If you know me, you know I am pro-chicken. I think chickens make excellent picture book characters. They are flighty (but can’t fly), they are active, and they are FUNNY. Even the word ‘chicken’ is funny. When I first discovered that the wonderful and hilarious Cate Berry wrote a book …
“Sometimes it’s hard being a goldfish. You dream of growing fat and exploring coral reefs. But instead here you are in a bowl. Going round and round in circles. And sometimes it’s hard being a child in the summer in the city. All your friends leave and there’s no one …
I write picture books. And I love doing so. But many of you probably know my day job is being a corporate editor. I turn jargon into conversational language and try to make complicated topics simple. While the two roles may not seem similar, there’s actually a lot of overlap. …
Debut authors. We love ’em. Especially when they’re also super nice people and friends, like Sarah Glenn Fortson. Sarah agreed to a visit so we could talk about her new book, THIS COWGIRL AIN’T KIDDIN’ ABOUT THE POTTY (illustrated by Russ Cox, published by Peter Pauper Press). A bit about …
Welp, who’d believe five years could go by so quickly?! So quickly we missed it, since the actual anniversary date was September 2nd. Anyway, ZIP-ZOOM-ZING!, we’ve been blogging for five years! Time really does fly when you’re having fun. We don’t want to let such a BIG anniversary pass without …
I’ve known Laura McGee Kvasnosky for over 25 years. I met her in an evening class at an art school on how to make picture books. It was taught by Keith Baker and was inspiring and bursting with the kind of info every newbie was looking for. There were several …
Hello, folks! I am thrilled—over the moon, in fact—to have Susanna Leonard Hill here to chat about her new book, Moon’s First Friends (Sourcebooks, June 2019), illustrated by Elisa Paganelli. You may have noticed its radiant glow on the New York Times Bestseller List this summer. (Congratulations, Susanna!) Here’s an excerpt …
Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed their summer. This week I’m excited to share one of my own books that was released just a few days ago! THUNDER TRUCKS, by Cheryl Klein and Katy Beebe, was a joy to illustrate, and I want to share a little bit of that experience …
Ahoy, mateys! Kim Norman has written a spook-tacular new picture book. Give Me Back My Bones!, illustrated by Bob Kolar, offers playful language, an unusual premise, and my very favorite endpapers of 2019. I’m not the only one who thinks this book is a total treasure. See? “Budding biologists as …
As fall approaches, we look forward to cooler days, brightly colored leaves, and of course, spooky stories! So I thought it would be fun to share a scary story hot off the presses, MOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE SCARES: A ZOMBIE TALE by Lynne Marie, illustrated by David Rodriguez Lorenzo. This …