by Mary E. Cronin | Apr 16, 2016 | Conferences-workshops, LGBTQ+, SCBWI, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
“Who’s your real mom?” “What do you mean you don’t have a dad/mom?” “Please bring these permission slips home to your moms and dads.” Life is just different for kids of LGBTQ parents. They navigate awkward questions, tricky social situations, and heteronormative...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jul 7, 2015 | LGBTQ+, Middle-grade fiction, Tomfoolery, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
As a teacher on summer hiatus, I’m grabbing all of the free hours I can muster, running as far and fast as I can with my middle-grade novel-in-progress, Tomfoolery. And the other day, the stars aligned to tell me, “Yes! Keep going. You are moving in the...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jun 12, 2015 | Conferences-workshops, Uncategorized
Time to unplug and retreat from the hubbub of life for a few days. I am packing the laptop, notebooks and other fun stuff and heading north, for a six-day retreat with writer friends in a house in Vermont. These early days of summer seem like a good time to make...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jun 9, 2015 | Conferences-workshops, LGBTQ+, Middle-grade fiction, Tomfoolery, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
If we stare long enough, there are times when we swear we can see a budding flower actually bloom. That’s the tender window of time portrayed in “Ring of Keys,” the signature song from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Fun Home.”...
by Mary E. Cronin | May 21, 2015 | Community connections, Poetry, Teaching, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
I recently received a bundle of letters from the kids at St. Luke’s School in the South Bronx. I delivered a poetry presentation there in the spring, using Jacqueline Woodson’s BROWN GIRL DREAMING and Kwame Alexander’s THE CROSSOVER as mentor texts....
by Mary E. Cronin | May 6, 2015 | Conferences-workshops, LGBTQ+, Middle-grade fiction, SCBWI, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
It’s taken me a while to come down from the clouds after the NESCBWI Conference in Springfield a little over a week ago. The theme of diversity, “Think Outside the Crayon Box,” was delivered in multi-layered and invigorating ways all weekend long....