This isn't the song I thought I was going to write, but it's the song that wanted to be written. A gift to family and friends. Please feel free to listen and...

The morning I realized I was going to quit teaching was not a morning of difficult students. There was no run-in with a grouchy building pri

“This is one of the main reasons I believe that adolescence can be so fraught for so many. Just as we start to catch the barest glimpses of our true selves a...

I often tell students that, once I have completed a story or a poetry collection and have rather miraculously gotten it onto the desk of a publisher who’s in...

Maybe books should come with disclaimers. Go, Dog. Go! WARNING: Readers may become unnecessarily critical of other people’s hats. Harold and the Purple Crayo...

8 = Number of picture book rejection letters and non-replies in 2018 An embarrassingly low number! I vow to get a lot more writing done in 2019, to do a much...

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and for many, that means friends, family, and…pie! Lots and lots of pie! I’m a big fan of pie. Fruit pies especially. Peach pies es...

I had the pleasure of providing a number of outdoor community concerts this past summer, sometimes playing back-to-back shows with other children's artists. ...

I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth repeating. I love clearly-defined poem requests. I love requests that, when you open the front door, are waiting wit...

There are a handful of questions that turn up over and over again from students when I’m visiting schools. How many books have you written? Who’s your favori...

I’m here in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala - my first visit to this wonderful, noisy, disparate, and warmly welcoming country. San Pedro La Laguna is an acro...

There’s a gem of an anecdote tucked away in Michael Feinstein’s book Nice Work If You Can Get It. George Gershwin had accidentally left a satchel of his musi...

There’s a 13th century tile fragment displayed on the wall of St. Edward’s Church in the Cotswold village of Stow-on-the-Wold, England. It’s shaped a little ...

Each year I tell myself this is the summer I cut way back on props and complications and create an engaging, high-participation library program that sets up ...

Kim and I are home from a wonderful 15 days in England. A handful of those days were spent in the southern countryside where we were able to explore a number...

This past weekend, between programs in South Dakota/Iowa and Kentucky, I had the pleasure of staying with my good buddy Mark just outside of Nashville. Mark ...

In the Country Music Hall of Fame are two yellowed pages torn carelessly from a comb-bound journal. You might struggle to find them. They’re certainly less f...

I keep thinking I’m supposed to write a blog about the new book. But, to be honest, I have no idea what there is to say. "It’s a new book! Woohoo!" Yup, that...

I have commitment issues. No, not in person-to-people relationship stuff. I'm feeling pretty good about that part of my life. But as I reached for an evening...