love/hate: a literacy specialist’s point of view by kathryn starke
“The odd thing about people who have too many books is how they always want more.” I saw this quote on Pinterest this week and it certainly resonated with me as a literacy specialist, author, and avid reader.
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love/hate: connecting with friends by lisa martorelli mancuso
Three of us flew from New York; one of us drove from Connecticut. We were coming together to see and support our friend in Virginia who’s been bravely battling, or as I see it, kicking the @#*% out of, ovarian cancer.
Sure, we’ve kept in touch via Christmas cards, Facebook and email, but except for the two who still work together, most of us hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years. Our connection was that we all met while working in the marketing department at a magazine. Our talents covered all the bases: writing, design, sales & research.
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love/hate: quitting a book by karen costa
Her name was Farrah Paulson (name changed to protect the identity of the guilty) and she skipped to the end of The Witch of Blackbird Pond. We were in the fifth grade at Central Park Elementary School and our teacher, a bibliophile herself, included copious amounts of reading in the curriculum. I tore through Kit Tyler’s story like fire through dry grass. Farrah, on the other hand, proudly announced that she had been bored by it, and had decided to skip to the end in order to write her book report.
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love/hate: a cover story by yona zeldis mcdonough
Let’s just agree to scrap that old adage about not judging a book by its cover; we all judge books by their covers, especially when wading through a sea of them on shelves and tables at our local Barnes & Noble or indie bookstores. Covers instantly relay information about the kind of book and author we’re considering. They beckon to some readers and send others heading for the hills. They whisper, they tease, they cajole, seduce and shout. They are of vital importance and so we ought to just own up to that fact: what’s on the cover is crucial to getting a potential reader to actually pick up your book and look inside. As the author of five novels, 21 books for children and the editor of two essay collections, I know from whence I speak.
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love/hate: traveling with a mystery writer by ellery adams
Ellery Adams’ family gets a little more than they bargain for while on vacation. Ah, the perils of being a mystery writer and a mom.
The term “family vacation” usually calls to mind images of parents and kids at Disney World, the beach, or another appealing location.
We have family vacations like these. But our journeys always include a detour or two. It doesn’t matter if we’re in Orlando, New York City, or Myrtle Beach. Whenever we’re away from home and I start a sentence by saying, “Hey, while we’re here, there’s something I’d like to check out…” my clan knows that things are about to get a little strange.
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