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
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.
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.
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
Moonball
Both my boys played Little League and were fine players. But my heart always went out to the whiffers, the kids who just couldn’t play very well. Everyone–even their own parents–seemed to be down on them. So this
Merlin and the Dragons (book)
This book began first as a script for a short animated film. Only five years later did it finally become a book. Part of my Arthurian obsession (I have written a number of books about King Arthur, though this is the only
Tea with an Old Dragon
My old college, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, contacted me and asked if I would write a picture book about the founder for the Sophia Smith Centennial, I explained how long picture books actually take, which
Welcome to the Ice House
This book is about the Arctic in occasional rhyme, part of a series of four Welcome To … books. It takes a lot of research to write a poem about a place. I have been to Alaska three times but I’ve never seen a polar bear.
Raising Yoder’s Barn
A long time ago, my editor at Little Brown sent me someone’s art work asking me to write a book about barns for that artist. I couldn’t. But one day I thought about the barn-raising scene in the movie “Witness” and