While Robert Norris was growing up, his mother, Kay, set an example for him as an independent thinker. At a time when divorce was uncommon and looked down on, she got divorced. She stood up to the priest who refused her communion after she remarried.  She worked hard throughout her life and wasn’t prone to complaining about whatever came her way. Robert grew up to join the Air Force during the Vietnam War, then found he couldn’t support the military. As a conscientious objector, he was tried and spent time in a military prison. Afterward, he wandered through different cultures and countr ..read more

Fascism was gaining ground in Greece in the 1930s, but young Melia and her sister Myrto are more concerned about visiting their summer home by the seaside, where they run free with friends and don’t have to worry about school lessons. The politics of the day intrude anyway, and they soon learn that their beloved older cousin Nico is wanted by the government for his role in resisting the change from democracy. Melia misses the stories Nico tells of the taxidermied wildcat at their home, and the adventures he goes on. Soon the wildcat becomes a conduit for notes between Melia and her cousin, no ..read more

Sunny Parker does her best to live up to her name, bringing the sunshine into the lives of her dad and her best friends. But she sometimes finds it hard to find the bright spots in the goings on in her community. Like when protests erupt over converting an old school into affordable housing or when she learns that one of the residents in her own apartment complex suffers from domestic abuse. Her dad says not to get involved, to keep her head down and fly under the radar to keep negative attention off their own affordable housing complex. But Sunny can’t just sit by and let misconceptions colo ..read more

Today I’m featuring a guest post by Robert Norris, author of a memoir that is also a tribute to his mother called, The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise: Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me. Here he talks about how she fostered in him a love of stories. Read on to the end to find out more about the author and his work. My Mother Imparted to Me a Love of Stories Mom died January 14th, 2021, just four days short of her 95th birthday. In the ensuing weeks, I spent a lot of time reading through the voluminous amount of correspondence we’d maintained for decades. She was a prolific letter w ..read more

Lola Meets the Bees by Anna McQuinn is a cute picture book that teaches little ones about honeybees. It starts when Lola visits her mom’s friend Zora, who keeps bees on the rooftop of her home in the city. She sees bees flitting from flower to flower, spreading pollen as they go. Lola learns that bees don’t sting unless you threaten their babies, which are inside the hive. She wears a special suit to keep her safe when looking inside. Zora teaches Lola about how the hive boxes are put together and where the bees store honey. Lola gets to taste some of the yummy honey Zora has collected. When ..read more

Today I’m featuring a guest post by author Ruth Behar, whose books feature complicated mother-daughter relationships. Read on at the end of her post for more info about the author and her books. Relationships between mothers and daughters are always at the heart of my stories. In my first middle-grade novel, Lucky Broken Girl, which is based on my own life, Ruthie, an immigrant girl from Cuba, is suddenly bedridden because of a severe leg injury that takes place in 1966 in a car accident. Ruthie must depend on her beautiful young mother, who gives up her nights out, pretty outfits, and high h ..read more

Curious children want to know: What happens to things that live in the ocean when its time to sleep? A picture book by Steven J. Simmons and Clifford R. Simmons satisfies that curiosity in their book, Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep At Night? The book covers some widely recognized sea life, like stingrays, which burrow in sand and keep their bodies flat and hidden. And clownfish, like Nemo and his dad, that rest in anemones, which are poison to other fish. Also, whales nap near the surface, where they can take in air from their blowholes. I have to admit I didn’t know where ocean creatures sle ..read more

If you’re looking for a sweet picture book with tender drawings that capture the joy of life beginning, look no further than You Are a Little Seed. Written and illustrated by Sook-Hee Choi, the book shows different types of seeds and the flowers they grow into. Some seeds are light and fluffy and blow in the wind, like those of a dandelion. Some are ugly and wrinkled, but they turn into sweet-smelling lilacs. Some, like lotus flowers, release their seeds from pods. The book ends by says, “Yes, you are a seed, too — with a flower in your heart.” The illustrations are colorful and soothing and ..read more

All About Color, a picture book by Elizabeth Rusch and Elizabeth Goss, opens with a surprise fact: Color doesn’t exist. We only see blue skies and green grass and yellow flowers because light sends messages to our brain. The illustrations are also unexpected, as they show people with green or purple skin and things in the world around us in unusual tones. The choices compel readers to look at the world around them with new eyes. But the book also focuses on what color means when we do see it. Team uniforms to help you identify who is on your side. Stop lights that regulate traffic. Red on a s ..read more

Theo Tatterly has a special gift. He can see ghosts and help them peacefully transition to the next world. He comes from a long line of people with magical abilities and both the living and the dead reside in the ancestral home in South Carolina. Theo, as the last male in the line, is the main target of an evil force who wants to oust them from that home. If he wants to save it, he will have to stay clear-headed and call on his cousins for help. The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles has an interesting premise. A 12-year-old boy finding his talents and working to save his family. T ..read more