That's Eric Ode smiling up from the cover of Christian Communicator this month. Jane Heitman, a frequent contributor to many periodicals including Christian Communicator: The Magazine for Christian Writers and Speakers, wrote the two-page story. Heitman and Ode first met two years ago while both were attending the International Reading Association Conference in San Antonio, TX. Jane was leading a workshop for educators on inviting poetry into the classroom, and Eric, along with fellow poets Kenn Nesbitt, Robert Pottle, Ted Scheu, and Bruce Lansky, was taking part in a symposium workshop. You can learn more about Christian Communicator at their web site.

Last week I had the pleasure of being interviewed for a radio program called Beyond Words, which is broacast on KCLU, a National Public Radio station in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Note: This program is in RealAudio format. You will need the RealPlayer to listen to it. Click here to get the free RealPlayer.

This collection of spooktacular poems will delight, frighten, and crack kids up. It contains the funniest poems ever written about werewolves, vampires, creepy-crawly bugs, ghosts, headless horsemen and other spooky topics. Although the poems cover scary themes, they're not focused on Halloween-so this book can entertain kids all year long.