Beth Kephart's Blog, page 309

Heart in the El Paso Times

My many thanks today go out to Ramon Renteria of the El Paso Times, who wrote this lovely piece about my journey to Juarez and The Heart is Not a Size. My thanks, too, to Amy Robinson, of Pasos de Fe, the organization that prepared a temporary home for us across the border in the summer of 2005.

The Problem Parent: Julie Just on the adults in young adult fiction

Julie Just has a terrific essay in this weekend's New York Times Book Review—a piece that offers not just a history of sorts of young adult literature, but a stimulating rumination on the role that parents play in stories written for younger readers. "...in the classic stories, from 'Cinderella' to 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' the hero's parents are more likely to be absent or dead than cruel or incompetent," Just writes. "In fact, it's the removal of the adult's protective presence that kic...

Lilian Natel and The River Midnight

It took months (I don't know why) for Lilian Natel's The River Midnight to make its way from a warehouse to my home. I took this remarkable novel with me, on a brief weekend respite—read it on the shaded front porch of a bed and breakfast, then finished it here, this morning.

I'd been so eager to read Lilian's book because I'm a huge fan of her blog (subtitled "Curious and Amazed"), which is rich with ideas, opinions, research, and stunning found photography. The first time I visited Lilian's...

The Princess and the Egg Hunt

Happy Easter

opening lines from a new work in progress

It was exactly the same. It was worse than before.

"Tara, Honey. We'll be late."

Honey. It was her mother's all-purpose, love-is-a-democracy word. The one-size-fits-all-er that slipstreamed in through every conversation, near and small. "Honey," Tara's mother would say to the steakhouse waitress. "I like my A-1 spicy." "Honeys," she'd say to the neighborhood twins. "Keep your sweet pup leashed." Honey was everybody's name, even Davie's whenever Davie...

Nothing Happened and Then it Did: The Jake Silverstein Debut

I have a neighbor, whom I shall call Jane, who makes living in this neck of my woods a treasure. I'll say she teaches English as a second language at a community college. I'll say she and I watch horses trot up the street in May. I'll say that she's a mother loved fiercely by her daughters—daughters you'd greatly admire, if you knew them.

Jane also has a son-in-law named Jake Silverstein—or at least she says she does. You might have heard of him—a contributing editor at Harper's magazine, ...

a garden moment

(me, smiling back at all of you)
(photo taken this morning at Chanticleer, by my friend Magda)

As the sun rises on this day...

... I am grateful to Amy Robinson, for an email exchange she had with Ramon Renteria of El Paso Times, and I am grateful to Ramon himself, for last evening's conversation. I am grateful to Janet and her work with children with special needs in Anapra. I am grateful to Anna, for the crystal amethyst, the Amazonia, and words of calm; to my brother and his beautiful family, for the begonias I will on this day plant; to Mario, for something very special from Paris; to my sister and her kids (m...

Alane Salierno Mason and Words without Borders

I have often spoken of Alane Salierno Mason here on this blog—as my first editor (she edited three of my memoirs), as a friend, and as the editor of authors, mostly recently Brad Watson, whose books often feature on my blog. I'll soon be sharing with you another Alane Mason book, this one by debut author Jake Silverstein, but before I get to that, I'd love for you to watch this video, in which you'll see New Yorkers talking about recent books read or not read, as well as Alane herself, who i...