Oh, Baltimore Any of you know that great Nina Simone song, Oh, Baltimore, http://www.lyricsdepot.com/nina-simone/baltimore.html; here’s an MP3 file, http://www.music-free-download.net/mp3/Nina-Simone/Download_Baltimore–_mp3_981522.html. Well, courtesy of Deb Taylor, http://www.standardcatalogs.com/committee_member.htm I am going down to Baltimore this week to talk with teenagers about race. Some of you with long memories may wonder about this association — since Deb and I were [...]

Oh, Baltimore Any of you know that great Nina Simone song, Oh, Baltimore, http://www.lyricsdepot.com/nina-simone/baltimore.html; here’s an MP3 file, http://www.music-free-download.net/mp3/Nina-Simone/Download_Baltimore–_mp3_981522.html. Well, courtesy of Deb Taylor, http://www.standardcatalogs.com/committee_member.htm I am going down to Baltimore this week to talk with teenagers about race. Some of you with long memories may wonder about this association — since Deb and I were [...]

Another School Visit, Another Story The other day I got to meet with all of the fifth graders at a local school. They’d seen some of my books, so I was half talking about the subjects in them, and half giving the "how I research and write my books" talk. There is always a sweet moment [...]

Another School Visit, Another Story The other day I got to meet with all of the fifth graders at a local school. They’d seen some of my books, so I was half talking about the subjects in them, and half giving the "how I research and write my books" talk. There is always a sweet moment [...]

I’m Puzzled My older son is in second grade in a good local public school. He is getting strong Language Arts training — he can identify parts of speech with far more ease than I can — and a fine Chicago Everyday Math program. But his classroom has no — and I mean zero — social [...]

I’m Puzzled My older son is in second grade in a good local public school. He is getting strong Language Arts training — he can identify parts of speech with far more ease than I can — and a fine Chicago Everyday Math program. But his classroom has no — and I mean zero — social [...]

Another Interactive Piece As I mentioned in my last blog, I was on a panel with Ann Bausum, whose new book is about the turn-of-the-20th-century muckrakers. She explained she grew up during Watergate, with her parents being riveted by each day’s new revelation in the Washington Post. Well we all — and our students — [...]

Another Interactive Piece As I mentioned in my last blog, I was on a panel with Ann Bausum, whose new book is about the turn-of-the-20th-century muckrakers. She explained she grew up during Watergate, with her parents being riveted by each day’s new revelation in the Washington Post. Well we all — and our students — [...]

Changing On the Fly First off, thanks to all of you for your nice, encouraging, posts. At AASL, an audience member asked the panel Jim Murphy http://www.jimmurphybooks.com/, Ann Bausum http://www.annbausum.com/, Kathy Krull http://www.kathleenkrull.com/ and me http://www.marcaronson.com/ why we write for young people, not adults. I said, "because you are all so welcoming, so it is your fault." [...]

Changing On the Fly First off, thanks to all of you for your nice, encouraging, posts. At AASL, an audience member asked the panel Jim Murphy http://www.jimmurphybooks.com/, Ann Bausum http://www.annbausum.com/, Kathy Krull http://www.kathleenkrull.com/ and me http://www.marcaronson.com/ why we write for young people, not adults. I said, "because you are all so welcoming, so it is your fault." [...]