POW! BAM! WOW! Jackie Chan has been making movies and amazing audiences with his original and comedic stunts for decades. POW! BAM! OW! But before he was an international star, Jackie grew up in relative poverty in China, studied martial arts at the grueling China Drama Academy, and worked for …
I’m a huge fan of Beth Anderson’s historical, narrative nonfiction picture books. They bring to light important figures who have been hidden (Elizabeth Jennings), “ordinary” people with extraordinary talents (James “Smelly” Kelly), and now, a very special relationship between a young boy and his very famous father. Tad Lincoln’s restless …
This is a follow-up to a post I wrote in August about the importance of picking a structure for your picture book and committing to it. It might be helpful to read that post first, if you haven’t. After my last post about why it’s so very important to consciously …
If you think you’ve seen a plethora of picture books featuring trees lately, you would not be wrong. Both fiction and nonfiction tree books have been sprouting up everywhere. This makes me super happy because I love trees. I even named my dog Tupelo. He gravitates toward water — especially …
I like picture books. I also like libraries. So, it stands to reason that I’d really like a picture book about a library. And, I do like DEAR LIBRARIAN, a new book by Lydia Sigwarth and Romina Galotta from Farrar Straus Giroux. It’s based on Lydia’s childhood and the time …
Hello! I’m thrilled to be a new contributor here on Picture Book Builders, a blog I’ve admired for a long time. A little about me: I write both fiction and nonfiction picture books, as well as middle grade novels. I’m a science geek who used to be an environmental consultant, …
A new picture book — out now! — recently caught my eye and my heart. It’s NO VOICE TOO SMALL – Fourteen Young Americans Making History, edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley, who also illustrated the book (Charlesbridge). It’s an uplifting, affecting armful of poetry …
I have to admit. For most of my life, I didn’t know a lot about Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. I mean … I had heard of them. I knew they were a couple, and I knew they did literary things. I may have vaguely associated them with France. …
Woo hoo! Today we celebrate a magnificent picture book releasing soon, The Superlative A. Lincoln, plus an author interview with Eileen Meyer, and an incredible SWAG offer. (Really!) Glad you’re here to join in the fun! So let’s get to those questions … Q. Can you tell us about the …
I am so, so excited to share Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank’s Diary (Sleeping Bear Press), written by Meeg Pincus with illustrations by Jordi Solano. I had the privilege of reading this soon-to-be-released gem, and it’s fantastic! This true story is so compelling …