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Debbie’s Blog

Welcome to my new blog, which now includes content from many of the blogs I’ve created over the years. You can now also access content via category from this one page instead of having to search for my individual blogs, which were scattered over various platforms and websites.


Power Thesaurus: Free Crowd-Sourced Online Thesaurus

There are already a bunch of online thesaurus sites out there, like Thesaurus.com, Merriam-Webster’s Thesaurus, Collins Thesaurus, Visual Thesaurus and others, but Power Thesaurus was the first crowd-sourced online thesaurus I’ve come across. I like the clean interface, without all kinds of ads cluttering the space. Just noticed that my friend Tara Lazar also likes it: Power . . .





Madeleine L’Engle’s A WRINKLE IN TIME was rejected 26 times

Did you know that Madeleine L’Engle almost gave up writing when she turned 40 because of discouragement over rejections? “With all the hours I spent writing, I was still not pulling my own weight financially.” She discovered, however, that her subconscious wouldn’t let her NOT write.  “I had to write. . . .



What I’m having for breakfast: LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST

Yay, my copy of LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST by Josh Funk and Brendan Kearney (Sterling) just arrived! Such a delicious read, plus I love the surprise fold-out ending. This would make a great readaloud, with lots of potential discussion with young readers about the fun art details, food and friendship. . . .



Something Amazing

Thanks to my friend Therese Walsh for the great caption! You can find out more about Therese at ThereseWalsh.com and on Twitter at @ThereseWalsh.




Children’s Book Finger Puppets: tips for children’s book creators, teachers and parents

I’ve added some free print-ready templates for creating finger puppets related to I’M BORED and WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? You can preview the I’m Bored puppets here and download here. You can get the Where Are My Books? puppets here: Spencer & Mom download, Sis and Dad download and Squirrel/Narwhal/Book download. For all my free, print-ready material, see my Print-Ready Archives. Note that you don’t HAVE . . .



Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP was rejected 60 times

According to a Time interview with Kathryn Stockett, The Help was rejected 60 times by agents before being picked up by Susan Ramer at Don Congdon. The book was Kathryn’s debut as a novelist and took her five years to complete. Since it came out in 2009, The Help has been published in 35 countries . . .