What is JacketFlap

  • JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans.
    Join now (it's free).

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

  • in
    from   

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

Recently Viewed

JacketFlap Sponsors

Spread the word about books.
Put this Widget on your blog!
  • Powered by JacketFlap.com

Are you a book Publisher?
Learn about Widgets now!

Advertise on JacketFlap

MyJacketFlap Blogs

  • Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 7 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Pa, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 13 of 13
1. reflecting on the land that feeds us, in today's Philadelphia Inquirer

We spent a week on a farm being cared for by the earth and those who know it best.

We will never forget that land, our hosts.

I tell that story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.

0 Comments on reflecting on the land that feeds us, in today's Philadelphia Inquirer as of 10/2/2016 9:08:00 AM
Add a Comment
2. Chills, thrills and surprises: ten years of freedom of information in the UK

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act has been in the news again, when the controversial Independent Commission, much to the surprise of many, concluded the Act was ‘generally working well’, had ‘enhanced openness and transparency… there is no evidence that the Act needs to be radically altered’.

The post Chills, thrills and surprises: ten years of freedom of information in the UK appeared first on OUPblog.

0 Comments on Chills, thrills and surprises: ten years of freedom of information in the UK as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
3. Sunday Pasta (on Wednesday Night): With Edwin Garrubbo (and Dave Roberts) at Valley Forge Barn



Several weeks ago, in an act of uncalculated whim, my husband bought two places at the table of Edwin Garrubbo, an Italian pasta master who had agreed to bring his art to the Valley Forge Barn in Wayne, PA. The Barn has become a fixture in our lives. The place where I buy my favorite gifts and meet my friend Kelly for our tradition of non-tea (okay, so, I have the tea and she has the gelato). The place that can be counted on for the unexpected pumpkin wreathe, leather from Australia, lessons in planting, flowers to carry home. Art and plenty of room overhead. Cookbooks I buy and actually cook from.

Last night was the Ed Garrubbo night. As I dressed for the event, straightened my hair, put on real shoes, I had no idea what to expect. Only that I was going to leave my worries behind for a spell and step out among lovers of pasta.

We were at ease from the moment we opened the door and entered in. Some sixteen expectant diners, the Barn staff, Ed, and eventually his wife and children, became our friends for the evening. Among those gathered there were Dave Roberts, the acclaimed ABC weatherman, and his stunning wife Patti. I'd watched Dave report the storms and sun for many years. He had projected grace through the TV lens. That grace wasn't, I can tell you, an act.

And so we watched Ed cook. And we ate three of his pasta dishes. And we learned about Italy, olive oil, proportions of salt, favorite restaurants. We talked about the Pope, ribbons of intention, living here and living elsewhere, Italian Christmas traditions. We finished with gelato.

An evening to remember with gracious hosts and guests. We came home with Ed's cookbook, Sunday Pasta, and a link to his popular cooking blog.

0 Comments on Sunday Pasta (on Wednesday Night): With Edwin Garrubbo (and Dave Roberts) at Valley Forge Barn as of 9/24/2015 8:02:00 AM
Add a Comment
4. taking HANDLING (and memoirs I've loved) to Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, PA

In an hour I'll set out for Bethlehem, PA, where I'll spend the day at Moravian Academy, a high school that has dedicated much of this year to stories of self and memory and that selected Handling the Truth as its all-school read as part of the process.

Moravian also invited students and faculty to read three memoirs I recommended—The Answer to The Riddle is Me (David Stuart MacLean), Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson), and Gabriel (Edward Hirsch).

We'll begin with an all-school assembly and a conversation about non-traditional forms. I'll then travel to two sophomore-level classrooms to workshop emerging student ideas and to talk more deeply about the making of truth.

A day I have anticipated happily for several months now is about to begin.

0 Comments on taking HANDLING (and memoirs I've loved) to Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, PA as of 9/21/2015 8:43:00 AM
Add a Comment
5. what makes a book small?

It's been some time since I wrote that fifth memoir, Ghosts in the Garden—a meditation on the two years I spent walking Chanticleer (in Wayne, PA). I was at a crossroads. Middle aged. Not sure. Pondering my purpose.

