News

IMPORTANT: All events are contingent upon the lifting of the current shelter-in-place guidelines. I will update this page as the dates get closer.   Odin: Hero Dog of the Fires come out this June, and we have some events lined up to celebrate! Sat, June 20, 3 pm: Launch party at Copperfield’s Books in Santa… Read more »

Thanks to Lisa Amstutz for hosting me on her blog!

ACK!!! This is my 5th picture book contract—and I am so excited about it!!! CLAUDE tells the surprising back story of the famous white alligator of SF’s Cal Academy. It’s about skin color, rejection, and feeling different, as well as tolerance, inclusion, and finding your place. It’s also going to be ADORABLY illustrated by the… Read more »

Come join the launch party for my second picture book, TO LIVE ON AN ISLAND, about the joys, and challenges, of growing up on one of the San Juan Islands, off Washington State. Details below.

I’m such a slacker! I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted here. Well, a quick update. Last week I was finally able to share the following book deal news. This story is close to home. We know so many people affected by the 2017 Northern California fires (and in fact, we drove… Read more »

My husband and I went to chilly Wisconsin this past weekend. On the lovely Northland College campus in Ashland, on Lake Superior, Journey received an award and I gave a keynote address and presented a breakout session. Northland generously bestowed this wonderful award on Journey, and I was so very honored to be able to… Read more »

I had a great time at this event in Seattle last weekend. My book was a finalist and I got a second shiny gold sticker to put on it! How thrilling! There were many wonderful local authors to chat with, including Liz Wong, author of Quackers, whom I met at the Bank Street awards last… Read more »

I was so excited to see the PW blurb today about my new series.

I’m still pinching myself! I just signed a contract with Calkins Creek, an American history imprint of Boyds Mill Press, for my nonfiction picture book The Pig War: Or How a Porcine Tragedy Taught Two Great Nations to Share (tentative title). My editor will be the wonderful Carolyn Yoder. This book will tell the story… Read more »

It’s been so much fun to be back in New York! I’m here for the Bank Street College Cook Prize and Irma Black Award ceremony. The event took place this morning at their campus on 112th Street, and it was a blast! All the speeches were heartwarming, the keynote by Steven Savage was hilarious, and… Read more »