Kirby Larson's Blog, page 103
March 30, 2010
Broken Glass
Scene of the crimeEvery night for the past 25 years, I've set a glass of water on my night table. Last night, was no different. Except, as I reached across to turn off the lamp, I bumped the glass. It must've hit the corner of the table just so because it shattered into hundreds of wickedly gleaming pieces.
On my hands and knees, first picking up the larger bits and then vacuuming, I puzzled: why tonight? I had followed that pattern 365 days in a row for 25 years. What was different this time?...
March 28, 2010
Warning: Brag Alert
Oh my goodness -- I can hardly sit still long enough to type this message! Mary and I just found out tonight that the Two Bobs WON (!!!!!) the Keystone to Reading award. That means that a kajillion (give or take) kids in Pennsylvania read the Bobs, along with a bunch of other amazing books, and decided they liked the Bobs the best. Do you know how harsh/critical/honest kids are??!!
This is the coolest award ever.
Okay, I know that my friend Peg Kehret has won like 197 Young Readers Choice Award...
March 27, 2010
The Magician's Elephant
Here is the secret to writing killer middle grade novels: start your books by giving your main character a tiny bit of money and a shopping list and have them go astray. Cases in point: Because of Winn-Dixie and the book I just finished in tears, The Magician's Elephant.
I am a sucker for fairy tales which is why I also adored Kate DiCamillo's Tale of Desperaux. I was reeled in after the first paragraph of The Magician's Elephant,which had been on my to-read pile for far too long.
This book rem...
March 26, 2010
It's Official!
I've been sworn to secrecy about the book I worked on last fall but now I can shout it from the mountaintops! Scholastic is re-launching the Dear America series and I got to write the kick-off book!
More to come but let me say that it was a huge honor to be part of a roster that includes luminaries like Susan Bartoletti Campbell, Karen Hesse, Lois Lowry and Patricia McKissack.
