Got an email from the lovely Sophie Blackall this morning, asking me if I’d heard the news? The New York Public Library brought out its list of 100 Great Children’s Books in 100 Years and guess who’s hob nobbing with greatness??? Uh, huh. Moi and Sophie Blackall! Big Red Lollipop is right up there with the […]

I received an email a few days ago from a lady who’s seriously trying to decide whether to pursue a career in publishing and she asked, “My second question is what gives you the courage? I read a blog in which you were saying that ‘you just have to go for it’ but I’ve spent […]

after a visit to the Indian consulate last Monday! Gee, I’m writing this Sunday night and I’m still not over the experience! I wonder if I’m suffering a form of PTSD–and I mean no disrespect to those who actually have it. I’m just being a bit facetious. I have a bunch of elderly people in […]

My son and I have a constant struggle going on. He keeps trying to get me to watch videos or listen to songs that he likes and I keep getting him to read Watership Down. I think I’m actually more open minded than he is because while I’ve read and experienced a LOT of the […]

I know it must seem self-evident that if you have a public blog and you produce children’s literature that is published, ie. designed to reach the ‘public’, it opens yourself up to the possibility of being studied by academics. Being parsed and analyzed, having symbolism attributed that you had no intention of, stuff like that. […]

doesn’t mean that I’m NOT Canadian!!!! Read a stupid headline in the Toronto Star that really ticked me off! It said that are Canadians who wear religious head gear less ‘Canadian’??? Omigosh! What does a scarf on my head have to do with my ‘Canadian-ness’. Or American-ness, Or British-ness, for that matter??? I guess I’ve […]

I guess it takes rejoining Facebook to realize that I’ve lost four friends over the years–one Muslim, one Jewish and two Christian. How very egalitarian of me! I’m not sure what I did. No, I must be honest. In one of the situations I know exactly what I did! I made the mistake of telling the person […]

It’s the dog days of summer and it’s hard to get enthusiastic about much! Had a long talk with an editor on what’s working and not working with some sample chapters I sent her. It was funny. As I’m talking to her and she’s confirming all of my worst fears about the piece, there’s part […]

I simply love hearing and learning about other artists’ and authors’ creative process! When Christiane contacted me after she’d finished the artwork for my new book King for a Day, I called her up and we talked on the phone and as we were talking I thought, hey, this would make a fantastic blog post or page on my […]

One of the most depressing thing you can do is go to the comments section of any article about something happening in a Muslim country. Now I get that the internet offers a modicum of anonymity that isn’t available in everyday life and that very very few people would actually utter these racist horrible remarks […]