A conversation with . . . Jennifer?
Find me over at my colleague Denise Schipani’s blog today. The conversation may be with me but you can imagine who we’re talking about!
Find me over at my colleague Denise Schipani’s blog today. The conversation may be with me but you can imagine who we’re talking about!
Every other Thursday evening, I bring Jessica to the library so we can listen to the storyteller. Miss Linda is a gentle woman of late middle age, with the quietly expressive voice of an experienced kindergarten teacher. Though all of the other children who come to listen are much younger, Jessica doesn’t seem to notice or…
Jessica and I are reading the Lord of the Rings series. A couple of months ago, looking for something to do on a weekend, I asked if she would like to watch the movies. “I do not know,” she said. “Okay,” I said. “How about we watch the first one and if you don’t like…
Years ago, Jessica had a big plastic castle that she got for Christmas, and a number of princess figures that fit inside. One day she came to me and she said, “I let all of the princesses out of the castle and now they are free!” She was beyond excited; she was thrilled. And…
You know, I try to give y’all helpful advice for living your creative life. I carefully craft action steps, things to do to help you in your creative work. And? And I get these gentle notes: “Well, it’s fine. Really. Really. It’s just . . . they’re not Jessica stories.” Do you realize how much…
It is the time of year when spiders crawl all over my bookshelves. Black spiders, purple ones, pink ones, some with googly eyes, and some with “on” switches that make them glow. “On Halloween, I will dress up like a vampire to hand out candy,” Jessica says, adjusting a madly glittering spider so that it’s…
Last fall, Jessica stopped being very interested in reading. Although she’s a slow reader and behind her grade level, this was the first time her reading had started to seem like a struggle to her, and the first time her learning difficulties were winning. The problem, like most problems, was multifaceted. But mostly she just…