Author of over 400 Books for Children and Adults
So there I was, walking around the halls of the International Reading Assn conference, and I stopped at the small but elegant display of Barefoot Books. I was immediately struck by their distinctive style. One in particular was The Barefoot Book of Opera Stories.
So many people wrote to me asking that I write a book for boys to pair with my collection Not One Damsel in Distress: Folk Tales for Strong Young Women, that I decided to try it.
I worked on this book for years. Beginning with a short story called, The Sword and the Stone, published in my collection MERLIN’S BOOKE, I noodled away at it (that’s a technical term!) a little bit each year. Finally I sent five chapters to my editor and
Lovely adaptation of the book done for Showtime, starring Kirsten Dunst as Hannah. See the book page for information on the book.
I first heard the story of wicked King Edward Longshanks putting the captured Scottish Countess of Buchan in a cage through a folksong. Then I found out that Longshanks had not only put her in a cage, but Robert the Bruce’s sister and twelve year old daughter as well.
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
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
I hadn’t planned to write a third book of the Dales, after Sister Light and White Jenna. In fact, I killed off all the main characters in White Jenna so I wouldn’t have to write a trilogy. But there was this nagging question in my
Eight new stories about Robin Hood and company, by such worthies as Nancy Springer, Anna Kirwan, Mary Frances Zambreno. It also includes son Adam Stemple’s first solo short story. My story is called “Our Lady of the
Years ago I read about some millenialist group or another declaring that the world was going to end on a certain date and at a specific time. These news stories pop up every year, and not just when we are heading downhill