This is one of those books that I read and immediately couldn’t wait to share with my grandkiddos, because 1) it’s beautiful, and 2) it’s the first time I’d seen this subject–light pollution–in a book for kids, and they need to know about it. The combination of Marsha Diane Arnold’s …
I am so very impressed by Miranda Paul’s latest book, SPEAK UP (Clarion, illustrated by Ebony Glenn). This one is an excellent tool for teaching kids the whens and hows, but what I’m most impressed by is that Miranda manages to give the subject the depth it deserves (in rhyme!) …
Today I’m excited to chat with my good friend Linda Skeers about her new book, DINOSAUR LADY, the Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist (Sourcebooks, illus by Marta Alvarez Miguens). Linda and I have been writing friends since…well, as she put it when she signed my copy: “since …
Hi, friends. I love when a real-life passion fuels a story. Any book that results from that is truly a labor of love and feels like so much more than “just” a story. It feels like a part of us, pulled into the light from way down deep. Such is …
I love nonfiction, both reading it and writing it, so I’m delighted and honored to be a guest today on Picture Book Builders, one of my very favorite blogs—thanks, Jill! I have a deep love of the natural world and the creatures who live in it, and I aim to …
This oh-so-appealing doggy is Big Al. Early in this story, he becomes separated from his over-the-road trucker friend at an interstate rest stop (she thinks he’s sleeping in the back of the cab). Does he panic? Does he bark incessantly? Does he run off along the highway in search of …
COVID-19. How could something we’d never heard of a few short months ago change our lives so quickly — and in so many ways? Some of us are merely inconvenienced (for now). Some of us are relishing long, uninterrupted writing days. Some of us are volunteering, jumping in to help …
I’m celebrating a new book today, Frog Boots (Sterling Children’s Books), brightly illustrated by my talented new friend Joshua Heinsz! One August afternoon a couple of years ago, an image popped into my head. It was a little boy, clomping to a kindergarten Circle Time in new boots, eager to …
Gifted illustrator Dorothia Rohner has been my friend for a long time, and I couldn’t be happier to showcase her debut book, I AM GOOSE! (Clarion). From the publisher: “A simple, friendly game of Duck, Duck, Goose goes off the rails in giggle-inducing confusion when a silly goose tries to …
I have a new book out, We Love Babies!, and I get to pretend it’s mine, all mine…because my name is the only one on the cover. In reality, the ones deserving the credit here are the brilliant design-photo-editorial team at National Geographic Kids. They took my rhyming concept book …