I'm also uploading short fun and free videos for parents and girls on YouTube.com/GirltalkWithCarol. My most popular is "Get Your Kids to Read," (below) which is in English and Spanish. Others include "Applying to College," "Help Your Kid in School," "Oops I Made A Movie!" "How to Lose Weight" and "Take Your Kids to Art Museums" in English, Spanish, and French. (Tu aimes mon accent? Te gusta?) My cat Mike makes cameos. Please subscribe. >^..^<

Need an expert on teens?

A "go-to girl guru," I love speaking to kids, tweens, teens, and parents. Here are five quick and popular Howdini videos for parents of tweens as well as a bio and resume (Oprah; Today Show; Yale Phi Beta Kappa summa cum laude; M.A. from Middlebury; a dozen books). Newsweek dubbed me a Teen Dear Abby, Private and Personal recently came out in Namibia, and I've had 31 letters in The New York Times. I'm thrilled to say that I am represented by Susan Ginsburg of Writers House, and you can reach me at carol@carolweston.com. (Note: If you're a girl seeking advice, the shorter your email, the faster I answer.)

The Melanie Martin Novels...

The Diary of Melanie Martin begins: "Dear Diary, You will never in a million years guess where we're going. Nope. Guess again. Never mind, I'll tell you. Italy! We're going to Italy!..." Vanity Fair calls Melanie "irrepressible," School Library Journal says Melanie and her brother Matt the Brat are "laugh-out-loud funny," and Kirkus says, "Go, go, go, girl." Also in the series: Melanie Martin Goes Dutch, With Love From Spain, and Melanie in Manhattan. The Diary of Melanie Martin just went into another paperback printing, and all four are ebooks.

I'm now working on...

A sequel to my diary-novel about Ava Wren, the funny fifth grade word nerd with a passion for palindromes. A memoir for adults. A picturebook starring a cat. A dark YA novel. A light YA novel. An advice book for parents of teens. (And pssst, I like to read in the hammock too and not every day is wildly productive!)

I'm setting up school visits--here's an author visit article. My most popular talks are: 1) How Books are Born (for kids), 2) Advice 101 (for preteens and teens), and 3) Dangerously Naive (for parents and educators). I share eye-opening letters, both light-hearted and heartbreaking, and can answer questions extemporaneously or questions submitted on index cards.

In a few weeks, I'll be a judge the New York Society Library's Young Writers Awards. Other recent stuff? At Yale, I gave a Master's Tea, Writing for Your Life; last October, I was the Hannah Judy Gretz Fellow for 2012 at Ragdale Writer's Colony in Illinois; and this January I taught a four-week course called "Writing First Person" at Middlebury College. Bliss!

What else is here?

Family Photos. (Find the celebs...) YouTube: Little Bites of the Big Apple. Quotes. Q & A & Hotlines. An interview. Favorite fan letters. An essay about my dad. An essay about my grandmother. An A.P. article on Malia and Sasha when they were pre-presidential. Even a painting of our daughters by Bascove. Links to For Teens Only and Private and Personal and my "momoir," From Here to Maternity. And finally, a few words for kids who don't like reading. I used to be petrified of big books.

I'm glad you came by and I hope you've ordered books, joined my Facebook Author page, and watched and Liked a video or two. I have a baby toe in Twitter too. Follow me...

Here's to you!

Carol (a.k.a. "Dear Carol")

P.S. My husband Rob Ackerman works on Saturday Night Live parody commercials and writes plays: Tabletop won a Drama Desk Award; Call Me Waldo had a 2012 run off-Broadway; and Volleygirls is becoming a musical and will have six productions this July for NYMF at Signature Theater in NYC. He's on Wikipedia too. My Jeopardy-champion brother Mark Weston's books include HONDA: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars, Giants of Japan, and Prophets and Princes. My daughter Lizzi is all about Birch Benders Pancakes. Yum!

P.P.S. Know any young families? Share this...

P.P.P.S. Getting ready for summer? Here's how to get in shape.

P.P.P.P.S. And here's my advice in Spanish on how to take kids to art museums: