Jessica recently posed the question, "What would you buy if you had $50 to spend on books?" Only books. Heavenly! When I buy books, I tend to buy ones that I have already read. The way I see it, libraries are for researching titles and bookstores are for purchasing copies of outstanding works. I find […]
This past weekend, we attended the Tucson Festival of Books at the University of Arizona. As the fourth largest book festival in the United States, the event draws over 120,000 people and raised over $900,000 for literacy organizations in the first four years. With over 200 exhibitors and 300 presentations by local and national authors, […]
The past few months, I've been squeezing in lots of time with books. Far from being an inactive ambition, reading is about living and thinking fully. As Will Schwalbe wrote, "reading is not the opposite of doing; it is the opposite of dying." As you will see, I tend to alternate between fiction and non-fiction […]
Now that we are homeschooling, people ask us what curriculum we are using. The true answer is: picture books. Oh, the history, the science, the mathematics, and the vocabulary we learn from picture books! With poetry and illustrious illustrations, we learn about Albert Einstein and Wilma Rudloph, the Holocaust and homesteading, leukemia and loneliness, phonics […]
Conferences usually have a way of making me feel small. The people are exuberant and glamorous, passing out business cards with carefully planned wardrobes for every day. And there I am. Wild curly hair, green eyes, a touch of red lipstick, holding a baby. Wearing cowboy boots and a smile. Re:Write was different. I left, […]
This September, I'll be sleeping at a resort - in San Diego, California. I'll be listening to this terrific line-up of speakers. Let's play a game - How many of these faces do you recognize? Hint: You'll find George Barna, Ken Blanchard, and the author of The Shack in this mix. There's also a woman who […]