During this season of gift-giving, I—like so many other grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends—turn to books as the perfect present for a special child. Nothing gives me more pleasure than knowing that a book I’ve selected might become his or her favorite, destined to be read over and over again. But… Read More
It was June, 1974, and the lupines, I remember, were in bloom. Six months earlier, on the way home from a party near dawn, I’d totaled a white Volkswagen Beetle. Somersaulting through the convertible’s rag-top roof, twenty-three years of life flashed before my eyes; and I didn’t like what I saw. Too late, I thought.… Read More
Dear Jolie, The Publicity Department at Simon & Schuster has forwarded your letter of March, 2016 to me. Thank you so much for writing. I was delighted to hear from you! I am also happy to answer your insightful questions. Regarding your first question, at the story’s end, Tango did not actually find his mother… Read More
Grace C., in second grade, wrote a letter to ask these thoughtful questions: Q: What makes you want to write/what inspires you? I wanted to learn how to write because I have always loved to read. I wanted to discover for myself what combination of talent and craft and imagination authors used to create a… Read More
Early on the morning of Friday, January 29, 2015—a bitterly cold, snowless and windy day in Minneapolis—I sat at my kitchen table and signed multiple copies of my two published novels for middle-grade readers: Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog and The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea. I packed the books in boxes, put the boxes… Read More
As a child, I often felt invisible. Powerless. Small and insignificant. Like a homely, hand-sewn sock monkey named Miss Beatrice, I often smiled on the outside while tears of sadness and confusion soaked the red felt heart tucked inside my body’s soft stuffing. Worrisome dramas of adult life unfolded in front of my veiled eyes… Read More
When I stood in front of the crowd of well-wishers who’d gathered together at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul on August 26th to celebrate the launch of The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, I felt for a few dazed moments as if I’d been suspended inside my own story, on stage in the ballroom of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea,… Read More
It seemed only fair that Sir Rudyard S. Monkey should accompany me to the 43rd Annual Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) summer conference held August 1 – 4 in Los Angeles. In The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea, Throckmorton tells the reader that his cousin, Sir Rudyard, is “considered the smartest in the long… Read More
If an adoring fan hadn’t given indie-rock star Andrew Bird and each of his three band members a hand-sewn sock monkey fashioned in their likenesses, The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea might never have been written. At the time, my son-in-law Martin Dosh, an instrumental electronic hip-hop performer, was touring extensively with Andrew Bird, whose best-selling album… Read More
In an early chapter of The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea: The Story of Annaliese Easterling and Throckmorton, Her Simply Remarkable Sock Monkey, Throckmorton is reunited with his sock monkey cousin, Captain Eugene S. Monkey. Captain Eugene belongs to nine-year-old Annaliese’s older brother Teddy. Throckmorton immediately notices that Captain Eugene’s limbs are badly stained in some places… Read More