There are times when the announcement of a book brings out the mendicant within me. Friends in the profession tell me no one can sponge like I can when in the exhibition hall or at the booth. My response is that I sponge after my own heart. A heart for books and story and a […]

The next few posts will probably come out quick and in need of a lot of editing later, but I have to capture each day as they happen or something will get lost. Day One: Stepping out onto the Ground Transportation lot, I immediately run into long-time friend and NCTE: Boston Roommate, Patrick A. Allen […]

I am a veteran of The United States Navy. I’ve been one for twenty-one years now. And with each passing Veteran’s Day I am reminded of the four years of service to my country that may or may not look like the traditional path or pursuit of one’s patriotism. A medic, my role within the […]

Of the more challenging prompts to which one might attend is the obituary. This writing task comes with mentor texts listed daily. In alphabetical order. The form is set but few of us have ever consulted them. We writers would wring our hands and exclaim, “I don’t know where to start or how to begin. […]

I remember riding in the back of the car with my family past the small airport outside of Harbor Springs, Michigan. I was mesmerized by the shapes created by the wind socks that would blow in the breeze providing a sense of velocity and wind direction. To my young eyes, these were animated fingers activitated […]

I created The Crane Award two years ago in order to celebrate a book that came in under the radar, had a quiet kind of feel about it, and elevated–or lifted (as a crane)–the station and the spirit of a reader. The award comes with very little fanfare. No monetary prize. Just an opportunity to […]

A recent New York Times article suggests and introduces four titles among a “wave of 9/11 novels seeking audience with young readers.” In preparation for the article that ran on Saturday, 10 September, two teachers were interviewed by the newspaper regarding the two different classroom in which two of the titles referenced had already found audience. These […]

I was a father for just over a year on September 11th, 2001. Rushing home from an undergraduate English course, I found my wife and my mother-in-law transfixed by what they were seeing on the television. In real time, in slow motion, and in a web crawl, we were all witness to the events that […]

Of course, everyone’s eyes today are on the selection of Mike Pence as Donald Trump’s running mate. One of my favorite memes in the past twenty-four hours is the two-panel depiction of everyone Googling “Mike Pence” while, in the second panel, Hoosier are shown celebrating. When I hear “Pence,” I immediately think of the 90’s […]

A recent post by an author/illustrator/friend got me thinking about social media users who share content with a simple tag, “This.” The post was somewhat critical of those who edit their remarks to this short, simple statement. I may have done this a time or two myself as I find a piece of text (in […]