Ah, the holidays. Family time, favorite foods, haunted hotels. Wait. What? This was my favorite story of the 2017 holiday season, originally posted here on Twitter. It begins with an arduous journey… I have a fun holiday story for you! Drove the family 6+ hours to the Catskills Mountains today — through snow. We were […]
Author Archive
Monday, 31 December 2018
Thursday, 27 December 2018
I am a dog mom. Sam the Schnauzer is my best furry friend. But three years ago, our family decided (with much convincing) that 8-year-old Sam needed a brother. Not a puppy. An older dog. A calm dog to show our very barky, anxious guy the joys of being chilled out. I went to the […]
Thursday, 20 December 2018
Around this time every year, my acupuncturist reminds me that winter is a time for hibernation. It’s okay to huddle by the fire with the family, to be more “in” and less “out” (whether that’s your physical or your energetic being). When snow blankets Maryland, everyone stays in and hunkers down. At my house, we […]
Thursday, 13 December 2018
Welcome, winter wordsmiths! Early birds, thanks for letting me know that Mr. Linky was misbehaving. He’s all fixed and ready for your links. I was at the National Press Club Author Night and Book Fair in Washington, DC last month and had the great good luck to bump into an old friend, Jona Colson. Jona […]
Wednesday, 5 December 2018
I’m posting my Poetry Friday offering early this week. I’ll be traveling on Friday, visiting the niece and nephews mentioned in the poem below. This is my first attempt at a haibun. It has also been forever since I shared a “random conversations” post. I wanted to capture the way an everyday moment (shopping) transformed into […]
Thursday, 29 November 2018
I’ve got a great read-along this week: a work of historical verse to pair with a wonderful new middle grade novel, coming out in February. First up: The verse. A few months ago, Linda Mitchell of the blog A Word Edgewise recommended a fabulous book: Countdown, 2878 Days to the Moon, by Suzanne Slade. I […]
Thursday, 22 November 2018
When I heard poet and sculptor Jay Hall Carpenter perform this poetic monologue a few weeks ago, I knew it was the perfect thing to share on Black Friday. I met Jay, a fellow Maryland poet, at the DiVerse Poetry readings series in Gaithersburg, MD this spring. (Those of you who go to that city’s […]
Friday, 16 November 2018
NCTE attendees, this is where you’ll find me at this weekend’s conference. Stop by and say hello! Coming to “Becoming the Leaders: The Power of Female Protagonists to Empower All Student Voices”? — You’ll find a recommended reading list at the bottom of this post. Have a great conference! Becoming the Leaders: The Power […]
Thursday, 15 November 2018
Hey, friends! I’m heading to the National Council of Teachers of English in Houston today. Will you be there too? My schedule is at the bottom of this post. I thought it would be a fun week for a throwback poem. This one is from the 2013 March Madness Poetry competition, run by Ed DeCaria […]
Thursday, 15 November 2018
A week ago today, we woke up to news of another mass shooting — this time at a California bar where it had been college night. It had only been eleven days since eleven people were shot and killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue. In a rush of emotion, I wrote about my experience seeing a […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
