Although I write for both adults and kids, most of the book-readings I do are kids’ books, both to audiences of pre-schoolers and to audiences of school-age kids in after-school care. My usual M.O. is to bring with me small slips of paper on which I have printed the book’s title, the publisher’s website, and the suggestion that the parents buy their kids whatever book it is that I am presenting that day.

Roundtable/Great Reads is on the cusp of publishing—may have already published, by the time you read this—a book called Passover, which teaches kids about the Jewish holiday of the same name. I didn’t intend it to be read only by Jewish kids. When I was a teenager—which was a very long time ago!—I joined an organization called Youth for Better Understanding. Its purpose and mission was to promote not only better relations but also better understanding (just like the name said) between the Christian and Jewish teens in the community. We had no Muslims living there. We had no Blacks....

When I was a kid, parents and teachers alike decried kids’ reading comic books, asserting that they weren’t “real” books, that kids couldn’t learn from them, that they were “lazy reading,” and more. My own parents didn’t give me any grief about the comic books I read—mainly Little Lulu, Nancy, Henry, and Donald Duck—because I was such a voracious reader of “real” books that they never had to worry. For economic reasons, they curtailed the number of comics they bought for me, but that was purely a fiscally based decision. It had nothing to do with the value—or alleged danger—of...

When a judge is being urged to give a convicted criminal the harshest sentence possible, he or she is urged to “Throw the book at him/her.” I say we should ALL “throw books” at people—only, don’t literally THROW the books—please—just GIVE them, gently. Books are wonderful gifts—for any occasion or no occasion at all.

When I was a kid, my aspirations for my future ran to having a Broadway career. As much as I loved writing and was forever composing poems and such, I was sure my future would be on stage. This may help explain why, at around nine years old, I one day decided out of the blue to write a play. During the summer that followed, while I was at camp, the drama counselor asked if any of us campers happened to have written a play. My hand shot up and waved wildly. And so it was that my play was...

Popular TV host Art Linkletter, an icon of afternoon TV in the middle of the last century, had a segment on his show in which he interviewed kids on various topics…and the responses they gave ranged from amazing to hilarious. This led to his compiling some of the best of them in a book he titled KIDS SAY THE DARNEDEST THINGS. Linkletter was right. They do. And I had proof of it again just yesterday. I’ve had over 100 books published. (If you’re curious about specifics, I invite you to visit my website at www.cynthiamacgregor.com.) I write for both kids...

No, it’s not really a muscle, but the imagination needs to be exercised regularly just as if it were. And your child’s (grandchild’s, godchild’s) imagination needs to grow and thrive even if he/she has no aspirations to be a writer or anything else in the creative field.

“My birthday is in September.” “My birthday was last week.” “My dad is taking me to DisneyWorld for my birthday.” The cacophony of counterpoint voices rose in pitch and volume as each child struggled to be heard above the competing claims. It all started when one girl in the audience eagerly announced, “Today is my birthday.” I asked her name and suggested we all sing the birthday song to her, which the kids gleefully participated in. But then they all wanted recognition for their birthdays…though it soon became obvious that most of them were not too clear on when their...

Are you a parent — a teacher — a librarian — a bookseller? Even if you’re not, but especially if you are, an upcoming March event should be of particular interest to you. Here is advance notice of the annual Read Across America, taking place this year on March 2nd. While participating organizations nationwide do different things to mark the occasion, they’re all about reading. And if you’re a parent, teacher, librarian, or bookseller…or simply an avid reader…you’re “all about reading” too. Reading is vital. Literacy is vital. And while reading for pure enjoyment is less crucial, it, too, plays...

Do you have a book inside you? No, I’m not implying that you’ve swallowed a library tome or consumed a volume at your local bookshop. I’m talking about a book that’s waiting to be written. “They” say that everyone has a book inside them. While I don’t totally subscribe to that theory, I do think that for many there is a book just waiting to be plucked from the thought processes and set down on paper—or electrons.