Posts Tagged "new jersey"

I do apologize for all of the shameless self promotion, but in case you write or are interested in writing for young people and live anywhere near New Jersey, I wanted to let you know about a great conferences and a great program that I am lucky to be a part of. The New Jersey Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators will be holding their annual conference from June 3 through June 5 in Princeton, NJ. On Friday, June 3 I’ll join fellow young adult authors Keri Mikulski and Ellen Jensen Abbott in presenting an in-depth characterization workshop. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, literary agent Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency will be joining us as well. I’m really happy to be working with all these talented women, and...

I first saw this pair of loons last year, paddling around on the little pond down the road from me. My mother, who has lived here for years claims they are annual visitors. They don’t stay long, just make a short layover of a few days as they fly between points north and points south. For those of you who live in more traditional loon locations, a pair of loons may not be all that exciting, but loons are not a common sight in New Jersey. What’s even more surprising is that these loons have chosen such a tiny, little pond that is literally right next to a major interstate highway. Anyway, that’s why on my dog walk the other day I made sure to bring my pathetic digital camera along, and made a valiant attempt to capture a picture of these loons for...

I saw this interesting looking fruit the other day, and had to use my excellent research skills (honed while working the children’s reference desk where kids often asked questions like the title of that book about that kid who lived in that house and the book cover was red or maybe blue and there was a dog in it) to find out its proper name. Here’s a closer picture with my very professional looking camera shadow in there: For those who are thinking this is some sort of weird mutant fruit that is the product of contaminated New Jersey soil, my research tells me this is a naturally growing fruit. Anyway my original name for this was Green Wrinkly Apple Thing, while my boyfriend came up with the more poetic and more appropriate Brain Apple. Neither one...

A friend of mine alerted me to a book review in this past Sunday’s New York Times of Beth Ann Bauman’s YA novel Rosie and Skate. The novel sounds good, but that’s not why the review was pointed out to me. It’s because it opened with this line: New Jersey is a teenage state: it looks awkward in places, has questionable ethics from time to time and plays perennial underdog to New York. Perhaps this is why it’s home to so much good young adult literature. All along I thought that the reason I was drawn to writing and reading books for teenagers was because I was immature and really just a kid at heart, but perhaps it’s because like Beth Ann, I am a Jersey girl. These days, I am back in the garden state after living in Pennsylvania for...