Shopping for Kids’ Books (ages 9 to 12) at your Home or Library?
It’s not easy to find books for kids ages 9 to 12. You can flip through picture books fairly easily, but books for elementary school or primary grades take longer to read. Here’s a little help for you–I suggest my new favorite book for this age group every month in my Readers List and once a year, I put all the recommendations together in a convenient book menu for you. Take it to the library or bookstore and amaze the kids with wonderful books to read!
The Book Echoes podcast interviewed me about TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS
Connie B. Dowell of the Authoring Onward podcast (formerly called BookEchoes) interviewed me about Trouble With Parsnips It’s about a quiet inventor princess and is the first book in the Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tale series for ages 9 to 12. For more about this zany fairy tale and our heroine’s public speaking problems, listen to […]
Veggie of the Week Challenge: French Lentils meet Indian Spices
The Veggie Challenge started because writing can be TOO absorbing. If the family writer is also the family cook, mutiny threatens! The goal is to keep the family healthy while I draft the second Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tale. A brief word from our sponsor: Trouble With Parsnips is part of a special Buy 3 Get […]
Veggie of the Week Challenge: 3 Ways to Fight a Dinner-Isn’t-Ready-Crisis
I’ve missed a few posts, so I thought I’d write about three panicky dinners and the tricks I used to get something half-way healthy with vegetables on the table in a hurry. The good news: my family has noticed that I’m remembering to cook for them every once in a while. Even though I’m working […]
Another Veggie of the Week Challenge: Romanesco to the Rescue!
After years of studying chronic disease epidemiology, I’m convinced that vegetables are hugely important (And delicious.) But. . . .when I’m writing a story, I forget how much I like healthy food. Soooooooo. . . . Each week, I’ve been celebrating a vegetable in a Half-way Healthy supper. ***************************************************** The Veggie of the Week Challenge […]
Veggie of the Week Challenge: The Colors of Italy Pizza
Red pepper, zucchini pizza. © Jan Decher, 2018. The summer the first Seven Kingdoms Fairy tale came out, my brand-new middle grade book, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, took up the vegetable portion of my brain (I heard that) so dinner was often shoot-your-own-sandwich. We interrupt our veggie challenge for a moment to bring you a word […]
Veggie of the Week: Tendersweet Cabbage + Sausage Stir Fry
Germany is the land of cabbage! Here’s a half-way healthy stir fry to warm up the cold, rainy evenings. © Jan Decher. The Veggie of the Week Challenge In short, cooking went on the back, back burner, while I published my first book, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, so dinner was unimaginative for a few months. By […]
The Veggie of the Week Challenge is Back: Ruby Chard
***************************************************** The Veggie of the Week Challenge ***************************************************** And we’re back! In case you missed last week, this’ll catch you up: My family endured, uh, . . . minimalist cooking during the publishing of my first book, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS. But they need vitamins and writers can’t run on chocolate forever. Hence the Challenge: —No […]
“Veggie of the Week Challenge” in honor of the upcoming holidays and my new children’s book
My first book for 9-12 year olds, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, made for some extremely casual (be kind, people!) meals at my house. Winter is coming, as they say, and the attention span for cooking vegetables is getting shorter. The garden is closing down and the holiday shopping list is ramping up! So, I have a […]
Want to read a brand-new children’s book? Spoiler: It’s mine. :)
My first children’s book is coming out today in paperback!!! And ebook!! and Kindle!! YAY! *dances from living room to kitchen and back* WARNING: There are root vegetables involved. And princesses. And a dessert sluice with cream puffs. But the nameless princess of Cochem has it, um, under control. Because I’m shy and retiring, you […]
Tour a German publisher: Kiepenheuer and Witsch in Cologne
An office with a view–Cologne Cathedral is right there! Last week, our local library visited a local publisher . . . It’s a famous old German publisher: Kiepenheuer & Witsch. Their offices look right out onto the Cologne Cathedral. Their location next to the main Cologne rail station make it easy for their internationally renowned […]
Becoming an artist at The Winged Pen
I really enjoyed this book! The gutsy girl artist, Emelin, is appealing. Her mysterious friend Wolf is also intriguing. The story is easy-peasy accessible and the everyday details of England in the middle ages are effortlessly accurate. Try it, you’ll like it. You can read the interview with author, Jackie Randall, here. Save Save Save […]