By teaching your child to read, you are sharing wisdom that — until the last one hundred years or so — was imparted to only a chosen few. Not so long ago, reading was reserved for the elite, the revered and the powerful. And if you’re using a phonics-based method,...

Writing for kids is easy. The words are short, the books are short—the readers are usually pretty short. They’ve got to be less discerning than adults, right? If your book is about wizards, mean girls or vampires, you might have a shot at going viral with a mediocre...

So you’re ready to write that novel. It’s been festering in the back of your mind for weeks—or years—and something about this moment is making you say “It’s time.” Short of a professor who threatens you with an ‘F’ if you don’t turn it in, how do you make sure you get...

Let's say your main character is a kid who rode on your school bus when you were eight years old. Or, your main character is you when you were eight years old. But now you’re all grown up and this guy or gal is only in your head. Good character development gets these...

A lot of people have one inside of them. A novel, I mean. They think about it, they tell people about it—they might even sit down and write a few pages. But why do so few actually finish writing a novel? For starters, it’s a big job. And when you have a lot of other...

Perhaps there was an element of ‘luck’ to the record-breaking popularity of the bespectacled, black-haired boy dreamed up by children’s book author J.K. Rowling. After all, a lot of events had to fall magically in place before one small publisher finally decided to...

If you are interested in teaching your child to read, I'm pleased to announce a new resource for you: Can I Teach My Child to Read? A Parent's Guide. This free guide discusses the joys of working with your child at home, why phonics matters and tips on how to make it...

You may be aware that some educators are at odds over which approach is more effective—phonics based reading or sight-reading (memorizing whole words at a time). Schools seem to focus more on one or the other, and many parents are left to wonder if their child didn’t...

If you are a fiction writer, chances are, you spend a lot of time in solitary confinement. When everybody else is at the mall on a lazy Saturday afternoon, you’re hunched over your computer, typing. When your spouse is running a “Mad Men” marathon on Netflix, you’re...

Celebrities who make it big in one way (say, making movies) are often gifted writers, artists, vocalists, and instrumentalists. Not fair, I know. But that’s just how it is. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that famous people have written some terrific books for...