For Christmas many years ago, my aunt gave me a small flat package wrapped in red foil paper. Inside was a story my grandmother had written for a school assignment back in 1914 when she just 14 years old....

I like the word tenacious. It can describe someone who is determined, strong, and never takes no for an answer. It’s the perfect adjective to describe Juliette Gordon Low, nicknamed Daisy. Juliette is the founder of the Girl Scouts of...

This past year has been topsy-turvy and nonsensical in so many ways. I’ve often felt like Alice in Wonderland, trying to make sense of the surreal. Books deserve the fanfare of a birthday party when they’re released into the world....

When I enter a bookstore or gift store, I’m immediately drawn to the journals. They come in all shapes and sizes, lined and unlined, covers for every taste: flowered, funky, silly, or serene. Slick, soft, leather, marbled, gilded, and more....

In the summer of 2018, a soccer ball appeared at the edge of our yard. I figured it had rolled through the woods and down the hill from the house next door where three toddler/preschool boys lived. They were...

Recently cleaning out our childhood home, my family uncovered lots of treasures. We sold off most in a tag sale, which was dominated by tables and tables of books. But some books I held on to—especially the well-worn ones...

After teaching classes at the University of Hartford last week, I ventured home. I wasn’t looking forward to the commute at rush hour through the grid of West Hartford streets with a stoplight at every block. One saving grace:...

My mind is often full. As a writer and professor, days are packed with a constant stream of things to do, places to be, lectures to prepare, papers to correct, stories to write, emails to answer. The printer whirrs,...