They write children's books....go figure!

I am proud to count among my friends two talented authors, Franny Billingsley and Denise Vega.  The fact that they both write children's books probably has a lot to do with their being my friends. The fact that they are both beautiful women is purely coincidental.  Honestly.

Denise Vega

I met Denise on a plane from Orlando to Atlanta almost ten years ago.  As I recall, I was reading the script for a movie I was prepping. Whether this led to our conversation or not, we began talking and she revealed to me that she was a writer.

At the time she was writing mostly technical books -- computer software manuals -- but told me what she really wanted to write was kids' books.  It wasn't long after that meeting that Denise wrote Learning the Internet for Kids, which I suppose was a step in the right direction -- a technical kids' book. 

My buddy Aaron was just about the right age for such a book, and his family had recently gotten on the Internet, so the timing was perfect.  I ordered the book on Amazon but had them ship it to Denise who had agreed to sign it for Aaron and then send it on to me.  I gave it to him for Christmas, either 1998 or 1999. 

Denise and I have stayed loosely in touch over the years and last spring she told me that her first children's novel, click here (to find out how I survived seventh grade), was being published.  Again, perfect timing, because Elizabeth Anne was about to turn 13 and would be going into seventh grade next fall.  When I gave it to Elizabeth for her birthday I made her promise to let me borrow it after she had read it. 

click here has a great concept:  It is in the form of a web journal kept by seventh grader Erin.  It is meant to be a private journal, for her eyes only, and it is filled with her darkest secrets and all the miseries that girls her age go through. But Erin messes up and the journal is made available for all to see, including some friends that she said not-so-nice things about.

I have only read a few pages but can't wait to get my hands on it!

You can click the images above to learn more about Denise and these two books.

Franny Billingsley

I haven't yet met Franny face to face, so I guess you would call her an Internet friend.  Elizabeth and I read Franny's novel The Folk Keeper, and we decided that this was the best book we had ever read together.  This was saying something, because Elizabeth and I had been reading together since she was old enough to sit up and we had read a lot of great books!

I found Franny's website so I e-mailed her to tell her how much we loved her book. This was about four years ago and we have been in touch ever since.  She told us about Well Wished  --  her first novel, so naturally Elizabeth and I read that together.  Now we had two favorite books!

The Folk Keeper, especially, has a rare and wonderful quality in its style. The writing is understandable by children -- Elizabeth was nine when we read it and understood every word -- but it is also elegant -- eloquent -- prose.  Here is a paragraph that filled my eyes with tears when we read it:

There is a lump of desolation beneath the bony dip at my throat. It is no bigger than a coin, this spot, a peculiarly small place to hold such a feeling. I try to shove it to some deeper region, but there it sticks, a fragile skin-thickness from the outside world.

After I read this, I turned to Elizabeth (remember, nine years old) to ask her if she understood what the writer was saying.  Elizabeth had tears in her eyes, so I didn't have to ask the question. What a remarkable work that can be enjoyed equally by a nine year old and by her grandfather.

Franny also paid me what may be the highest compliment I ever received in a note she wrote to Elizabeth. Franny had been working on her third novel for some time and it was coming along slowly. She told Elizabeth, "You may be too old for my new book by the time it comes out, but I know your grandfather won't be."

I'm happy to report that Franny's new book is in the hands of her editor and should be published soon.

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