Monthly Archives: March 2011

An Immigrant’s story: Review of Mali Under the Night Sky by Youme Landowne

So I’ve just discovered a new favorite Independent Press: Cinco Puntos Press. They generously sent me a few books that they thought might be of interest to folks reading this blog, and I plan to feature them over the next … Continue reading

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Lyn Miller-Lachmann reviews Words In the Dust

Here‘s a link to Lyn Miller-Lachman’s review of Trent Reedy‘s wonderful new novel Words in the Dust. Trent was a soldier in Afghanistan where he met a young girl living with a cleft palate. This story is his imagining of … Continue reading

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Self-harm is the Symptom, Not the Disease

Deliberate Self-Harm is an umbrella term that encompasses any non-accidental activity that a person engages in that, well, harms that person physically. Cutting is the most talked about self-harm behavior. But the term also includes head-banging, pulling out hair, biting, … Continue reading

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“It Gets Better”–the Book

The “It Gets Better” project–a nation-wide video project started in the wake of several gay teen suicides–is now a book entitled, It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living. With 100 stories, culled from the over … Continue reading

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When She Was Bad . . . Review of Chime by Franny Billingsley

Not since The Great Gilly Hopkins have I met a character as nicely nasty and wholly lovable as Briony Larkin from Franny Billingsley‘s new novel Chime. Summary: In the early 20th century in Swampsea, 17-year-old Briony, who can see the … Continue reading

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Lambda Literary Award Finalists

The finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards, given for books with high literary merit to self-identified LGBTQ authors writing on LGBTQ issues, can be found here. This years finalists in the Children’s/YA book category are: Christian, the Hugging Lion, by … Continue reading

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Looking for God in the Ruins: Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

So my first review for this blog is Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr which I read about a year and a half ago and reviewed for BookBrowse.com. I’ve been thinking about this book again following Anne’s comment the other day … Continue reading

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Interview at Waging Peace

Lyn Miller-Lachmann interviewed me about this blog and my “efforts to raise awareness of and find solutions for child abuse and domestic violence” for the TimesUnion blog Waging Peace. You can read the interview here.

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Why bother writing for children? Who Cares?

So I promised last week to write about homeless youth, and I have not done so. I’m sorry. But two events this past week have left me heart-broken and seriously questioning why I bother doing this work. Why keep this … Continue reading

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Something Like Hope

For Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s interview of first-time author Shawn Goodman about his new book Something Like Hope click here. The book is about his experience working in New York Juvenile detention centers, and it looks like it’s worth checking out. I’ll report back after I’ve … Continue reading

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