Recommended Reading:

First, we have a new course served in The Moveable Feast: "Around the table with Rima Staines, Part II," over on John Barleycorn, where Rima, Rex, and Howard continue to explore the joys, challenges, and dangers of living the artist's life. Good stuff.  

Second, over on the Publisher's Weekly site there's a good interview with Franny Billingsley (author of the richly folkloric YA novels The Folk Keeper and Well Wished), discussing her new novel, Chimed, and her writing process.

And third, a reading recommendation from librarian and author Els Kushner, who says: "For the past week or two, I've been following a blog called Lion's Whiskers that's discussing the importance of raising kids to have courage. One of the blog authors is a children's book author, and the importance of story is a continuing theme."

The particular post Els recommends is "Stories Made Me" by Jennifer Armstrong. Here's snippit: 

"Stories make us who we are. I spent hours and hours of my childhood on two occupations: making up stories to act out outdoors, and reading stories indoors....What counts, I believe, is that I spent hour upon hour with undaunted characters who persevered, who vanquished evil, who faced natural and supernatural challenges, who made sacrifices to a greater good. They were my models for every kind of courage. "

Drawing above by Rima Staines.