• On Writing

    Reading Out Loud

    This photo was taken in 2013 and it still amazes me how much my daughter has grown in that time. She is still an avid reader–both of my children are–and we still share our joy of reading. Nowadays, we discuss books we’ve read and recommend them to one another. I love this interaction, I love when they finish a book…

  • Children and Reading,  On Writing

    Audio books

    There is more than one way to skin a cat…or so I’ve been told. Similarly (or maybe not) encouraging your children to develop a lifelong love of reading involves a variety of approaches and audio books can be an important addition to your bag of tricks.

  • On Writing

    Do You Need an Editor?

    This morning I read a book review in which the reviewer’s writing was so careless and error-ridden that I questioned her credibility in critiquing someone else’s work. I stopped reading by the third paragraph and thought, she really should have hired an editor.

  • Books and Movies for Adults

    Review – Homegoing: A Novel

    Homecoming revolves around two sisters born in Ghana around 1760 under circumstances so different, that they are barely aware of each other’s existence. As one character says of separated sisters, “they are like a woman and her reflection, doomed to stay on opposite sides of the pond.”

  • Children's Books and Movies

    Review-Akata Witch

    Meet twelve year old Sunny, the albino daughter of Nigerian immigrants who have moved back to Nigeria to raise their three children. She is already finding it difficult to fit in, a situation which becomes more complicated when she finds out that she is a part of a group of humans with special juju (black magic) powers and a dubious…

  • Children's Books and Movies

    All Over Again by A-dziko Simba Gegele

    All Over Again is a fun, well-crafted story of one school year in the life of a twelve year old boy living in the Caribbean. This book, written by Jamaican author A-dziko Simba Gegele, was the winner of the 2014 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature. I would recommend for readers 9-13 years old.

  • On Writing,  This and that

    Taking Caribbean Stories to the Stars!

    I’m really looking forward to attending WORD! – A Caribbean Book Fest in NYC this weekend. I just read an article by Kellie Magnus, my co-panelist and I loved the quote “Caribbean stories deserve a place in the multi-billion dollar children’s book market.” Join us at CUNY this weekend.

  • Heard on the Backseat

    Slave to Fashion

    So my youngest gets in the car after school and takes off MY shoes with a sigh. I look at her feet and the shoes have left an imprint on her feet. Me:       Do the shoes hurt your feet? Youngest:       Yes, but they look so GOOD! Clearly that sort of passion for fashion skips a…

  • This and that

    Equal pay for equal work

    When you work for yourself, especially if you are providing a service in which the raw materials of your craft are primarily intellectual, you will inevitably (read often) be asked to work for free. In fact, you are lucky if the person even acknowledges that they should expect to pay for the services. This article contains very professional ways to…