Kate Dyer-Seeley  

2009 will bring a new challenge for me as I, yikes, officially re-enter the workforce.   It certainly isn’t that I haven’t been working for the past few years.  I’ve kept myself busy as a mom, freelance writer, marketing specialist, and volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association.  But no, thanks to my Gemini roots, I harbor an [...]

The holiday classic, The Polar Express, chugged into town last night (well technically Hood River but that doesn’t sound as festive).  At a time when holiday traditions are lost in a sea of big box stores and tech savvy kids who email annotated wish lists to Santa, our bumpy ride over rusted tracks just might [...]

In an homage to Luke’s favorite book (of the moment) Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears, we spent the afternoon picking pears in Hood River’s organic orchards.  The Fruit Loop tour winds through 36 fruit stands, farms, and orchards.  It’s like a wine tour for kids.  Since this is harvest season the orchards were ripe with peaches, apples, squash and [...]

  I hate to admit it but back to school season is upon us.  Aside from choosing a new Brady Bunch lunch box, my favorite part of back to school preparation as a child was shopping for clothes.  Inevitably my outfit choices lead to battles with my parents over which one was to be worn [...]

Just in time for summer vacation, I’m reading again.  I’ve found that while I’m writing or editing I can’t read, not even pure mind candy.  It’s interesting because I’m sure the cumulative works I’ve read over the past thirty-five years have all shaped and influenced my own writing style.  But while in the midst of crossing out words [...]

 It’s time for a trip to the library, your favorite bookstore, or both this weekend.  Next week, May 12-18th, is Reading Is Fun Week.  The event, founded by RIF in 1979, began as a way to encourage and promote children to read throughout summer vacation.  My entire summer vacation revolved around reading when I was a child.  In my [...]

I recently discovered a new way to reduce my reading imprint: Eco-Libris.  A genius of an idea, at Eco-Libris they plant a tree for every book you read in a developing nation.  Since I live within ten minutes of Powell’s Books I feel less guilty about my book purchases since they eventually end up back on the [...]

Okay so since I’m not yet published, my thoughts on this subject are somewhat hypothetical, but come on J.K. suing your biggest fan–it just doesn’t make sense.  For anyone who isn’t a Potter-head you can can get up to speed on the lawsuit here or here.  I totally understand suing a fan who drives by your house at [...]

I watched The Jane Austen Book Club last weekend.  I read the book years ago, and loved it.  Sometimes I worry about movie adaptations of books I really love (with the exception of any BBC version of Austen), but this didn’t disappoint.  Emily Blunt was fantastic as Prudie.  I’d forgotten how many Ursula Le Guin references there are in the book, and subsequently the [...]

  Voting is open for the 2008 Children’s Choice Book Awards.  Kids get to vote for their favorites online.  The only drawback is the nominees are pulled from bestseller lists, which in our family meant that Luke demanded to know why Flat Stanley (his current favorite) wasn’t on the list.