Children's Author & Book Editor
Are your kids feeling as anxious as you are these days? This past year, maybe like no other, has been a test of…well…everything. My kids are grown now, and I can only imagine what 2020+ has been like for parents of young children. Oddly enough, my children’s book Jack vs. the Tornado, which released April […]
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My six-year-old proudly held up his Styrofoam cup full of dirt. I knew his teacher was using the planting of marigold seeds to teach the children about death and resurrection. “They’re my flowers,” he announced, despite no sign of life. He then pointed to the wooden barrel sitting on the corner of the patio where, […]
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Amanda Cleary Eastep I don’t recall how old I was when I realized Aslan the lion was an author’s fantastical version of Jesus. I had been raised in church and Sunday school, so although this connection should have been obvious, it didn’t quite dawn on me. But once it did . . . I felt […]
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As much as I hate the “tell us your name and something about you” exercise, I planned for this time of introduction with teen writers to be a little more creative . . .
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I felt shook up. A little like I imagined author Kwame Alexander felt after the car accident that rolled him and his family over and over on the road one day, sending boxes of his father’s beloved books for the city book fair strewn across the road like litter…
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At our house church gathering on Good Friday, our spirited group quieted as the evening’s message was shared and our pastor said, his voice snagging on the sharp edge of truth, “You can’t believe…and not be changed.”
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep Have you ever seen a beautifully decorated cake and thought, “Wow, that’s too pretty to eat”? Well, if you’re an avid reader and on Instagram, you will at some point see gorgeous “bookstagram” posts of popular fantasy novels. These still lifes are composed of almost-too-pretty-to-read hardcover books strung with tiny lights […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep This is a dream come true moment. I remember crawling up there and asking my traveling companion to capture my “I’ll never forget this place, this lake, this rock” moment. Well, I’ve forgotten. I mean, I know I was in Scotland, but exactly where, I don’t recall now. But that’s OK, […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep In the corner of our fifth/sixth grade Lutheran classroom was a narrow bookshelf full of books that were ours alone. Our parochial school had a library, a place I loved to visit despite the taunts of the older students who worked the desk: “You’ll never read this book. . .it’s too […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep The Small boys lived next door to us in the “new subdivision,” one round block of bi-levels and tri-levels on the outskirts of a small farm town. In the summer, all of us children scattered, bike wheels and skinny legs carrying us all the way to the other side of the […]
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Amanda Cleary Eastep 