News & Blog

(Originally published December 29, 2016) The year is drawing to a close, and one of the themes that seems to be on everyone’s mind is time. It’s certainly on mine. A couple of months ago, I was asked to speak to a group of students at the university where I teach. The topic? Time management. My […]

The title of this post comes from Tina Fey’s hilarious and smart book, Bossypants. The whole book is excellent, but my very favorite part begins on page 83, where Fey outlines her “Rules of Improvisation That Will Change Your Life and Reduce Belly Fat.” “The first rule of improvisation is AGREE…Start with a YES and see […]

(Originally published April 13, 2017) We are all storytellers here, and today’s post is about my most recent experiences with one specific form of storytelling: live theater. Due to ridiculous good fortune and a particularly skilled friend, I found myself in possession of a (reasonably priced!) ticket to see one of the very first performances […]

(Originally published July 13, 2017) As I draft this post, I’m sitting in an Airbus A320 from KDTW to KDEN at flight level 370. I don’t know this because I have a great deal of aeronautical knowledge or because I was even particularly paying attention to the pre-flight speech; I know this because my aviation-obsessed […]

Originally Published October 12, 2017 Next Tuesday, my sophomore novel, Paper Chains, will be released into the world. In the weeks ahead, I’ve got school visits, a book festival, a writing conference, a library event, and the high-profile privilege of being interviewed by a fourth grader (one of the perks of writing for kids.) This particular fourth […]

I come from a family of runners and writers. Both pursuits can be difficult and, at times, discouraging. My brother and I were talking about running recently and laughing about the fact that he’d run the same route every morning for months, always thinking, “I have the worst luck. The wind always picks up when […]

Time for some book love once again! Here are my PB/MG/YA/adult #VickPicks for October! PB: “A gentle tale of inclusion and fairness that children will clearly understand.” (with 4 starred reviews!): TOGETHER WE GROW by Susan Vaught and Kelly Murphy. MG: Gorgeous writing, a captivating story, and again, four starred reviews! This book had me […]

Time for some book love once again! Here are my PB/MG/YA/adult #VickPicks for September! PB: A fabulous book about most important thing we can do for our future–and for our kids: VOTE FOR OUR FUTURE by Margaret McNamara and Micah Player. MG: An extremely important story that deals with abuse in such a thoughtful and […]

Happy December! This is the season when everyone seems to weigh in on the best of everything. There are so many sites and sources listing their favorite books right now that I wanted to put them all in one place. Here are some lists of the best books for young readers (especially middle grade and […]

Happy December! I’ve decided to spotlight my top ten middle grade and chapter book reads from 2014. (Not all of these books came out in 2014, but all eighty-one MG and CB titles I read for the first time this year were contenders.) Five are highlighted here–the five with (sometimes small) elements of fantasy–and the […]