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Pinkie swears and other magic
When things get tough, Tess and Max in Amy Ephron's The Castle in the Mist do a pinkie swear.
"A pinkie swear means they have each other's backs. How do you let your friends, parents, teachers or siblings know you have their back?" asks the author in a reader's guide for teachers and kids that she developed to spark learning and imagination in children who are finishing their school year at home.
"In my continuing hope to be helpful as everyone is remote learning, I put together a free resource for kids and teachers for The Castle in the Mist," said the Los Angeles writer. "It's fun guide for children reading the book or as a tool for discussion afterwards. I've built in ethics and kindness messages and ways to encourage students to do their own creative writing."
The Castle in the Mist, which was nominated for a SCIBA Award, is part of a trilogy for young readers. The other titles include Carnival Magic and her newest offering, The Other Side of the Wall, which is being developed as a feature film. Amy has teamed with Oscar-nominated Toy Story screenwriter Alec Sokolow to adapt the screenplay.
A prolific writer, Amy also has written several adult books, includingA Cup of Tea, which was an international bestseller. Her novelOne Sunday Morningreceived the Booklist Best Fiction of the Year and Best Historical Fiction of the Year awards and was a Barnes and Noble Book Club selection.
She is a contributor at Air Mail and served as a contributor and contributing editor atVogueand Vogue.com for many years. Her work has appeared in numerous other publications. She also was the executive producer of Warner Brothers'A Little Princess. In 2016, she served as one of the keynoters at the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop.
