Looking for your next great, funny read? You may have to look no further than Justin Colón’s and James Rey Sanchez’ picture book IMPOSSIBLE POSSUMS, which releases Oct. 22 from Disney Hyperion. Life as an aspiring villain is lonely for Carl the possum, so he’s on a mission to create …
I could not be happier to bring you a chat with debut author Cathy Ballou Mealey. Cathy’s a long-time subscriber to PBB, so I’ve been counting down the weeks until I could post about WHEN A TREE GROWS! First, a look at her delightful book: From the publisher: “When Moose …
I volunteer as a School Reading Partner through my local school district. My job? Reading one-on-one each week with two first graders I’ll call Eva and Nick. Although the program provides reading materials, the selection is limited. So each Friday, I bring in a big bag of books hoping some …
This summer, at NerdCampKansas, I met author Marcie Colleen and, as children’s book people tend to do, formed an instant bond (and wished we didn’t live half a continent from one another). While visiting, I was lucky enough to get a peek at the F&G of her latest picture book, …
When I learned that loyal PBB subscriber Kathy Doherty had her debut picture book coming out this spring, TODAY, as a matter of fact, I requested a review copy. Oh, what a fun read aloud it turned out to be! Kathy agreed to let me share it with all of …
Mike Boldt and I have a new book entering the world TODAY. The flap copy sums it up beautifully… GOOD NEWS! Your mom’s hatching a baby! BAD NEWS! Babies take their sweet time. And when they finally do hatch? They don’t even know how to be a dinosaur. That’s where …
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. …
What kiddo doesn’t love a silly story once in awhile? Good thing they’re so easy to write. Hahahaha! We wish. Silly stories are often the toughest to get right. But Jason Gallaher does exactly that in his quirky, exuberant debut, WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE (Margaret K. McElderry Books) I was …
A few weeks back, while giving a talk at Austin’s Writing Barn, Chronicle’s Ariel Richardson held up this little charmer by author/illustrator Claudia Rueda: Ariel didn’t have to show many pages before I was hooked. By the time I got my hands on the book an hour later, my expectations were awfully …
A few years ago, I read that late author George Stanley sometimes made lists of random characters and situations, then cut them into strips, picked two, and played around with how he might match them up for a story. Why not? I thought. So I made a long list of …