Kids fall in love with all sorts of things. Some expected and some not so much. I wrote SOPHIE’S SQUASH, a picture book about my daughter’s real-life love affair with a butternut squash. And, picture books have been written about kids developing strong attachments to other unexpected things like a …
My first thought, upon seeing the cover of this book by my friend Beth Anderson and illustrated by Jeremy Holmes, was “Wow. I HAVE to read this.” There’s so much going on that I wanted to investigate! My second thought was “Uh-oh.” Because wasn’t there already another book on this …
Okay, before I say ANYTHING, can we just look at this GORGEOUS cover??? I mean, seriously?? I think Renata Liwksa is an incredible illustrator… But EQUALLY incredible is author Kelsey E. Gross who wrote the GORGEOUS words for this GORGEOUS book (I think the word of the day may be …
“Sara!” a voice called across the exhibit floor of the ALA Annual Conference a couple weeks ago. I looked around for a colleague or friend, but instead found a stranger. She handed me a hot pink ribbon to stick on my attendee badge boldly printed with “THE SARA CLUB.” Also …
I was in Singapore recently to speak at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content and was incredibly fortunate to meet Melanie Lee. Melanie was not only the moderator of one of my panels, but is also a children’s book author, a journalist, a multimedia project creator, and a teacher of …
Hello, Picture Book Builders people! This post is brought to you by my friend (and writing extraordinaire) Brenda Maier. ENJOY! 🙂 Nearly everybody loves a picture book with a puppy or kitten on the cover. But a picture book featuring an enormous blue monster? I’m picking up that one. Throw …
Earlier this year, I came to an uncomfortable realization. I owed too many books. Let me clarify that unexpected statement a bit. My HEART did not own too many books, but my HOUSE did. And, while my heart wanted to keep all those books, it also knew — deep down …
Happy book birthday to my writing pal, Linda Skeers! Woo-hooo!!! Look at this cover, folks. Doesn’t that beg to be picked up?! Linda is reeeeally good at writing sweet stories with humor and heart, and those elements abound on these pages, adorably illustrated by the funny and talented Heather Fox. …
As most of you know by now, Katey Howes, an extraordinary author, poet, and human, very unexpectedly passed away last month. I’ve known Katey for several years and I was so very excited that we were going to be presenting together on a poetry panel at ALA in San Diego …
While I love biographies, and teachers sometimes check them out for lessons, this part of the library collection has not been particularly popular with my students. They do, however, love sports books, whether of the fun facts variety, odes to favorite local teams, or photo-heavy manuals. A few weeks ago, …