We all have favorite picture books. They bring back memories, they remind us a time in our lives, they enchant us. There is one book that has impacted, affected, and influenced me more than any other. And it happens to be a Christmas book. It is The Night Before Christmas,
This new picture book by Katheryn Russell-Brown and Frank Morrison tells the true story of Melba Liston, who started playing her big trombone when she was just a little girl. She went on to become a celebrated jazz musician, playing with Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones. …
I wanted to start this post with: I fell in love with Henry and Elliebelly the first time… But I feel like I start too many posts that way. Which in no way reflects a sad truth: I rarely fall in love with ANY book. I’m more often disappointed/disenchanted. So when …
A favorite adult book of mine is ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby. They also made a pretty good movie based on the book, and currently there is a bearable TV show a little more loosely based on it. There is one premise in the book that has always fascinated …
If you’re familiar with my books, you know I love rhyme. I love writing in rhyme, and I love reading rhyme (good rhyme—no one likes reading the clunky stuff). I love the music, the rhythm, the sound of it. Well-written verse is just plain fun to read aloud. But not …
This past weekend I had a fabulous time presenting at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators ‘Prairie Writer’s Day’ in Chicago on crafting an inspired picture book. We talked about what makes the picture book a unique art form, which is the interplay between words and pictures. The …
November is PiBoIdMo Month! PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) is a come-up-with-30-picture-book-ideas-in-30-days challenge. Tara Lazar is the mastermind behind PiBoIdMo. She invites writers, illustrators, and industry professionals to share inspiring posts on her blog all month long. See? I have been a contributor to PiBoIdMo since the beginning. What an honor! …
Trying to read all the picture books published in a given year is daunting. So, I confess to cheating—keeping up only with the current books in the genre I tend to write (biographies, social studies, history.) Ask me (as some teachers recently did) about great science picture books and you’ll …
The palette is the overall color theme that an illustrator chooses. We all know how the color of a room can affect our feelings. The same holds true for the picture book page. Of course, the illustrator is chosen by the art director and/or editor because their style reflects the …
When I was a freshman in high school, I took a journalism class. In it, Ron Harrell taught me how to write a feature article. “Your ending has to tie back to your beginning,” I remember him saying. “It’s like having a big, fancy bow on the top of a …