The Ferret Books series has the goods to attract and absorb minds. Naturally it's young-adultsy at heart, and adultsy in spirit.

No matter how fast, slow or offbeat
The heartbeat of Christmas
May it never die

The heartbeat of life... The heatbeat of love... The hearbeat of Christmas... May it never ever die

"Stupidity that's stubborn to the core deserves a toddler-size scolding at best. Wising it up has to start somewhere."

“Faith is a magic moment you arrive at from far, far away.”

The expression came to me while gazing at an image. You know how you sometimes look at an image, exercise your mind in telling a story about it in one or two sentences. And if you gazed at it long enough, come to realize how receptive the image is drawing on personal experience that the short story you tell is likely your own, the eye of the beholder. That you might wonder is it you connecting to the image...

It's the jingle in the bells, the carols in the air, the nipping spirits counting down the days. Mostly it's the far away star warming hearts, zipping through time the art of anticipation.

No wonder Christmas comes around in a wink..

The constitution is strategic, at times unrevealing, but never flawless in facing tough testaments, as it, in a commanding way, protects itself. And so time and time again, the whistle blows.

Books born to stand the test of time

We rely on books to:

Transport us to another place and meet what we could only imagine;

Draw on our emotions, spread our lips with a smile, make us laugh;

Shed a few happy tears, if not to comfort, lend a shoulder to cry on, provide moral support, guidance.

Books bring out the human side of us...

We love quotes; we sought quotes for a spark of wisdom.

As I think about the quote I’ve chosen for the month, young readers of past, present and future come to mind: their joyous eyes opening for the first time to the magical world of storytelling, their ABCs unimaginative alive on page. Something about that is classical, as classical as storytelling itself. From the beginning of time who knew the building blocks of each alphabet would have such a magical impact. Really! And just think! Who do we owe it all to?

“I know pleasure, when given it clears the air.” The quote is promiscuous by nature, of which it immediately plants in the mind, "Yeah, I know exactly what the author was thinking." It would come as an afterthought to think, "Maybe the author meant something else entirely,” as it sinks in that the quote is relatable in so many ways. Because indeed its intimacy imparts a much deeper expression.

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The heart of the matter is that something must happen in order to clear the air. And yet, something has. And that, my dear, is spring...

SOME years ago, when I was teaching a graduate seminar in fiction at Columbia University, a well-known male novelist visited my class to speak on his development as a writer. In discussing his formative years, he didn't realize it but he seriously endangered his life by remarking that women writers are luckier than those of his sex because they usually spend so much time as children around their mothers and their mothers' friends in the kitchen.

What did he say that for?

"Images are life's most cherished moments quoted with wings."

This expression came to me while coming up with creative ways to market my then-new book, and has since become one of my favorite quotes. It's beautiful--if I say so myself--and its effectiveness will forever ring true. Endlessly will I find new ways to express it.