Just Looking At Pictures Used To Be

I Was Born Full Grown In The Middle Of A Hurricane And An Earthquake On 10 September 1954, 12.52 P.m. When I Found Out That I Had Missed Lunch, I Gave Such A Shout That The Earth Stopped And Spun Backwards Two Days. That's Why I Celebrate My Birthday On 8 September.

I Taught Elementary School And Painted Apartments For Ten Years. Now I Write Full-time And Never Have To Change A Thing I Write. Every Book Comes To Me In A Flash Of Inspiration And Takes Me About Two Seconds To Finish. The Longer Books, Like The Time Warp Trio Novels, Take A Little Longer To Write - More Like Four Seconds.

Just Looking At Pictures Used To Be Considered Cheating. No Longer. The Graphic Novel Is Booming. Comics, Heavily Illustrated Texts, Books With No Words Are Now Accepted As Reading.

Avoid Demonizing Television, Computer Games, And New Technologies. Electronic Media May Compete For Kids' Attention, But We're Not Going To Get Kids Reading By Badmouthing Other Entertainment. Admit That Tv And Games Can Do Things Books Can't.

Expand The Definition Of 'reading' To Include Non-fiction, Humor, Graphic Novels, Magazines, Action Adventure, And, Yes, Even Websites. It's The Pleasure Of Reading That Counts; The Focus Will Naturally Broaden. A Boy Won't Read Shark Books Forever.