Deborah Underwood

Celebrating Birthdays, Awesome Indie Support, and Getting Loud

One of America’s most treasured children’s book authors is celebrating her 95th birthday tomorrow: Happy Birthday, Beverly Cleary! In addition to being her birthday, April 12 is also National Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R). D.E.A.R Day is about encouraging families to make a commitment to reading together on a regular basis. Ramona Quimby became the spokesperson for the program after it was featured in Ramona Quimby, Age 8, which is why it is celebrated on Beverly Cleary’s birthday. All you have to do to participate is drop everything and read for 30 minutes of your day. (Well okay, if you twist my arm.… Read the rest

A Peek at the Creative Space of Deborah Underwood

Deborah Underwood is a talented friend of mine who I met in one of my first writing critique groups back in 2001. She is the author of 18 nonfiction titles (including Has a Cow Saved Your Life?, Staging a Play, and Northern Lights), the easy reader Pirate Mom, and co-writer with Whoopi Goldberg of the Sugar Plum Ballerina chapter book series. And just published this spring are not one, not two, but THREE of her picture books. The first of the three is Granny Gomez & Jigsaw, published in March. I remember reading a draft of Granny Gomez’s story way back when, in our San Francisco writing group, and was so excited to see these characters again years later in their published form, wonderfully illustrated by Scott Magoon.… Read the rest