Berenstain Bears...

Jan Berenstain, of the famous Berenstain Bear books, passed away at age 88 this week.

Countless numbers of children grew up loving the wonderful books created by by Jan and her husband, Stan. Together, they wrote and illustrated some 300 titles. What an amazing contribution to the world of children's books!

To find out more about Jan, Stan and their books, please go here.

New Novel

Author, J.K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame has penned a new novel for adults, apparently. I wonder if this book will sweep the adult publishing world the way that her mightily successful wizard-boy series for kids did? Only time will tell...

Read more about the new book here.

Cheers!

Subway Serendipity

Every morning, I read the online daily edition of Publisher's Weekly. Here's a gem I found today: Want to Get Published? Take the F Train.

The story combines a lot of elements I love: writers, YA novels, serendipity and New York.

Hmm... reading this story made me think it's time to book a trip to NYC — my favourite city in the world.

Cheers!

Author, Chris McMahen

Canadian Teacher Magazine has a feature interview this month with children's author, Chris McMahen. It is a delightful read about someone who is both a children's author and a full-time teacher librarian.

I especially enjoyed the article because Chris is a former colleague of mine. For years, our careers overlapped. We both started out as young teachers in a school district, high in the mountains, close to the BC Alberta border. Then we both (unplanned and unbeknownst to us) found ourselves accepting teaching jobs in rural Armstrong, BC, where we taught for many years. Chris is still teaching there today. Later, we both became writers.

I don't see Chris often, but I am always pleased to read his books and hear about his teaching career. Maybe you'd like to find about him, too. Here's the article.

Cheers!

Sad News...

I am so sorry to hear that two wonderful science magazines for kids have been closed down. YES and KNOW will no longer be around to give children a top-knotch reading and learning experience. My writing pals, Jude Isabella and Adrienne Mason, were long-time editors of these magazines and knew how to deliver inspiring content for their young readers.

I am sad to see the magazines go, and I wish the best to the editors. Thank you for such great work!

Rules for Writers

I just came across Henry Miller's Commandments for Writers. Excellent advice for those of us who apply pencil to paper (or fingers to keyboard) every day. For your viewing pleasure, here they are.

Cheers!