Recently, I’ve been working on a series of books involving Magic E, an owlish wizard who knows a little word trickery. With a wave of his wand and a flick of his wrist, he changes the vowels sounds of words like pin, tub, can, and cap by adding an E to the end of them.… Continue reading Magic E
Tag: works in progress
Orange You Glad
With kids underfoot, jokes are aplenty in our household, whether we’re making up songs or sneaking up on each other or retelling a funny one we heard earlier in the day. We share a lot of laughter. Admittedly, I tell a few stinkers—not fart jokes, but jokes that bomb. I get my share of eye… Continue reading Orange You Glad
Boo Who?
I have been exercising my funny bone this fall with graphic novel adaptations of knock-knock jokes for my Jokes and Jingles series. The fun part about writing these children’s books?—the kids and I tell these jokes (and some weird variations of them) around the house. Here’s is a sketch from Boo Hoo? I turned… Continue reading Boo Who?
Chocolate Chimpanzees
Here is a little bit of silliness, a sketch from my song Chocolate Chimpanzees. It is part of a series of tunes based on letter blends, and this one is chock full of chuckles. Two chimps join a chicken on a quest for a treasure chest. They meet a chili eating chinchilla, a checkers-playing chihuahua,… Continue reading Chocolate Chimpanzees
Knock Knock Moo!
Ever since I wrote my first graphic novel, Matthew Henson, Arctic Explorer, I have been fascinated with the format. Sure, some of that has to do with me reading Spider-Man and Batman comics as a youngster. And part of it is that I wish I was better a better artist because I’ve always wanted to… Continue reading Knock Knock Moo!
What I’m Reading
This year, the boy is in middle school, and not just any middle school. He was accepted to this cool charter school where all the learning is project based. Students take on more responsibility and feel more invested in their education because they develop projects based on their interests in order to meet necessary curriculum… Continue reading What I’m Reading
Math Saves the Day!
Only once before, for the book War in Afghanistan, have I co-written with someone. That project was easy, as I worked with a long-time friend and we were able to divide up the writing by chapters. All went smoothly. I was a little more worried, though, about a recent batch of songs I had pitched.… Continue reading Math Saves the Day!
National Geographic Kids—Everything Predators
Okay, now in the process of wrapping up my Everything Predators book. It’s been grueling, as for every hour of writing I need to put in a few hours of research to back me up. At home, the family is getting annoyed that I’m continually watching documentaries on animals. Secret Lives of Predators, by National… Continue reading National Geographic Kids—Everything Predators
The Science of Hockey
In grad school, at Minnesota State University, Mankato, friends and I would hit Mavericks’ hockey games whenever we got the chance. As students, we got in free, which was about all we could afford at that time in our careers. While I can’t claim to be a huge hockey fan, the games were a blast,… Continue reading The Science of Hockey
Jack and the Beanstalk
I was recently sent proofs of my fractured fairy tale, choose your path adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk. Now I’ve been a fan of this tale since way back before I wrote a graphic novel about Jack’s adventures. It was a childhood favorite of mine growing up. So it’s a story I know and… Continue reading Jack and the Beanstalk