Growing up in tornado country, you spend a lot of time cleaning up after storms. You spend at least one weekend every summer shoveling muck out of a basement, cleaning up downed branches or picking up debris. And then serving a mission for my church in hurricane alley... Well, let's just say I saw my fair share of floods, over-turned trailers, ( Read more... )

It's been such a beautiful week that I decided to head to the Mall on my lunch break to look for some signs of spring in DC. And within minutes I found all the sure indicators that winter is finally over.

Read more here.

Yes, there was an earthquake in Virginia today. Yes, I'm fine. No, there wasn't any damage. I was walking back from lunch and did a duck-and-cover because I thought there had been a gas explosion in the building next to me. Police came out of the station across the street and asked me if I had felt anything outside. Otherwise, life returned to ( Read more... )

The dark YA fiction debate hit NPR this morning with YA author Maureen Johnson and WSJ contributor Meghan Cox Gurdon, and you can listen to the interview here. I'm so close to this issue that it's difficult to address it with any kind of objectivity, but here's my attempt at a reasonable conclusion ( Read more... )

1. Events: All the talk about ALA2011 has gotten me pumped for book events. I won't be in NO this weekend (the association I work for has our big convention in San Antonio), but it got me thinking about the National Book Festival, which isn't until the end of September, but they're already announcing authors who will be participating. Sherman Alexie, ( Read more... )

First it was the New York Times, and now the Wall Street Journal has decided to take a passive-aggressive approach to book banning. Because that's what their stance is perpetuating--the need to "protect" our children from this kind of writing.

Yes, there are many "issue" books in YA lit these days that deal with sex, drugs, mental health, death, ( Read more... )

For almost a month now, an adult picture book has been a bestseller on Amazon, and there's still another month before its official release. While totally irreverent and not at all appropriate for children, it's the irony of Go the F**k to Sleep that has so many people talking. But really, this controversial book really isn't as controversial, ( Read more... )

Most of the people who read this blog fall into one of two categories. The first are those who know me and want to find out what's going on in my life. The second are those who love books and come here looking for book recommendations. For the people in the first group, you might not think this post is about my life, but I assure you I have spent ( Read more... )

The DCPD is offering a $25,000 reward for information concerning Prince Okorie's shooting. While it's too late to prevent Prince's death and nothing will ever change that, it's not too late to help figure out why this happened and maybe, just maybe, we can prevent something like this from happening again.

"A 16-year-old was fatally shot in the head Tuesday afternoon on a street corner in the Petworth area of Northwest Washington, D.C. police said.

"Police responded for the sounds of gunshots at 8th Street and Delafield Place about 4:30 p.m., and found Prince Okorie, of Northwest Washington, suffering from gunshot wounds, said Officer Hugh Carew, a ( Read more... )