Peanuts, Dots, and Stars

When I was in the third grade, my teacher, Mrs. Siegel, graded papers by giving them a shiny gold stick-on star, a red stick-on dot, or a frowning peanut head drawn in black grease pencil. Since then, I have suffered from a crippling fear of peanuts and a pathological reverence for five-pointed stars. She was a great teacher. She made an impression.

Pre-publication reviews of The Obsidian Blade—from Kirkus and Booklist—arrived today. They both gave me stars.

Vivid imagination and deft storytelling...sure-handed plotting and crisp prose, equally adept with flashes of snarky wit... —Kirkus Reviews

This fast-paced opener to the Klaatu Diskos trilogy will satiate adventure seekers, and the refined brain candy will be delicious to more thoughtful readers. If anything, there simply isn’t enough of everything, but it’s hard to fault a book for being too tantalizing. —Booklist

Having a good day so far. I've posted the full reviews on my website.

I just learned that Leo Siegel, who was the principal of Cedar Manor Elementary School, just died at age 91. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Eldora Siegel.