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Reading is Fundamental (RIF) has a special holiday greeting for everyone who remembers the joy of the holidays represented in a memorable book. Visit their interactive holiday card to see others’ memories and share your own. Here are some of ours: Every holiday season I love to revisit my favorite series of books, The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.  There’s something magical, comforting, and nostalgic about immersing myself in the Middle Earth, sitting by the fire with old friends, and reliving the excitement of their adventure anew each time I read it. I find the gray winter days perfectly capture the feeling ofRead More →

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Dale Peck’s latest novel, Sprout, is in some ways the antithesis of a novel I read earlier this spring, tales of the MADMAN underground by John Barnes.  Where Barnes’ characters speak, think, and express themselves with the manner of real teens, Peck’s characters (at least filtered via the protagonist/narrator Sprout) have consciously edited their language to reflect their understanding of the fact that the people who will read their story (adults) and decide on its appropriateness for its intended audience (teens) have issues with profanity in books.  Sprout works precisely because it’s so upfront about the fact that it’s being edited for content and language: “it’s easy toRead More →

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We’re celebrating our 4th birthday today!  PBC got started May 18, 2005 when we officially separated from Changing Hands and embarked on this new adventure.  Jade was crazy busy the first 7 months all by himself (with a little extra help now and then) and then I joined him full time in January 2006.  It was exciting and overwhelming to jump in and have to learn so much on the job, but we’ve been figuring it out ever since.  We’ve been fortunate to have some great folks work with us over the last 4 years, making fantastic contributions every day, and we’re so appreciative ofRead More →

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I just finished my second read of John Barnes’ hilarious, gritty novel, tales of the MADMAN underground (it was too good to read only once!).  Barnes does a brilliant job of capturing the voices, struggles, insecurities and angst of his teen characters.  He creates a time  and place in life that adults can remember wading through and that teens find themselves in every day. One method by which Barnes authenticates his characters’ reality is through language, and here I mean profanity.  tales of the MADMAN underground is rife with swear words. At some points, Karl “weaves a tapestry of profanity” that brought tears to my eyes (from laughter). Read More →