sympathy – Janet Ruth Heller

Interview about Janet’s Books for Children

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:September 12, 2025
Post category:Bullying Chapter Book Children's Literature Creative Writing Discrimination Diversity Editing Manuscripts Education Janet's Speaking Events Picture Book Psychological Issues Sibling Rivalry Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators sympathy

Charlie Barshaw interviewed me about my kids’ books for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators of Michigan. The interview appears today in The Mitten at https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2025/09/writer-spotlight-janet-ruth-heller.html Thank you to Charlie and the SCBWI-MI! #picturebook #middlegradebook #bullyingprevention #self-esteem #solarsystem #siblingrivalry Photo of Janet Ruth Heller by Darren Goodman

Benefits of Reading Fiction

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:May 27, 2023
Post category:Books empathy Fiction imagination Novels reading sympathy

Editor Tom Kolodziejski of Libertarian Country just published my comments in his article “The Benefits of Reading Fiction.” The link is https://www.libertariancountry.com/blogs/journal/the-benefits-of-reading-fiction #fiction #reading #imagination #sympathy #empathy #insight

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I love books by British writers P. D. James, Seamus Heaney, S. T. Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Judy Blume, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Jim Daniels, Mong-Lan, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alberto Ríos, Gail B. Griffin, Jerry Spinelli, Jane Yolen, Kathryn Erskine, Gary D. Schmidt, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marge Piercy, Grace Paley, Alicia Ostriker, Jaimy Gordon; South African writer Athol Fugard;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon; and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico García Lorca, Ruben Darío, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, and Dámaso Alonso.

I also love Japanese haiku, especially those by Matsuo Bashō.

My writing has been influenced by many other authors, including British writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon, and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico Garcia Lorca, Ruben Dario, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillen, Pedro Salinas, and Damaso Alonso.