Dear Kids and All Readers, As I write this on a sunny, warm Monday afternoon, I think back thirty years ago to Friday, November 11, 1994, one of my darkest, scariest days. Fortunately, I am here to share about it. But I almost wasn’t! Right about now–3:30 p.m.–back in 1994, I was halfway through a…
Dear Kids and All Readers, I grew up enjoying the inimitable actor Vincent Price being sinister in such horror film classics as House of Wax (1953), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959), House of Usher (1960), and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) to name a few. Price fans might also remember his…
Dear Readers, Most people familiar with the Modern English alphabet would likely say that it contains twenty-six letters, beginning with A and ending with Z. And they would be correct. But did you know that until the early 1800s, there was a twenty-seventh letter in that alphabet? The “letter” followed Z. Can you guess what…
Hello, Kids, Educators, and Families– Are you happy that school’s back in session once again? The answer probably depends on who you are! Kids might be sad that summer is over but thrilled to be back with their friends, meeting their new teachers for a fresh crack at learning in the next higher grade. Parents…
Hello, Kids and All Readers, I have some family news to share! I became a grandmother for the fourth time on July 12. I have two grandchildren, a granddog, and now the newest addition–a grandcat! Agnes is an all-black cat with enormous amber-orange eyes. Perfect for Halloween, right? (But will she grow into them???) My…
Dear Kids, Teachers, and All Readers, Happy Summer! The season when children and educators get giddy, and parents wonder what to do with the kids for three months. However you plan to spend this summer, I hope it’s one of your best. I get nostalgic this time of year as I reflect back on wonderful…
Happy Fourth Birthday, Blackbird Writers! Hello, Dear Readers! This is an invitation to join the celebration: My fellow “four and twenty” Birds and I are celebrating four years flying together to “bring mystery and mayhem to the world,” one book at a time. Our flock of supportive mystery writers took flight in May 2020, thanks…
Dear Readers, We’ve probably all seen movies or read stories where someone, somehow sneaked a large file into a jail cell to help a prisoner have at the metal bars to enable an escape. I’ve been a “prisoner” in a kind of “jail” for a few years now–the jail of clutter! And the kind of…
Dear Kids and All Readers, Who hasn’t sought those delicious chocolate-covered, candy-speckled, and rainbow-dyed eggs left by the E.B. in pretty baskets and springtime flowerbeds? For now, however, please try not to think about chocolate as we shift to the nonedible, nondenominational types of Easter eggs—those scattered in literature and movies. The formal name for…
Hello, Kids and All Readers, Seven days a week, I take a three-mile walk to enhance and extend my healthspan and lifespan. The five different routes I mapped out years ago take me over much of my historical neighborhood of North Park in San Diego, California, USA. North Park is where I grew up and still live, so I have…
