Some books I read once and never think of again. Others I enjoy, but never come back to. Still others I come back to, again and again. The Family Under the Bridge is one of those. I first saw it on a free book table at a homeschooling event, and it went into my arms along with probably a dozen other books. I think it pretty safe to say that of that armload, The Family Under the Bridge is the one I've come back to the most. It's just a thin little book, not even topping 200 pa

Silvia, the boa constrictor, is nervously slipping up and down the trees around my home. "Chipper, are you ssure that it'ss ssafe to sstay?"

If a feller can speak freely, which I guess I kinda do darn well all o’ the time, one o’ the best things a boy like you could do is get hitched with a Cove girl. I canna erase ink. Maybe I shouldnta said that.

'It's a Gift, I Think' covers some (but certainly not all!) of the feelings that writers may experience. The feeling that what you're writing is stupid and that no one will ever want to read it. The fear of criticism. The confusion over why we're so drawn to writing (I'm not the only one who marvels at that, am I?). The desire to make a difference with the words that we are given...

Hair. Lots of it. Dark, thick, shaggy, nasty hair. How come she’d never noticed that before? And that thing on his finger, glinting...