I spoke at the 8th National Conference of African American Librarians on August 8, 2013. The topic was Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit. [Click here to read the YALSA Hub post about the conference] At one point we had a discussion on the role of non-fiction. One librarian […]
Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit – NCAAL 2013 Read More »
I am now the author of two YA novels, one of which was a YALSA 2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list, and was on the School Library Journal list of best books for youth in detention in 2011. Being noted by on those two lists made my proud, because one of my
ALA 2013 – Attracting Reluctant Readers Read More »
I\’M PRESENTING!! This Saturday at 1:00 pm, I will be making a presentation to the American Library Association in Chicago on Attracting Reluctant Male Readers. Normally I don\’t start gathering butterflies in my stomach until the day before a presentation. But then I made the mistake of looking and saw that almost five hundred people
Attracting Reluctant Male Readers @ ALA 2013 Read More »
The Pirate Tree, a group of Children\’s and YA bloggers, selected Being God to review for Valentine\’s Day. The reviewer, J. L. Powers, admits the book is \”an unlikely choice for Valentine’s Day but a good one nonetheless.\” The review says: I would hate to see this complex novel reduced to any of the “issues”
I presented a workshop at the 2012 Illinois Reading Council in Springfield on March 15, to a room full of teachers and librarians, all interested in the subject of attracting reluctant teen boy readers. I feel i\’ve come full circle from 2008 when I attended a discussion about the same subject at the AWP (Association
Illinois Reading Council Read More »
Last Tuesday my local library, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, sponsored me as their guest at the Illinois Library Association conference in Rosemont Illinois. While there, one of my readers came up to me and told me he was almost finished with my book and he loved it. Part of my goal in writing PULL
Men like YA books too Read More »
I just returned to Chicago from the American Library Association meeting in beautiful–and incredibly hot–New Orleans. When I arrived I was greeted by the news that this morning, at the OK RWA breakfast during the Romance Writers of America contest in New York City, PULL was awarded first place in the National Reader\’s Choice Awards. I wish I
PULL Wins the National Reader\’s Choice Award!! Read More »
Gender identity may be more than just a state of mind, but there are differences in the way the average boy and the average girl think and view the world. I stress average on purpose. Of course there is overlap. We\’re humans, not guinea pigs, and we are all unique, all fall somewhere on a
And Girls are not Boys Read More »
When you’re a female writer who ignored her younger brother and never had a son and you want to write a book that will appeal to male readers, research takes on a whole new meaning. Or maybe that was an advantage. The teenage females and males had to be realistic and they had to be
Boys are not just girls continued Read More »