Laurie Halse Anderson

This is how to start the week off with a smile: CHAINS has been nominated to the longlist of the Carnegie Medal!  What is the Carnegie Medal, you ask? It is the top award for children's novels in England, sort of a combination of the Newbery and the National Book Awards....

Do we teach about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in American schools? Should we?Remember, remember the fifth of November,The gunpowder treason and plot,I know of no reasonWhy the gunpowder treasonShould ever be forgot.And there is the great speech from V Is For Vendetta...

Time has mysteriously condensed again. I have been writing like, well, like a possessed crazy woman who lives in a forest. Tomorrow I hop a plane south so I can speak at the American Association of School Librarians in Charlotte, NC....

November is the month for words - the best one ever. That's why NaNoWriMo takes place starting today. From their website:"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1...

Thanks to everyone who voted for Zoe in the last couple of weeks, and to everyone who put up with me blathering on about voting for Zoe in the last couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure she didn't make the Top 5. We'll know for sure in January...

I'm waiting for my shuttle to the airport, so this is short and simple.(I'll respond to several of YOUR responses to yesterday's health care debacle rant tomorrow.) You only have until 11:59pm Central Time tonght to vote!! 1. Go to the voting page.  2....

I'm pretty sure that tomorrow is the last day you can vote to put Zoe in a Cheerios box (until 11:59pm Central Time). It's not looking so good for our girl, but the whole thing has been a lot of fun...

I am going to try and steal as much writing time as I can today, so this will be short and sweet.Want to hang out with me? ...

THE TERRIBLE NEWS - UPDATE ON THE ZOE VOTE:For the first time since the contest began, Zoe has been kicked out of the top five! How did this happen?Micheal Ian Black. He is a comedian, and actor, a Twitterer with over one million followers, and the author of The Purple Kangaroo. He...

I have a couple of tidbits I've been wanting to share with you, so get your pens and paper ready.1. Congratulations to Professor Annette Gordon-Reed for winning prize after exquisite prize for her incredible, important, must-be-read-by-all-Americans book, The Hemingses of Monticello...

Thank you all so very much for the lovely birthday wishes...

You know what we sing on this day in the Forest, dear friends....::cues Ringo on drums, John on the guitar::DA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA--NA--NA!shooka-shooka-shookaDA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA--NA--NA!shooka-shooka-shookaI SAY IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!Yep. LOTS of candles on this one; too many to count. G...

Thank you, Queen Louise for doing such a great job filling in yesterday...