Published by New World Library, this slender book, about a well-loved but entirely local garden (every garden is an entirely local garden), went on to be reviewed in papers across the country (I could not have guessed that) and to be translated (this was an even bigger surprise) in South Korea. It sold out of its original modest printing of 5,000 copies and was never reprinted.

Done. Gone. Another Kephartian exercise, by most standards, in the small.

And yet. Every now and then the book returns to my life. This past week it did, in the form of this photograph—a South Korean garden lover who had read the translation in her country (she holds it in her left hand) and come here, to Wayne, PA, to find the garden with her husband.

A book brought a reader across the ocean to a garden.

What makes a book small? What makes a book big? I wish we never had to ask that question. I wish that we'd stop quantifying authors by sales or prizes and take solace in stories about individual readers who allowed a book to prompt a journey.

One book. One reader. One garden. One sunny day. One surprising photograph. Two smiles on two faces.

Thank you, BJ, for sending that smile my way.

0 Comments on what makes a book small? as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
6. In Media, with the Stars (in today's Philadelphia Inquirer)




Two Wednesday evenings ago, I ventured into Media (a town I've lately been rediscovering) to participate in the eighth-season kick-off of the grandness known as Dining Under the Stars(TM). Some 3,000 people were out beneath threatening (but never daunting) skies as more than two dozen restaurants wheeled their delectables into the street. Bob Deane, potter extraordinaire, was his beguiling self. Earth & State had its shine on. Flowers grew between trolley tracks.

The dazzle razzle of that story is here.

0 Comments on In Media, with the Stars (in today's Philadelphia Inquirer) as of 5/17/2015 7:17:00 AM
Add a Comment
7. an ode to Wayne, in today's Inquirer

I moved a lot as a child—and then, at last, settled in.

In this weekend's Philadelphia Inquirer, I'm writing about the place that has been close to my heart ever since that eighth-grade move, the town of Wayne, PA, which has beguiled me, supported me, and, of late, returned old friends to me.

With gratitude to all those fellow Radnorites and shop owners and librarians: this. While this Wayne story and my South Street/Magic Gardens story were written too late to be incorporated into my forthcoming collection of essays and photographs, Love: A Philadelphia Affair, both essays live close to my heart.

Meanwhile, this past week I've been watching intense movies, reading an extraordinary book, talking to the esteemed editor Daniel Menaker, sharing a glass of wine with the great Debbie Levy, and learning from my Class of Spectaculars at Penn. I'll reflect on all that in the Monday edition of tomorrow's blog.

Anyone interested in receiving a free ARC of One Thing Stolen can now enter the giveaway on Goodreads.

0 Comments on an ode to Wayne, in today's Inquirer as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
8. Seeing our book project through, at Epic Litho



We left the house at the 7 AM hour to attend a press check at Epic Litho. Around here, at Fusion Communications, press checks are our Christmas times. They are our Santa Claus. They're what we work for.

The project on the press was a book created to tell the story of the extraordinary "refinery that could" (American Refining Group). Of the man—Harry Halloran, Jr.—who, in buying the once-endangered plant for a dollar (and the promise of considerable other investments), saved the jobs of employees and strengthened the surrounding community. Of the people who were trusted to lead. Of management's great respect for the environment. Of the town itself that has rallied, in recent years, thanks to committed educational, cultural, and health care visionaries.

I had the pleasure of researching and writing this book. My husband took the exquisite photography and designed the book with his trademark care. The company's leadership and administrative team (including Harry, of course) were there at every turn to help us bring the story to life.

To print and bind this cloth-bound project, we turned to an old friend, Jarred Garber, with whom we have worked for many years. Jarred is the senior account manager at Epic Litho in Phoenixville, PA. He and has team have delivered—time and again—stellar projects. They are not just knowledgeable and personable; they work with some of the best equipment around, all in a building, by the way, that once housed a roller skating arena. These people know their stuff. They're trusted by clients ranging from Godiva, Ferrari, and Dansko to Bucknell University to Dunwoody Village to the little communications company that also can, Fusion Communications.

When it's press check time, they open their doors and let the eager writer/designer in.

