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 …
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 …
Hearing children learn a new word — even if their pronounciation is not perfect — is always a milestone moment. I specifically remember my oldest daughter excitedly referring to parking spots as “sparking pots” when she was around three years old. But, when the child learning a new word is …
Picture books are mostly meant for small people. So, perhaps, it’s not surprising that there are lots of picture books about small people and small things. I even have one of my own — NOT SO SMALL with Paola Escobar (HarperCollins, 2022). But, today, I want to share two new …
The best picture books often accomplish a lot of things. They can: But, as picture book creators know, doing some or all of these things in 32 pages and a limited number of words is difficult. Where should the focus be? What’s the right balance? How do all these elements …
I like picture books about gardens. Which is kind of funny, because I don’t have a garden and never will. I manage to keep one houseplant alive, and that’s about the extent of my gardening abilities. But hypothetical gardens in picture books are a wonderful thing. And, I love all …
I’ve always been a book geek. When I was young, that involved walking to the bookmobile and trying to convince the librarian to let me check out more books than the rules allowed. It also involved visiting the public library whenever my parents could take me. That’s where they got me an adult …
Happy holidays! If you’re reading this post, you’re probably a bookish sort of person. And, if you’re a bookish sort of person, you probably read a lot of books this year. And, because the end of a calendar year can cause some people — bookish or not — to become …
One of my favorite things is when I stumble across a picture book I haven’t heard much about and it ends up being practically perfect. (And it also goes well with a book I already know about.) The book: PIECE BY PIECE: ERNESTINE’S GIFT FOR PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT is written by …
Small people can feel big emotions. But, they might not have the skills or life experiences to know how to deal with them. That’s part of the reason Tamara Ellis Smith and Nancy Whitesides created GRIEF IS AN ELEPHANT, a picture book about loss that releases Oct. 24 from Chronicle …