Blog Archive

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

Living in a village in ancient Norway, twelve-year-old Odd has had his share of bad luck: his father died in an expedition to Scotland; a tree fell on him and shattered his leg, leaving him lame; his mother married a man who has no use for him; and to top it off, winter is not …read more…

The Savage by David Almond

Blue Baker is just like any other kid who recently lost his father. Except that Blue is writing a story about a savage who lives in Burgess Woods, a savage who doesn’t speak but only communicates through grunts and growls. Blue’s savage terrorizes people like Hopper, who lives to terrorize people like Blue. Despite what …read more…

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

If you are lucky, a book will come into your life at precisely the moment that you need it. I had been missing the Harry Potter books for some time, and while I didn’t want to read a clone, ripoff, or wannabe of that series (of which there are many), I did want to read …read more…

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher

In this engaging trilogy of novellas, Chris Crutcher has taken a handful of characters from his earlier works—Sarah Byrnes, Angus Bethune, John Simet, Matt Miller, and Montana West—and imagined them “living outside of their original times and in some cases outside of their original settings” as he describes in his introduction (n. pag.). If you’ve …read more…

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway by Robert Cormier

Sixteen-year-old Barney Snow is the only patient in his hospital ward who isn’t dying. Unlike the other kids however, most of his memory is gone; he has only vague recollections of a car accident, and the knowledge that he is at the hospital as a service to others. At the heart of this story is …read more…

By the River by Steven Herrick

The year is 1962, and fourteen-year-old Harry Hodby lives in a small town in Australia. His mother died when he was seven, his friend (and potential girlfriend) Linda was swept away in a flood, and he, along with his father and younger brother Keith, are left to sort out their hardscrabble lives, coping with poverty, …read more…

Some Notes on my Writing Process

For some time now, I have wanted to do a blog post about my writing process for the reviews I do here, in an attempt to demystify my writing process for my students. I want to be very clear about one important thing up front: writing for this blog is very different that some of …read more…

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing

At first glance, I thought that this book would be great for anyone who is currently writing fiction, or even creative nonfiction, without any problem. These are the writers who have ideas, and they can get them on paper, although the writing that results is humdrum and lackluster, just lying on the page without arousing …read more…

Latino Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests edited by Sara E. Martínez

I find books like this one a bit maddening, first because they are expensive (all books for librarians are expensive), and second, because they are out of date almost as soon as they are in print. As an introduction to Latino literature for someone who is unfamiliar with it, it can be a good resource. …read more…

Xtranormal – another digital storytelling tool

I found out about this one from Dr. Gwen Tarbox, who used it to make some videos for the ENGL 2000 course offered at Western Michigan University. Unfortunately, you can only use the most basic settings for free—the others cost what they call Xtranormal Points, but once you’ve purchased an asset you can use it …read more…