s gravestone.
Just because it’s one day after Halloween doesn’t mean we can’t still be thinking about vampires. Jason Zinoman in The New York Times has a great article about the connections between vampire legends and times of plague and pestilence…at one time, vampires were seen as creatures who spread deadly diseases rather than pale, sparkly romantic antiheroes. He didn’t mention, but he could, the vampire legends of 19th century New England, in which the undead were blamed for the spread of the white plague–tuberculosis.
Those legends and the true story of how belief in vampires affected the life and death of a nineteen-year-old Rhode Island girl named Mercy Brown became the basis for Mercy, my one and only horror novel to date. (More eerie than horrible, really.)
Read MoreA Frog in his Throat
One more delightfully odd frog: Darwin’s frog. The male swallows the fertilized eggs that his mate has laid and stores them in his vocal sac. (That’s the little sac inside the throat that blows up like a balloon to amplify the frog’s call.) They stay there for up to fifty days, until the eggs have hatched and the tadpoles have developed into tiny frogs. And then…
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Sarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly