It’s raining, it’s pouring in Sam Usher’s glorious new picture book appropriately titled “Rain”. I had it in the back of my mind for a while to post about it just because I’m dying to scream out to all of you, “HOW DOES SOMEONE PAINT WATER LIKE THAT?????”, but I …
I know. I KNOW. It feels like summer vacation just started. You’ve barely cleaned out your kid’s backpack from this past year. You still have friends’ graduation parties to attend. You haven’t even taken a vacation. But the calendar does not lie, my friend. Now that July 4 has passed …
What kiddo doesn’t love a silly story once in awhile? Good thing they’re so easy to write. Hahahaha! We wish. Silly stories are often the toughest to get right. But Jason Gallaher does exactly that in his quirky, exuberant debut, WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE (Margaret K. McElderry Books) I was …
Read any Jon Agee books lately? He’s got a lot of them, including three in the past three years—It’s Only Stanley (2015), Lion Lessons (2016), and Life on Mars (2017; all from Dial). As a Jon Agee fan, I knew I wanted to feature one here—but which one? I decided …
Hello everyone! I’m super excited to have the privilege to join the PictureBookBuilders blog and am looking forward to participating with the rest of this great crew. For those who don’t know me, my name is Mike Boldt, and I’ve been illustrating almost exclusively for children for the past 18 …
Today I’m excited to share a sneak peek of Don Tate’s upcoming picture book about how a puny, weakling kid grew into a powerful bodybuilder–STRONG AS SANDOW: HOW EUGEN SANDOW BECAME THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH.
Description from publisher, Kids Can Press: “Steve is a fine horse. But he thinks he could be finer. He wants to be EXCEPTIONAL.” When Steve finds a gold horn in the forest and attaches it to his head, ta-da! Exceptional! His friends are so impressed, they, too, attach objects to …
Blue Ethel took almost ten years to become a book. Someone asked me if that’s because I put it away for a while to work on other things? No, not really. Ethel was just a little pokey in her journey to find the right ‘owner’. She finally found her person …
Some of my favorite summer memories revolve around the carnival’s annual visit to my little Iowa town. Why? -Freedom! My best buddy Teresa and I headed to the park in a euphoric frenzy, saved quarters burning holes in our pockets. Ride tickets in hand, we’d run flat out between the Octopus, …
How could anyone not stop, pick up, and thumb through a book called Pete With No Pants. I mean curiosity alone would make me wonder 1) WHY is it a book, 2) is this appropriate, and 3) why doesn’t he have any pants, is he too poor to afford them? Were …