Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness

Think School Visits Only Help the Students? Think Again!

Hello, friends! As I sit in my dining room on this cold and rainy Saturday, I am reflecting on the thirty-four schools that I have visited since mid-September. Yes, thirty four! Tomorrow, I leave for a full week of school visits in Houston, and more schools are on my calendar after that, so the number… Read more »

Step Right Up is a Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee!

I am immensely honored that Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness has been named to the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list for 2018-19. Many hundreds (500-700?) of books are considered before the twenty finalists are chosen for this list. What a thrill! Thank you, Texas librarians! Thank you,… Read more »

FAQ about STEP RIGHT UP and Beautiful Jim Key

The most difficult part of writing a nonfiction picture book is deciding what to leave out of a space-constrained narrative. In Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness, it was especially painful to leave out amazing anecdotes and details. At almost every school visit presentation about the book, kids almost… Read more »