It took about eight months to track down the lullaby rhymes for this picture book. Some I got from books, others from my husband’s graduate students and international colleagues. I wanted the rhymes in
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
Bonnie Verberg, who had been my editor at Harcourt and then again when she moved to Scholastic, had a baby boy. When he was a year old she called and said, “My little boy hates going to bed
Not One Damsel in Distress
Move over, Xena! This collection of thirteen retold folk tales about strong young women come from every corner of the globe. From Bradamante, the fierce medieval knight from “The Song of Roland,” to Li Chi
Color Me a Rhyme
I was helping Jason sort and file his slides at his house in Colorado one visit, and realized what astonishing shots he had of single colors in nature–yellow flowers, brown wrinkled sand, punky pink thistles, etc.
Stuart Quartet: Queen’s Own Fool
This novel about Mary Queen of Scots is told from the point of view of one of her three female jesters. (Yes–there were three, though we know little about them.) Scottish writer Bob Harris and I worked
Where Have the Unicorns Gone?
I love unicorns. But the overly saccharine, My-Little-Pony unicorns that seem to be everywhere don’t appeal to me at all. I like my unicorns with muscle and tone. Ruth Sanderson unicorns! I began this book with
Harvest Home
There is an old English hymn called “Harvest Home” which I love, and autumn–with its gathering-in–is my favorite time of year. So when I heard the line repeating in my head, “Bringing the harvest home…” I knew there was a poem to be written.
Mirror, Mirror
Heidi and I located forty mother/daughter folk tales from around the world, organized them, and then held long conversations about the stories. The stories range from well-known “Snow White” and “Cinderella” to lesser known tales from Portugal, Spain, Sudan,
Off We Go!
A bouncy rhyme for the littlest book lovers, with onomatopoeic words, that take a little mouse, duck, frog, mole, snake, spider, and duck off to their grandmothers’ houses. I began this book when
History Mystery: The Mary Celeste
I had the idea for a series of true unsolved mysteries from history in picture book form because of my daughter Heidi’s interest in criminal justice. (She’s been both a probation officer and a private detective.) We began with