• Just Out! A Bunch of Punctuation…

    A new anthology has been published with one of my poems! The topic… (hint hint). Selected by noted anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins, A Bunch of Punctuation is a collection of all-new poems written from the points of view of personality-filled punctuation marks, and is a memorable introduction to grammar for children ages 7-12.

  • Under Construction

    We are making some changes on the website. Please excuse the mess. We will be ready for prime time soon!

  • Winter Wolf Howl

    What’s new in Allan’s world? Read about it in my latest Wolf Howl. And if you want to get these howls hand delivered to your inbox, sign up for my mailing list in the footer.

  • What I’m Reading

    Just started The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny (Liveright) by Michael Wallis.  I read a lot of non-fiction in my quest to create belieavable historical fiction. I’m already deeeeeep into a book about The Donner Party, so I had promised myself I’d cut off the research. BUT this book came out, and it seems like a pretty well-considered and professionally done. Soooooo. Recently finished Between Two Skies (Candlewick Press) by Joanne O’Sullivan. A moving story about a courageous girl caught up in the destruction which was Hurricane Katrina.  Satisfies my love of disaster, romance, and historical fiction.

  • What I’m Writing

    I now have five books under contract coming from the good folks at Candlewick Press. I have finished the first draft of of the final book in a trilogy (think New Found Land and The Watch that Ends the Night) of historical journey/disaster tales.  The subject is the doomed Donner Party who find themselves trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1848. This one is a bear! I’m working on it as we SPEAK! I’m in the editing stages of a collection of poems about Space, titled The Day the Universe Exploded My Head: Poems That Take You Into Space and Back Again.  We’ve already got some art from the wonderful…

  • Multi-Media Po-Folk!

    Click here Where We’re From Hunter Elementary School to see the final televised version of a group Where We’re From poem by the students of Hunter Elementary School, in Raleigh, NC where I was honored to spend an entire week!