September 18, 2013

Subscribe to SLJ

Staying Power: The Magic of Susan Cooper

Cover_SLJ1206TOC

I’m on my way to visit Susan Cooper on an unseasonably warm day in mid-February. As my car cruises along, about 45 minutes south of Boston, low tide reveals miles of untouched marshland. I drive across a short causeway, creep down an unpaved lane, and suddenly I’m staring at the exquisite home that Cooper built a couple of years ago. My first thought is that I’ve stumbled upon the Grey House, the setting of Cooper’s first children’s book, Over Sea, Under Stone. With its soaring cathedral ceilings and wraparound windows that frame the wetlands, the space is filled with warmth and light even on a winter’s day. It seems like the perfect place for the 77-year-old writer to conjure up some more of her magic.

SLJ Talks to Mark Ray, School Librarian and Slayer of Information Ignorance

It’s not often that a school librarian shakes hands with the president, talks policy with government officials, and hobnobs with our nation’s top lawmakers—but that’s what Mark Ray, a 20-year veteran of Washington’s Vancouver School District, did as 2011 State Teacher of the Year.

SLJ Talks to AASL President-Elect Gail Dickinson

We spoke to the former school librarian about her plans for when she takes office, her advice to colleagues, and why it’s a riveting time for the profession.

The Debut—Kristen Simmons’s ‘Article 5′

SLJTeen caught up with first-time YA author Kristen Simmons to talk to her about Article 5.