Blog Interview

I had the pleasure of answering some questions recently about DARE THE WIND and my writing process.  Check out the full interview with Kate Hannigan on the blog, Author Of....

The photograph of me in the interview in an older one.  Here's a recent photo of my newest best buddy and officemate, Charlie:

March into Women's History

March is Women's History Month!  In honor of that, check out Junior Library Guild's Booktalk's to Go column on the School Library Journal website.  The column reviews some wonderful new picture books (including DARE THE WIND, of course!) about women who have made a difference.  There's also a LiveBinder full of awesome additional resources related to each of the reviewed books.

For more wonderful books celebrating strong women, also check out the 2014 Amelia Bloomer Project list.

 

Pippo Rises Again

My very first picture book, Pippo the Fool, told the story of Filippo Brunelleschi (better known as 'Pippo') and his quest to build an extraordinary dome atop the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy.  The PBS show Nova recently aired a wonderful hour-long program, "The Great Cathedral Mystery," about Pippo and his dome.  The show sought to uncover the mystery of how Pippo constructed his huge dome by following a team of modern-day bricklayers as they constructed a small-scale reproduction of the dome.  As anyone who has ever visited the dome can agree, Pippo was anything but a fool!  His innovations, including a reverse gear pulley to carry supplies up and down, a spiral herringbone brick pattern, and a unique system of guide ropes, are the true secrets of the dome.  You can solve more of the mystery of the dome by watching "The Great Cathedral Mystery".

Barnum Brown

While researching another topic, I happened upon this wonderful photograph of Barnum Brown that I had never seen before.  Check out 'Mr. Bone's' dapper look:

Barnum really was an extraordinarily good dresser.  I especially love the boots!

Dare the Wind is Setting Sail

It's official!  DARE THE WIND is setting sail on February 18th.  Here are a few sneak peeks of the gorgeous illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully:

Here is young Ellen Prentiss, watching the clipper ships sail into Marblehead harbor:

And here is Ellen battling a storm aboard The Flying Cloud:

One of the many joys of writing picture books is seeing your words brought to life in illustrations that are even more beautiful than you imagined they could be.  Thank you, Emily!

*Starred Review in Publishers Weekly

I'm so excited that my latest picture book, DARE THE WIND, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.  DARE, which was illustrated by the wonderful Emily Arnold McCully, is the story of Eleanor 'Ellen' Prentiss.  Ellen navigated the clipper ship, the Flying Cloud, on its daring, record-breaking voyage from New York City to gold-rush era San Francisco.  The review says, in part, "Fern...lyrically paints a picture of the journey's ups and downs," and "McCully's...illustrations bring to vivid life this picture-book..."   Yahoo!!!  You can check out the entire review here.  DARE will be published on February 18, 2014, but you can pre-order it now!

DARE THE WIND Review

The first review of DARE THE WIND is in, and it's a great one!  I'm so pleased that DARE was given a starred review in Kirkus.  The reviewer wrote:  As stimulating as the sea air itself, this story will surely send the salt water coursing through the veins of its readers.  Yeah!  You can read the entire review here.