Author of over 400 Books for Children and Adults
Illustrated by Tomie dePaola Aladdin (February 7, 2023) ISBN 10: 153448857X ISBN 13: 978-1534488571 The Giants’ Farm began when my husband and I bought an old farm and fourteen acres in Hatfield, MA some 50 years ago. I wanted to call it Fe-Fi-Fo Farm. My husband and our three children were mortified. He suggested Phoenix …
I always called this “Romeo and Juliet in a Shaker community.” An historical novel, with romantic elements where no romances were supposed to flourish, this book takes the reader back to a New England sect in the 1850s. The book–one of my own personal favorites–is under option for the movies.
An original fairy tale about a child whose sorceress stepmother leaves her out in the woods to die. Jane Dyer wanted to illustrate an original fairy tale and I had the first three pages of this one done, without a plot in sight. The editor Maria Modugno put it under contract and hoped I’d find a story in
The publication of this book, nine years after my first book had appeared, established my reputation in the children’s literature field. These five original fairy tales–“The Girl Who Cried Flowers,” “Dawn Strider,” “The Weaver of Tomorrow,” “The Lad Who Stared Everyone Down,” and “Silent
An original fairy tale, this story is about a girl whose overprotective father tries to keep her from all things wicked, unhappy, trying, or real. At last the wind blows in over the garden wall and woos her, taking her into the ever-changing world. A fifth grader at the Smith College Campus School pointed
An original fairy tale about a good woman, the devil, a bet between the angels and gargoyles on a French cathedral, and an ugly little boy. The climax takes place on Christmas eve. I began the story after a visit to Paris with my husband, where we spent the weekend with one of my editors who was
A novelty Touch-and-Feel rhymed book. This is a reworking of BEDTIME FOR BUNNY with new illustrations because the editor wanted to give it a second chance. Oh–and I redid the rhyme a bit, too. I love second chances at books. It doesn’t often happen.
Almost ten years after my father died, I wrote this rhymed picture book about a boy on the day of his grandfather’s funeral. Why rhyme? I have absolutely no idea, but it was one of those books that simply poured out. The initial writing took several days and then I was weeks worrying it over.
When my first grandchild, Maddison Jane Piatt, was born, I hurried across many states in a plane and then a taxi and made it with two hours to spare. I had been there at my daughter’s house the week before, helping her and her partner set up the baby’s room.
An anthology of folk tales in which the heroes are all older or elderly. My contribution to the AARP set. (Of which I am a member in good standing.) I was surprised that there had never been any such volume before. A long