Stressed? Read a Novel!

It’s Mental Illness Awareness Week. Do you know where your novel is? I wrote in my chapter on Mental Illness in Better with Books about how cognitive neuropsychologists at the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce stresslevels by almost 70 percent. Participants in the study demonstrated reduced muscle tension and slower heart rate

A New Season of Diverse Children’s/YA Literature!

Last Sunday, I moderated a panel at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Fall Tradeshow. Titled “What’s Next: Children’s/YA Books to Celebrate Diversity and Empathy,” it included Fall and Spring Season previews of new releases that had me longing to drop my microphone and sprint to Powell’s Books. I wanted to share with you some of the

Graphic Novels and Nonfiction Totally Rock!

A middle-school teacher told me recently that he doesn’t allow graphic novels in his classroom. He explained that they’re fine for kids to read at home, but he doesn’t consider them “literature.” I beg to differ. Have you read Jen Wang’s gorgeously-illustrated graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker? It’s an absolutely captivating modern-day fairytale

Gay Dads: It’s about Damned Time!

I grew up in the 1980s with two mothers. (I had a dad and stepmother, too, but that’s a different story.) In vain, I searched for middle-grade novels that reflected families like mine. But they simply didn’t exist. Today, middle school readers have Holly Goldberg Sloan’s and Meg Wolitzer’s absolutely charming To Night Owl from