Introducing BIRD GIRL – Gene Stratton-Porter Shares Her Love of Nature with the World, plus a GIVEAWAY!

Hello, readers. Happy Women’s History month! I’m thrilled today to introduce my newest book (illustrated by the extremely talented Rebecca Gibbon and published by Calkins Creek), a biography of author Gene Stratton-Porter. One hundred years ago, Gene Stratton-Porter was a monstrously popular woman. She’d written 26 books, both fiction and …

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Tribute to a National Poet Laureate: TED KOOSER, More Than a Local Wonder + interview with debut author Carla Ketner AND GIVEAWAY!

Want to write a picture book text worthy of a poet laureate? This is how you do it. Since Carla and I have an in-depth chat about her book below, I’ll simply share the book’s synopsis from the publisher: Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder, a biography of poet, …

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With a little help from our friends….

Something different today, audience participation required. (Well, not required. But very sincerely appreciated.) Each summer, as we’ve been doing for many years, my friend Linda Skeers and I co-host a summer picture book writing retreat/workshop.  Each summer, we raid our personal bookshelves and lug hundreds of picture books to the …

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