Tag: Holiday House

Lee Bennett Hopkins: Poet, Anthologist, and Mentor

“There is something about this manuscript that cries out for publication. It may take you a while to ‘get there’ but you must.”

Noted poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins saw something in me and in my firehouse poems that was worth nurturing and encouragement. He read my work at the SCBWI Conference in LA in 2007, gave me notes like that above, and cheered me on. I’ll be forever grateful for that mentoring at an early stage of my career.

Photo by Sonya Sones

Little did I dream that “it may take you a while to get there” would be twenty years! But that’s when my firehouse-themed poetry collection, TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS, illustrated by Aaron Marin, will be published by Holiday House Books for Young Readers (fall 2026).

Today, on his birthday, I remember Lee Bennett Hopkins with gratitude and appreciation. How perfect for National Poetry Month.

 

Trucks, Boots, and Bells: Firehouse Poems

Writers often talk about the long road to publication. This is one of those stories, and it isn’t over yet!

I started writing poems about firefighting after my father died in 2006. It was a grief project, a way to feel closer to him. And it helped. I was so proud of his long career in the New York Fire Department, his years of fighting fires in the Bronx during the “Bronx is burning” days, which the FDNY calls “the war years.” 

One of the things about my father that I marveled at was his disposition. All those years of seeing and doing hard things never curdled his optimism, his kindness, or his gentleness. One of my favorite childhood memories is hugging my father when he came home from work, and the smoky smell that emanated from him when we hugged– an ever-present reminder of the dangers and the importance of the work he’d just done. 

All these years later, I get to honor that work with a children’s book. TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS: FIREHOUSE POEMS will be published in fall 2026 by Holiday House. I’ve seen a peek at the illustrations by Aaron Marin, and it’s going to be a beautiful book! It was announced this week in Publisher’s Weekly and Publisher’s Marketplace, two small but significant mile markers along the way to publication. It’s feeling more real!! 

Stay tuned for more updates on this project of my heart.

Reviewing an Irish MG Novel

“You can’t survive if you only see the darkness, if you cannot laugh and love and if you don’t have hope in your heart.”  ~author Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

 

When I was asked to review an Irish middle-grade novel for the Project Mayhem Middle-Grade blog, I felt like I hit the trifecta.

I had already read the book THE APPLE TART OF HOPE last year, and loved it. Now it’s being published in the U.S. by Holiday House.

APPLE TART COVER

I now had the chance to spread the word about a hopeful, complex, and wonderful middle-grade story set in a place I love, Ireland.

Plus, I had the chance to interview the author, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, and learn more about her work.

To put the cherry on top, reading and writing about apple tarts put me in mind of my relations in Cork, Ireland– the place where I first sampled this deceptively simple Irish dessert.

APPLE TART slice

All in all– writing this book review was a pure delight. You can read it here.