Looking for materials to enhance using The Last Panther in the classroom or book club? This is the place to find and share those. Although my first goal is always to write an entertaining story, it’s my hope that The Last Panther will help students creating vivid, personal connections to several areas of interest for 4th-7th grades, including: —Understanding […]
Do Something Good (and get a Protector Pendant!)
October 19, 2016 by · 4 Comments
Ever wish you were living in a fantasy book, fighting monsters and questing to save the world? (I sometimes do). Fortunately, there are plenty of real causes in need of heroes. BECOME A PROTECTOR! Being a protector is easier than you might think. You can: —Sell lemonade or homemade crafts to raise money to protect endangered species […]
Create a Comic Book in 10 (simple?) Steps
September 10, 2015 by · 1 Comment
Comics and other graphic texts are one of the fastest growing areas of publishing, and they seem to be getting stronger each year. If you haven’t considered getting graphic, you might want to. This post is for creators, especially writers, who are interested in graphic story-telling. Even if your art skills are limited to crooked, one-armed stick figures, […]
The One Thing I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Creating Characters
April 24, 2013 by · 5 Comments
There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there about characters. Do you make them quirky and unusual (like Amelia Bedelia), or more ordinary (like Charlie Brown)? Do you make them heroic (someone readers might aspire to be, like Atticus Finch), or deeply flawed (like FH in Jesus’s Son)? Do you make them raw and human […]
Writing Advice Part II (my top six other best pieces of advice)
April 19, 2013 by · 9 Comments
The single best piece of writing advice I ever got was to write the book you most want to read (more on that here). After that, here are six other bits of writing advice that have made the biggest difference for me (and that I need to keep reminding myself of to keep on going). […]
Cool News: The Last Panther is a Colorado Book Award Finalist and a Local to Local Pick
March 19, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
I just got two bits of good news that I wanted to share with you The first bit: The Last Panther was chosen to be a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards! The book’s in some fine company, with other amazing books by Newbery Medal winning authors like Avi. Many thanks to the 40 […]
This Month’s Protector Pendant Winner!
December 9, 2017 by · 2 Comments
Meet Peter the Snake Protector! Peter saves snakes by catching unwanted garter snakes and relocating them. Not only that, he educates others about the importance of snakes in the ecosystem, and how helpful snakes are. I included Peter’s letter and some pictures he sent me below. For protecting animals, and for helping the environment, he’s […]
A Unique Gift: How to get a signed, personalized book
October 28, 2017 by · 2 Comments
Want to give kids and friends a unique gift they’ll never forget? Get them a personalized, signed book! Here’s how: Order The Last Panther or any of my other books from Amazon, Indiebound, Barnes and Noble, or other booksellers, and have it sent to you. (Or better yet, support your local bookstore by buying the […]
