Welcome to DebbieDuncan.com

Thanks for coming to Debbie Duncan's web site

I grabbed the debbieduncan.com domain ten years ago (!) to promote my books and my love of children's literature. Since then there's been the dot-com boom and bust, with another boom on the horizon, and I'm still here in my little corner of the web. (I've chosen not to have a blog - I'd never finish my novel if I did.) My books, especially When Molly Was in the Hospital, are selling nicely. 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'm writing a novel now 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. I'm calling it "Caller #9."

But 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, including my take on my "green" Christmas tree, how I hate Halloween, and a version of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first?" routine Molly and I did 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.

I can now call myself a playwright as well as a children's literature advocate and essayist. My daughters drew me into children's theater, and over the years I progressed from being the parent in charge of the plays at our elementary school to being the producer, and now coauthor of the shows, including two musicals: Crystal, about a girl who finds herself in a strange place and wants more than anything to go back home, and Robert Louis Stevenson's classic A Child's Garden of Verses.

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!