m. molly backes

I wrote this poem last fall. It's been ringing in my ears all day.  Natural Disasters In how to handle tornadoes, we have bee...

Some men on my Facebook timeline have complained that #metoo is unfair to men because it implies that they're all catcalling losers, bu...

When I was six years old, I stepped on a nest of yellow jackets. We had stopped on the side of the road to pee off the side of the car, par ...

In the picture book class I'm teaching, I asked my students to bring in books to share so that we could get a broader range of texts ...

If you keep breaking the handles on your hairbrushes, you’re probably the girl next door. If you're the new girl, wait a semester b...

... Danielle Duerr ! Congrats! You guys, thank you so much for your huge and overwhelming response to this giveaway! I am honored and gr...

Trumpets! Fireworks! A whole mountain made of cookies! The Princesses of Iowa is out in paperback today! YAYYY! Isn't it pretty? ...

It’s late, and everyone is having fun except me. There are five of us: my housemates Ali, Jamie, and Nancy, our friend Mary, and me. They’re...

" The novel is dead ," announces a Great Man of Literature. "Well, the Serious Literary Novel is," he amends. "Th...

My good friend (& owner of Zia's brother-from-another-mother twin greyhound Briscoe) Claire Zulkey has passed me the Blog Hop Baton,...

Hey friends! Thanks for the great music suggestions you gave me in comments & on Twitter. As always, you are the best. Here's the ...