Welcome to DebbieDuncan.com

Thanks for coming to Debbie Duncan's antiquated web site

I grabbed the debbieduncan.com domain back in the last century to promote my books and my love of children's literature. Since then there's been the dot-com boom and bust and then the George W. Bush era, which has led to Greatest Recession, if not another Depression. Meanwhile, I'm still here in my little corner of the web. Recently I dipped my toe into the blogging world by joining twitter (debbieduncan is my handle). My books, especially When Molly Was in the Hospital, are selling nicely. Molly will have a second printing when the economy recovers. I still love children's books, and will never stop writing about the best of them. Click here to read reviews I wrote for the Palo Alto Weekly. I have blurbs about my own books at the bottom of this page - the only ads you'll ever see at debbieduncan.com. If all goes well, I'll add another cover in the next couple of years. I've almost finished revising a novel about a 13-year-old who wins a trip to Hawaii with the coolest D.J. in L.A. on a radio contest in 1967. "Caller #9" begins on a Princess telephone, shines under Hollywood lights, jets off to Honolulu, crosses paths with Martin Luther King, Jr., and protests the junior high dress code in a school election that pits the main character against the ultimate school authority, the junior high vice principal.

Like many writers, I've also found myself traveling down a different creative path. I love the work I do for KQED-FM in San Francisco, writing and recording Perspectives as a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition. I'm always thinking if I can turn an incident or opinion into a Perspective. Click here for the texts of these opinion pieces. I opine that I'm a "slow medicine" advocate; tell how I got the DMV to take my unsafe father's drivers license away from him; introduce you to the remarkable women of Pooh Corner; let you know what it's like to be a campaign phone-banker; explain my take on my "green" Christmas tree and how I hate Halloween; provide a version of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first?" routine that Molly and I wrote and performed for the '07 Giants Opening Day. I also write about the obscene practice of starting school in the middle of August; celiac disease; breast cancer research; high school stress and college admissions; vegan/gluten-free family dining; SAD; the driver's test; touchscreen voting machines; Christmas after September 11th; coping with a husband who drives a Suburban, along with the follow-up, how to get rid of the darn thing responsibly; how to address families with different last names; and more than two dozen other essays.

So . . . that's who I am as a writer. Please write to me - there's an e-mail button on each page.

"Ever wonder what book to buy for your kids or grandkids, nephews or nieces - and how to encourage them to read? Duncan has all the answers in this overview of the best in kid lit from picture books to teen fiction."
Stanford Magazine

"Weaving in anecdotes and commentary, (Duncan) has created far more than an annotated reading list. Reading Joy of Reading is more like having a conversation about books with a good friend."
Newport Beach/Costa Mesa Daily Pilot

"...browsing in it (Joy of Reading) will give you years of titles to look for, and a contagious enthusiasm for the way Duncan and her husband, Bill, have turned their three daughters into bookworms."
San Jose Mercury News

Yes, I share my family's success stories (as well as a few flops) and our favorite books in Joy of Reading. The first part is arranged by age of the listener/reader, from birth through the teenage years. I write about how my children and I (and our friends) have enjoyed more than 600 great children's books. In part two the essays are more philosophical. There are chapters about the library, my concept of a reading diet, what to do about the television, and others. I have a list of books at the end of every chapter, and an Index of titles and an Index of authors and illustrators.

When Molly Was in the Hospital is a fictionalized account of what my older daughters, Jennifer and Allison, went through when their baby sister, Molly, was in and out of the hospital before and after her diagnosis of celiac disease. I felt I had to write this book because there were no books about and for siblings of hospitalized children. Physician/mom Nina Ollikainen's wonderful illustrations bring out all the emotions I touch on in the text. School Library Journal called Molly "A sensitive and involving story." At the 1995 annual meeting of the American Booksellers Association, it won the Benjamin Franklin Award for "best children's picture book" (published by a small press), and continues to find an audience twelve years after its publication. A reader wrote at Amazon.com: "It is rare to find something acknowledging the needs of siblings of disabled or sick children, and this book does it extremely well. It is written simply, but factually, and is very true to real hospital stays. The illustrations are gorgeous. An absolute MUST if you have children and one is ever hospitalized." Thanks!