Trick or Treat! Smell My Stories!
My own sweet tarantula and her friend Medusa are terrifying Trick-or-Reaters!
Pretty soon hosts of tiny demons and witches and princess and superheroes will be showing up at your door. Want to give them something that will strengthen their brains instead of rotting their teeth*? Check out this fabulous new promotion from Curious City: Trick-or-Reaters! Give kids spooky, scary, suspenseful, and delightful stories for Halloween as well as yummy treats!
* Or in addition to rotting their teeth. I am not opposed to teeth-rotting Halloween goodies!
Read MoreReview of Deadly Flowers
Children’s Literature has a nice review of Deadly Flowers. Lovely to be compared to Lloyd Alexander! Do kids read him anymore? It seems like I spent half my childhood in Prydain.
Read MoreRather than trusting no one, [Kata] learns to decipher who is trustworthy, and instead of blind obedience to a master, she starts to wonder if freedom from any master is possible. This journey through feudal Japan and its hero folklore is reminiscent of some of Lloyd Alexander’s works. Ninja fans and others will fall in love with this daring, determined, and silent warrior.
Nopperabo
A nopperabo reveals its true nature at the appropriately dramatic moment.
Not a terribly threatening demon, but certainly disconcerting. The nopperabo often disguises itself very successfully as a normal human being. Your friends, colleagues, even husband or wife might well be a nopperabo in hiding. But at a well-timed moment (these bakemono have a keen sense of the dramatic), a nopperabo will wipe all of the features off its face, presenting a blank and empty countenance to the viewer (and later, presumably, laughing itself silly over the reaction it gets).
Read MoreSometimes in the Grocery Store
Almost exactly four ounces. But I went with a lime in the end.
When you’re a writer of children’s books, sometimes it happens that you go to the grocery store and start weighing various pieces of fruit. You do this because you are searching for one that weighs between four and five ounces, which happens to be the weight of an adult pygmy marmoset.
You need to know the weight of an adult pygmy marmoset because there is one in your book, Quick, Little Monkey. And you’re going to a library to do a book presentation, and you want to give the children something they can actually hold so they can really get how tiny these primates are.
So you weigh all the fruit, and you take a picture because this is kind of funny and maybe you’ll write about it in your blog. And you discover that a lime is precisely the weight that you need. And that’s about when you notice the couple next to you eying you and edging discreetly away.
You consider explaining that you are photographing and weighing fruit because you’re looking for something that is the same weight as an adult pygmy marmoset, but you decide that won’t help.
So you go and pay for your lime. And you get some chocolate too. Because.
#writingisweird
Read MorePlanning an Author Visit?
Islandport Press (who published my vampire novel, Mercy) has some great tips and suggestions if you’re a teacher or librarian hoping to bring an author or illustrator to your school or library.
Read MoreMokumoku Ren
It’s said that the way to get rid of mokumoku ren is to patch up the holes in the shoji screen. Apparently they are a supernatural commentary on poor housekeeping.
A worn-out shoji, or rice paper, screen with eyes that watch you wherever you go. Not the scariest Japanese demon I’ve encountered, but one of my favorites. There’s just something in the intersection between cute and spooky.
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Pygmy Marmosets Go To War
A killer stalks the treetops of the amazon….pygmy marmosets (like the heroine of Quick, Little Monkey!) may seem like mere fluffy cuteness, but they’re relentless in search of a meal. Don’t mess with the pygmy!
Read MoreSarah 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