I am a lucky illustrator. Not only is this the second book that I was asked to work on with Linda Sue Park (we did Yaks Yak, Animal Word Pairs), but I got to draw dragons! Gondra’s Birthday was on April 2 and I asked Linda Sue to help me …
Hey, it’s almost Halloween! That calls for a scary story. But not TOO scary. Luckily, I’ve got the perfect book: I Want to be in a Scary Story by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Jean Jullien (Candlewick, 2017). Why is it so perfect? Because Little Monster wants to be in exactly that …
A few years back, I was given the happy opportunity to mentor Cindy Chambers Johnson through SCBWI-IA’s mentorship program. She was hugely talented, but she was also witty and charming and soon felt like a friend. So I couldn’t be more excited about her debut picture book, RUSSELL WRESTLES THE …
Some of you may have heard of the author of the recent book I illustrated? Her name is Katherine Applegate. And, friends, this talented Newbery Medalist is as thoughtful and lovely as the books she writes. What an honor and privilege it has been to be a part of Sometimes …
Hello, all! I’m thrilled to have Stephanie Lurie, Editor-at-Large at Disney-Hyperion, here to chat with us today. Stephanie has had a long and illustrious career in children’s publishing, working with some of the biggest names in the business (as you’ll see below). I’ve been lucky enough to work with Steph …
Penny Parker Klostermann hit it big with her sparkling debut, 2015’s There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight (Random House, illus by Ben Mantle). Now she’s tackled an original and funny mash-up story that stirs together fairytales and a guy whose fondest desire is to be a chef. …
I loved Tammi’s recent interview with Minh Lê, and especially his reminder to picture book writers to keep things lean. As Minh put it so well: if you weigh down the manuscript with unnecessary words/details, the book might never take flight. One way to prune a manuscript is to tell …
Three authors have joined forces to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. Janet Fox, Barb Rosenstock, and Liz Garton Scanlon are spearheading a month long (August) program to showcase our beautiful national parks. Their Page Through the Parks promotion is also filled with fantastic giveaways that are …
We’ve had all sorts of good news around PBB lately, and I’m thrilled to keep it going. Today, author Anika Denise is here to chat about her new book, Monster Trucks (HarperCollins), illustrated by Nate Wragg (who we all know, of course, from the wonderful Elwood Bigfoot written by our own Jill Esbaum). Publishers Weekly gave …
I am beyond thrilled to have Jane Dyer with us today to celebrate the arrival of our new book All We Know (HarperCollins). As I write this, though, I’m struggling with which adjectives to use to describe the many books Jane has illustrated—more than fifty of them—since her first was …