I’ve mentioned multiple times here how I am a sucker for fun or interesting or awkward friendship stories. Croc & Turtle! by Mike Wohnoutka (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019) fits into one or more of those categories. Big, lovable Croc believes he is very good in a number of skills. And …
As a writer and a reader, I’m often drawn to books that give a new twist to old songs, and we’ve featured quite a few here at PBB. In addition to two of my own (Rock-a-Bye Romp and Over the River & Through the Wood), there’s Twinkle, Twinkle Little Car, …
So I have the privilege of hanging out with some pretty amazing folks on a fairly regular basis via Skype. There’s a few of us who having been doing it for nearly 10 years now, and it’s sort of like a virtual office of (mostly) illustrators. We talk off on …
Last week a wonderful book released into the world–The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney, written by Alice McGinty and illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle. As a self-professed space nerd, I couldn’t wait to learn how Pluto had been named by an 11-year-old girl! And this book did …
My guess is you already know the stars of the book Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever. You don’t think so? Well, maybe these two clues will help: Charlie Brown and Snoopy. This book, written by Barbara Lowell and illustrated by Dan Andreason, takes us to the …
I couldn’t decide… I was torn between a clever picture book with darling cartoon illustrations. Because I know we have many educators who visit this site and it would be a terrific addition to a classroom project. (Perhaps I’ll do it next month?) But, instead I went for the art. …
Confession: I am not a confident swimmer. As a kid, I had lessons at the Y, but I never quite developed the breathing skills necessary to be more than a minnow. Well, I could save myself. Probably. As I paged through Lisl Detlefsen’s new picture book, 1, 2, 3, JUMP! …
As Mike pointed out in his post last week, “how to” picture books offer lots of opportunities for humor. So I thought I’d follow up with another recent example: How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps, written by Nicola Winstanley and illustrated by John Martz (Tundra, …
Hello again, everyone. Spring is in the air and everywhere I look, people are out walking their dogs. So when I was in the bookstore the other day, and I noticed HOW TO WALK AN ANT (By Cindy Derby). I picked it up and quite quickly knew which book my …
The reason I love writing picture books so much is because of…the PICTURES! Seriously, working with a variety of amazing artists has taught me so much about leaving room for the illustrator’s ideas and feelings about our topic. It’s a true partnership and I treasure each relationship. Sometimes it seems …