A post, then, to thank Harry Halloran, Jr. and his entire team. A post to thank Jarred and Epic Litho for taking such great care of us.

0 Comments on Seeing our book project through, at Epic Litho as of 3/6/2014 12:04:00 PM
Add a Comment
9. my happy introduction to West Reading: thank you, Wise Owl Bookstore



Yesterday I learned something new about my own near geography.  If you drive Route 422 all the way out—until it's no longer a highway but a traffic light road, until you cross the Schuylkill River several times, until the road starts to bank and curve, until you reach Penn Avenue—you'll find your way to West Reading, a most-happening place.  They teach ballroom dance in an old theater, serve gourmet meals out on the street, offer tasty cheese at a well-appointed wine bar, sell shoos spelled just like that: shoos.

And in The Wise Owl Bookstore, an independent as adorable as they come, shop owner Kira makes room for special events created by the very special Sue Lange (pictured front and center).  Yesterday was open mike day, and I was there, aligned with other writers and readers, for a memorable evening of stories and talk.  Teresa, my kick-butt combat teacher, stopped by.  A tawny cat slinked beneath chairs.  Stuffed owls hung suspended in time.  And that left elbow in the front row? It belongs to none other than the fabulous A.S. King.  (It's not that my camera neglected King, by the way.  It's that she ducked.)

In times like these—in any times—it is heartening to find a thriving town, an intellectual community, and a young book lover who chose to risk an enterprise that is subtitled "clever books for clever people."  I was proud and happy to temporarily stand among the clever.

2 Comments on my happy introduction to West Reading: thank you, Wise Owl Bookstore, last added: 9/8/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
10. please join me at The Wise Owl Bookstore, West Reading, PA, Tuesday August 21st

It's all right here, in this lovely poster. 

I'll be there.  Teen writers will be there.  The good people at Wise Owl will be there. 

You want to hear something else?  Something full of super loveliness?  Teresa, the World's Greatest Body Combat instructor, thinks she may be there as well.  Teresa doesn't just kick my butt every Saturday morning at 8 AM.  She turns butt kicking and all kinds of other kicking into a party (and then goes off to teach another two hours of crazy fitness for the fit crazies).

Join us?


3 Comments on please join me at The Wise Owl Bookstore, West Reading, PA, Tuesday August 21st, last added: 8/22/2012
Display Comments Add a Comment
11. It's just that it was there

so I took it.

1 Comments on It's just that it was there, last added: 11/24/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
12. Phoenixville, PA

Last night, in search of a way to make the familiar new, we set out for Phoenixville, 25 minutes down the road, a town that was immortalized, perhaps not entirely justly, by Alice Sebold in her controversial second novel, The Almost Moon.

As passers through, we find much to love.

0 Comments on Phoenixville, PA as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
13. GET the SKINNY on my NEW BOOK - "RATTLESNAKE JAM"


THE COUNTDOWN IS ON FOR
Publication of
"Rattlesnake Jam."

My New Picture Book is Wild and Wacky!


*Pa takes kids on a rattlesnake hunt. . .
*Gran fires up the stove for her famous rattlesnake jam. . .
*Pa dreams of rattlesnake pie, and rattlesnake fritters, and. . .
*Will Pa's dreams ever come true ?
*And does Gran's Rattlesnake Jam REALLY cure what ails you?


Told in rhyme,
The illustrations, by Kevin Scott Collier, are as wild and wacky
as Gran and Pa. . . f
its them like a (snake) skin in fact!





Gran, + Pa and the rattlesnakes, have a page
all to themselves.

I mean, I couldn't let all those rattlesnakes loose
on my writing help pages - now could I?

And what if a rattler snuck into my "Musings" file,
before I sent it to The Purple Crayon ? YIKES!!!


NOTE: Reluctant readers, on the other hand, must dive in
for the best results! A reading treat for all BOYS!

WARNING: Wear knee boots at all times when reading
this picture book. . . j
ust in case!

<><><><><><><><>

PUBLICATION DATE:
Pending. Updates soon. . .


(Would love your comments)

0 Comments on GET the SKINNY on my NEW BOOK - "RATTLESNAKE JAM" as of 1/1/1990
Add a Comment