"Is technology a tool for living or a distraction from it? In 'Found Sound,' by the novelist Meg Wolitzer and her music and audio producer son, Charlie Panek, it helps people explore the world. In Aida Salazar’s latest verse novel, 'Stream,' it amplifies the disconnect between users and reality." Read my NYTBR review here. Read More at The New York Times Book Review »
Writing
“Because of Winn-Dixie” turns 25
"Published in 2000 and now reissued for its 25th anniversary, the book still feels fresh — a wistful, healing story that’s delightful after all these years." Read More at The New York Times Book Review »
Teachers Learn the Art of Teaching Civics in a Hot-Button Age
"Civic education used to be a consensus issue, so taken for granted it verged on boring [but] civics education fell into neglect over the past two or three decades....Now teachers also must reckon with the current state of public life in the U.S." Utah Valley University's Center for Constitutional Studies, in partnership with the Quill Project at Pembroke College, Oxford, aims to equip K-12 teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to teach civics in the current climate. Read More at EdSurge »
Home Range
Thanks to the editors of South 85 Journal for publishing my essay "Home Range," about a road trip to California I took with my son in the pandemic summer of 2021. Strange and memorable times. Here's an excerpt:
The summer my mother crossed out of our lives, my son and I hit the road. It was 2021, a year of absences, the pandemic eating through routines and plans. My daughter, my oldest child, had left for college and some semblance of dorm life the fall before, though her classes were mostly remote. My son, my youngest, was about to start his senior year of high school.... To let a child move out into the world, you make space for the knowledge that you can’t protect them. Disaster—megafires, insurrections—can overtake anyone, at home or a continent or world away. Planning our westward jaunt, I kept this to myself, trusting that the young tend not to think this way. If they did, they might never leave.Read More at South 85 Journal »
A Garden Writer’s Novel Bears Fruit
"An apple got Adam and Eve thrown out of paradise. In Linda Joan Smith’s glowing debut novel, a peach shows a 13-year-old girl the way in." I escaped the news for a little while and wrote about THE PEACH THIEF, a lovely middle-grade novel set in 1850 in Lancashire, for the New York Times Book Review. Highly recommended. Read More at The New York Times Book Review »
