Today I‘m looking at two books concerning teachers and the sometimes (often?) superficial disconnect between teachers and students. But they are a lot more fun than that opening sentence. As a kid, seeing a teacher outside of school is always weird. I remember as a fifth-grader, at an outdoor mall with my …
We see a lot of picture books, don’t we? Sometimes it’s a little mind-boggling. So many books! What should I read next? And then a book leaps off the shelf, grabs you by the collar, and says, “Read ME!” Which is exactly how I discovered Zachariah OHora a few years ago …
“Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.” –Alfred Hitchcock Can you remember a book from your childhood in which the main character suffered so much that it, in turn, made you wriggle in your seat with agony? For me, this book was HENRY’S AWFUL MISTAKE, by Robert Quackenbush. …
For this Picture Book Builders post, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how picture books are actually “built,” or printed and bound. I’ve wondered about this process for years (and have been asked about it many times during school visits) so I was excited when I …
Hey, buckaroos! June 16 is the release date for Ginny Louise and the School Showdown (Disney*Hyperion). *throws marshmallows* (<–Psst. You’ll have to read the book to find out why.) I am honored and thrilled to have a book with THE Lynn Munsinger. The Skinny… The Truman Elementary Troublemakers are a bad …
You Nest Here with Me is a beautiful, lyrical picture book by the mother daughter team of Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple. Illustrated (perfectly) by Melissa Sweet. It’s a book about birds. What? You say that’s not enough? Okay then— It rhymes. It rhymes brilliantly. The back flap copy …
A few posts ago, Kevan Atteberry mentioned that cats didn’t — how did he put it? — gun his scooter. But, yet, he found himself really liking Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret. Cats do gun my scooter. A lot. Check out Exhibit A (Ollie) and Exhibit B (Sunny) to the …
As a reader, the story-within-a-story format has always appealed to me. As a writer, I know this format is difficult to pull off. Because I’m working on one of my own, I pulled three from my bookshelves to take a closer look. How did their authors handle voice, pacing, tension …
I wouldn’t usually be drawn to a book about a Ballet Cat, because 1) ballet, and 2) cat. Not that there is anything wrong with ballet OR cats, they just don’t really gun my scooter. Besides a title that did not reel me in, I was a little iffy on …
Karen Beaumont is a master of the rollicking read-aloud and one of my favorite picture book authors. So when Karen has a new book out—which she does now—I consider it a cause for celebration. But I can’t talk about just ONE of Karen’s books. There’s so much to learn from …