Betsy Byars is coming to the Triangle! On Saturday, October 23rd, she'll talk to children's book writers and illustrators about "The Ups and Downs of Writing for Children." If you want more information, I'll give you a phone number at the end of this commentary.

My children have laughed harder during Betsy Byars books than any other novels. And my son has felt sadness as he read her novel, Pinballs, about foster kids. The range of her thirty-five books is amazing. She's written about her own adventures in an airplane, won a 1970 Newbery Medal for The Summer of the Swans and has many times gone where children's book authors fear to tread. Her newest book is McMummy. From beginning to end, my family was hooked. We were captured by the predicaments of Mozie, the elf-like son of a single mom. Mozie's baby-sitting a plant that looks like a mummy. McMummy seems to have a power that draws him ever closer, and it moves and it hums...and before Mozie knows it he's connected to a mummy-sized plant. Improbable you say? I agree, but wherever Betsy Byars goes, we're willing to follow. She entrances us with characters like Vavoline who wants more than anything to win the title of Miss Tri-County. Valvoline's afraid her name might get in the way.

"My mother told me she had named me for somebody in a romantic novel she read, which I believed. I was so proud of my name. I wouldn't let anyone shorten it to Val. Then, then! I come to find out she got mixed up and named me for a motor oil."

Betsy Byars hooks us with mystery too and suspense and honest feelings. What's more she delivers in the end!

So I'm expecting she'll deliver a great keynote on October 23rd. And she'll be in the company of other talented writers William Hooks and Steve Mooser. Mark Dubowski will speak about illustration and Mark Levine will be telling writers how to negotiate book contracts. There will be opportunity for writers and illustrators to ask their most burning questions, to moan and groan together, and to be inspired. For more information about the conference, call Marnie Brooks at 387-8904.