A Bittersweet Interview – Listen to an Interview with Connie Wooldridge and the Late Andrea Cheng

It’s been over a year now since my writer-friend Andrea Cheng died – too quickly and too young – of cancer. She wrote some marvelous books, some of which are reviewed on my website, and she gave me invaluable advice about my writing over the years I knew her. Quite a few years ago, Andrea’s… [Read More]

The 2013 OKI Children’s Literature Conference

Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge and Andrea Cheng (author of ETCHED IN CLAY) will be presenting at the OKI Children’s Literature Conference on Saturday, November 2 at Thomas More College.  This year’s conference is entitled “The New Face of Nonfiction: So Much More to Explore”

Etched in Clay Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

Etched in Clay; The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng; illustrated with woodcuts by the author; Lee & Low, 2013.  143 pages; $17.95 (hardcover); reading level:  ages 10 and up. Born into slavery in 1801, Dave should have lived an invisible life and died unknown.  That he didn’t is due to an almost… [Read More]

Writing Nonfiction (Two Views!)

It would seem that, when you do something as solitary as writing, you probably never meet other writers. But that’s not true. We writers meet each other all the time at book events, presentations, online…somehow we find one another. I’ve known children’s writer Andrea Cheng for quite a few years and when she asked me to… [Read More]

The Year of the Book – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng; illustrated by Abigail Halpin; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 148 pages; $15.99 (hardcover); reading level: ages 7-11. Anna Wang is just beginning fourth grade and the word of the week is “perseverance.”  “It’s when you don’t give up,” her best friend, Laura, tells the class.  Both girls will… [Read More]