BAD BADGEr: A FAMILY STORY, Coming on May 5th!

Septimus and Gully are back—and they’re not alone! In this sequel to last year’s BAD BADGER: A LOVE STORY, badger and bird now have three fluffy, adorable, but occasionally maddening chicks to raise. Family life is not easy! And when a well-intended clan of badgers arrive from the forest and offer to help, Septimus discovers that he has a lot to learn about what it means to be part of a flock.

I’m so happy to continue the adventures of Septimus and Gully in Bad Badger: A Family Story, which once again features amazing illustrations by Giulia Ghigini. Check the EVENTS page to find out where I’ll be. You can also preorder signed copies here.

The Bad Badger books are not my first attempt at writing animal characters. Previously I wrote Alice’s Farm, A Rabbit’s Tale, a middle-grade novel which the New York Times called “delightful and quirky and full of good will…” This tale of a wild rabbit who joins forces with a human boy in order to save their shared farmland home was named a Charlotte Huck recommended book by the NCTE. Newbery medalist Rebecca Stead called it “tender and wonderful. It’s a fantasy, it’s real, it's just a joy. And absolutely a book for our times."

I fell in love with writing middle grade when I began The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, all about a teenaged governess and her three raised-by-wolves pupils, published by Balzer + Bray. Titles in the six-book series have appeared on “Best Children’s Books of the Year” lists from NPR, Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus, and others. They’ve been Junior Library Guild selections and received multiple starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Booklist.

(The fun with Miss Penelope Lumley and her wolfish pupils continues at The Swanburne Academy, an online community for incorrigibly curious families who love to learn and grow, together.)

I started my creative career in the theater, while I was still a teenager, in the original Broadway cast of Merrily We Roll Along, the cult flop-turned-beloved Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical featured in the 2016 documentary, Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (now streaming). I studied acting and film and television writing at NYU, and comedy writing and improv with the Groundlings. I’m proud to be a three-time winner of the Richard Rodgers Award in recognition for my work as a lyricist/librettist; this award is administered by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

I’m a deep believer in the power of well-structured, gorgeously written narratives to have a lasting impact on readers and on the world we all share. I offer training and mentorship for writers through Path of the Storyteller. I’ve taught fiction writing at CUNY-Lehman College and NYU’s Gallatin School, and served on the faculty of the Stony Brook Children’s Literature Fellows program.

I’m a native New Yorker who’s also lived in Southern California. I’m the grateful mom of two amazing adult children, and I now live and write in southern Italy.