Halloween is the perfect excuse to step into the pages of a favorite book! The good news? Some of the most memorable book-character costumes start with clothes you already have in your closet. Add a few creative accessories, a little imagination, and you’re ready for Halloween. If you love the...
If you know Crosley, the red crocodile from Night Buddies Adventures, you probably know he has very specific ideas about good food. Crosley loves pineapple cheesecake, and he is especially fond of Crusted Crème Fro-Madges, which are yummy frozen yogurt treats made with cream cheese. (Apparently, regular frozen yogurt isn’t...
Night Buddies takes place almost entirely after lights out, so we pay more attention than most people to when it actually gets dark. And right now it’s getting dark fast. October is the month that takes the light. Most of the country loses somewhere around an hour of daylight between...
Sometime in the next few weeks, a child in your back seat is going to point at a tree and ask why it’s orange. You’ve got about four seconds before they lose interest, so here’s what to say. The usual answer is half right You’ve probably heard that all the...
You have it hanging on the fridge, or at the top of a folder, and it wants the same three things every day: title, minutes, parent’s initials. Meanwhile, you notice your child has developed a new habit: reading for a while, then popping their head up and asking, “How many...
Somebody decided a long time ago that when a book pairs a kid with an animal, the kid is the hero and the animal is the sidekick. The kid’s name goes on the cover. The animal gets to be loyal, funny, and along for the ride. More often than not,...
It usually comes out sideways. You suggest a book and get a shrug. You ask about a school reading assignment and get a “I’m just bad at reading.” It’s not angry, not dramatic. It is stated like a fact about the weather. Resist the urge to argue. “No, you’re not”...
At some point in the school year, the backpack becomes its own ecosystem. It sits by the door with a slight lean. It’s noticeably heavier than it was two weeks ago, and it has a strange smell that isn’t quite food but isn’t quite gym shoe either. You’ve asked, and...
Remember the third week of June when bedtime stopped being a time and became a suggestion? Nobody decided this; it just happened, one late sunset and one “just one more episode” at a time. Suddenly the kid who used to be asleep by 8:30 p.m. is now negotiating at 10:45...
If you’ve spent any time with the Night Buddies books, you know Crosley. He is the bright red crocodile who lives under John’s bed, the one who grabs a belt full of gadgets and sneaks out into the Borough after lights-out to chase down whatever needs chasing. Crosely gets the...
You have the list. It came home on a photocopied sheet or landed in your inbox, and it is strangely specific. Not just a folder, but a red folder with prongs and no pockets. Not markers, but a particular count of a particular kind. You walk into the store with...
Every summer, parents worry about the reading slide. Will their children lose ground on math? Will the writing get rusty? Will September arrive to find everything they learned last year quietly leaking out of their heads? It is a real thing, and it is the slide everybody already knows to...
Some of the most memorable friendships in children’s literature aren’t between two people, but between a child and an extraordinary animal. These loyal companions offer courage when life feels uncertain, spark unforgettable adventures, and remind young readers that friendship often comes in the most unexpected forms. In Night Buddies, Crosley...
The registration form is sitting open on your laptop. Fall soccer, dance, band, or the swim team, they have done for three years running. You mention it at dinner, expecting a shrug and a yes, and instead your child puts down their fork and says they do not want to...
Somewhere around nine o’clock, you are going to regret this. The tent will be crooked. Someone will need to come inside to use the bathroom twice. A kid who has been begging for this all week will announce that the ground is too hard, the bugs are too loud, and...
Few things rattle a parent quite like catching their kid in a lie. Not a little one either, but a look-you-in-the-eye, completely made-up lie about something you already know the truth about. In that moment, it is hard not to spiral and think, if they can lie to me this...