Advent calendars are more popular than ever! You can find calendars that count the days to Christmas with socks, chocolates, pet treats, and Lego figures. But you can start one of the best advent countdown traditions at home with a story advent calendar. First, decide how many days you want to count down to Christmas. […]
Since this week is both the Ides of March and St. Patrick’s Day, we’re taking a break from books and reading to have a fun look at lucky superstitions. Superstitions are light-hearted or trivial beliefs that we hold regardless of evidence. Examples of lucky superstitions include four-leaf clovers, knocking on wood, throwing salt over your […]
2020 is an election year, which means it is the perfect time to talk to your kids about the fundamentals of democracy! While you don’t need to get your kids involved in the nitty gritty of politics, it’s never too early to start learning the basics of how our democracy works and why voting is […]
Has your child ever asked you to tell them a story before bed, but they’re tired of hearing from the same books you read every week? It might just be time to get creative! Whether you’ve ever invented a story or not, these tips will help you become a storytelling pro. […]
I’ve written a few times about the ways in which social media has an effect—both positive and negative—on children today, and how we as parents can best help them navigate through it. But the one thing I think we can’t separate from social media is the rise of the problem of comparison in our youth. […]
One of the most common problems among new writers is when they say this: “I can only write when [insert arbitrary rule here].” Sometimes they think they can only write in the early morning, sometimes only when their children are out of the house, sometimes only when they feel inspired—but every single one of these […]
So one day it hits you—that perfect idea, the one you know is your key to becoming a children’s book author. You do a little character developing, you download Scrivener, you’re ready to take that idea and turn it into a children’s book, right? Wrong. Almost every person believes they have a book inside them, […]
So you’ve decided you want to tell a story to your child every night before they go to bed, but you’ve read every book in your house over and over, and the only thing you can think of on your own is, “Once upon a time . . .” But as someone who created a […]
Even before I got into writing the Night Buddies books I was a fan of Roald Dahl—author of books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach. He is known as one of the 20th century’s best children’s authors, and I can certainly say that as a reader his books […]
1. Find a partner to adventure with. If you asked either John or Crosley to go on a Program alone, they’d call you nuts. It’s important to have someone to go on your adventures with, not to mention loads more fun! Team up with your brother or sister, your best friend, or you can even […]
Crosley picked out John to be his Night Buddy, for starters. There must have been a lot of reasons, but the only one Crosley mentions is middle names. Crosley doesn’t have one, and neither does John, so they have this in common. Crosley thinks it makes you a little sharper, too. And hey, we know […]
It goes without saying that you need to be very familiar with any dialect to capture it on paper. You need to be able to speak it yourself and “hear it inside your head” while writing it down. You need some innate talent, a natural “good ear,” in the same way that good musicians are […]