Last summer, I posted about an adorable new character, Jody Schaefer and illustrator Claire Messer’s Busy Bus, introduced to us in IT’S YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, BUSY BUS! (Beach Lane Books). In that first outing, Busy Bus’s worries mirror that of a new kindergartner as he struggles with first-day …
I’m a sucker for a dog book. And cute, colorful illustrations. And out-of-the-box stories that offer new twists on familiar tropes. No wonder I’m drawn to Elise Broach and Eric Barclay’s 2018 book, MY PET WANTS A PET, which has all that and more. The familiar: Kid wants a pet, …
I could not be happier to bring you a chat with debut author Cathy Ballou Mealey. Cathy’s a long-time subscriber to PBB, so I’ve been counting down the weeks until I could post about WHEN A TREE GROWS! First, a look at her delightful book: From the publisher: “When Moose …
Confession: I am not a confident swimmer. As a kid, I had lessons at the Y, but I never quite developed the breathing skills necessary to be more than a minnow. Well, I could save myself. Probably. As I paged through Lisl Detlefsen’s new picture book, 1, 2, 3, JUMP! …
I don’t remember where I first saw mention of author-illustrator Evan Turk’s upcoming YOU ARE HOME — An Ode to the National Parks. I only remember how my heart rate picked up when I saw this cover. Actually, I think my family has a slide of my brother and me …
You know how sometimes you find a book in which text and art work so beautifully together it gives you a big ‘ol lump in your throat? That’s how I felt when I paged through Hayley Barrett’s BABYMOON, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal. (It didn’t hurt that we’d just had a …
This spring marks the debut of one of our loyal subscribers, Danielle Dufayet. I couldn’t be happier to talk with her about her book, You Are Your Strong (Magination Press/illustrations by Jennifer Zivoin). In a minute. First, here’s what I like about this one. As we all know, kids often …
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to get look at a manuscript written by my friend Ann Ingalls. Right away, I knew it was something special. It was just one of those stories that grabbed you on the first page and had you giggling throughout. So you can …
A year ago, I got real on Facebook with this post: The writing life.Here on FB, those of us who write tend to share the yippee stuff and clam up regarding our failures. Who wants to admit those and feel like a loser? Bleh. But a comment somebody made a …
Hard to believe how 2018 has flown by. I didn’t want it to end without thanking YOU, loyal readers, for dropping in on us again and again, keeping up with us as we talk all things picture books. Thanks, too, for your occasional comments. Not much fun writing if nobody’s …