"I recently read about something called the 20-40-60 rule. When you're twenty, you know that everyone is looking at you and judging you. When you're forty, you decide you don't care. And when you're sixty, you realize they were never really looking at you in the first place."

— excerpt from
Essay for Amazon

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FUN STUFF

April's Comedy: Panties in a Twist

A Taste of Mystery Cookbook

Heteronyms

Vanity Plate Gallery

PORTLAND: WHAT'S TABOO?

April's contribution to Willamette Week's cover story, Portland, They Wrote

A Tribute to April's Father, Hank Henry*

*Requires Adobe Reader

INTERVIEWS

In the late 1990s, April was on the editorial board for Boswell Magazine, a small literary magazine that has since gone on hiatus: Here are two interviews she did: one with James Lee Burke and another with Carol Shields.

Writer's Life

Spreading My Wings
Oregon: The Writer's Toronto
New Books, Foreign Rights, and the Maybeness of Movies
Another Tale From The Writing Life
Heart-Shaped Box Launches
Essay for Amazon
The Agatha Awards or The Tale of the Toeless Hose
Who Gets to Die?
Diary of My First Book Tour
Movies and Music

Turn your child into a reader

Only 45 percent of fourth graders and 19 percent of eighth graders read daily for fun. The average kid spends 6.5 hours a day in front of a screen: TV, video, computer or Game Boy.

Be one yourself. Make sure your child sees you read every day.
Read your child stories. Make reading aloud part of your daily ritual, even after your child can read on her own.
Encourage your child to ask questions about the book you are reading to him, and ask them yourself. “What do you think will happen now?”
When your child reads to you, be patient, listen attentively and don’t correct too often.
Keep new reading material coming. Make regular trips to the bookstore or library. Get your child his own library card or even a magazine subscription.
Expand your child’s vocabulary by explaining new words you come across when reading together.
Have children practice reading to younger siblings or even pets.
Pick books at the right level, because material that’s too hard can be discouraging.
Be aware of what your child enjoys. If she likes an author, help her find more of that author's work. Encourage her to explore subjects that interest her.

 

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