Parents & Children
How Long Should a 5-Year-Old Read Each Day?
The honest answer is shorter than the guilt most parents carry about it.
1 min read
Blog
Stories about books.
And everything that happens around them.
Parenthood, relationships, reading, family, growing up, and the books that sometimes help us understand all of it.
Editor's selection
Parents & Children
My Daughter Is Five and a Half. She Hasn't Read My Books.
And I'm in no hurry for her to. A note on reading, before a child can read.
2 min read
Parents & Children
The Reading Rule I've Decided Not to Make
The most common reading rule in family life is twenty minutes a day before any screen. It sounds harmless. Why it so often backfires, and the smaller, gentler thing to try instead.
2 min read
Love & Relationships
We Used to Talk More. Then Life Got Loud.
Nobody decides to stop talking to their partner. It happens slowly, in the noise of work, children and screens. A personal note on how couples drift, and the small, unglamorous ways back to each other.
2 min read
Parents & Children
Reading with children is rarely only about books.
Parents & Children
When a Child Doesn't Like Reading, Start by Stopping
Before adding anything new, take something away. Usually it's the pressure.
2 min read
Reading Life
Our odd, changing, lifelong relationship with reading itself.
Reading Life
I Took the Stars Off ALMA
Every book I recommended had five of them. That was the problem.
3 min read
Books & Reviews
Reviews with a point of view: what a book understands about people, and what didn't work.
Books & Reviews
Funny Story by Emily Henry: Whose Story Was It, Really?
A real review, not a press release dressed up as an opinion.
Life & Us
The ordinary, unglamorous parts of being a person, and the books that sometimes help with them.
Life & Us
The Night I Realized We Were All Home, but Not Really Together
Everyone was home. Everyone was somewhere else. What I noticed that night, and what I'm trying now.
4 min read
From The Keeper Chronicles
Notes from the author's own series: Solmerith, the books, and what's coming next.
The Keeper Chronicles
The Ten Words I Buried in Book Two That Nobody's Asked About Yet
Buried in the oldest layer of a Guardian's mind, meant for someone who hasn't arrived. I wrote them two years ago and I still think about them more than almost anything else in these books.
5 min read
Latest stories
Parents & Children
Nobody Called It the Slow Group. Every Child Knew Anyway.
Every classroom has one: the reading group nobody names and every child can point to. This is for the children at that table, and for the parents wondering whether theirs is one of them.
2 min read · 9 August 2026
Parents & Children
5 Ways to Help a Reluctant Reader Finish a Book
A mystery instead of a chapter, a line to stop on, a ritual instead of an assignment, and two more ideas. Written from a writer's side of the page, for parents who want a reluctant reader to reach the last one.
2 min read · 30 July 2026
The Keeper Chronicles
Inside the Shadow Choice Universe: Every Symbol, Every Title, Every Secret I Can Tell You
Two books, eight symbols, a cast whose titles change between volumes, and nine last words I won't spoil. Everything I'd want a new reader to know before opening Shadow Choice.
3 min read · 29 July 2026