Join me in welcoming author-illustrator Brenna Burns Yu! With one look at the book covers, I fell in love with Hazel and Twig – adorable mouse sisters who have cozy adventures in a woodland setting. Here’s the rundown on both books: HAZEL AND TWIG: THE LOST EGG – Hazel and …
Hooray for animal families! I was lucky enough to be paired with Matt Cordell several years ago for our picture book ITSY BITSY BABY MOUSE, a story about a mouse who gets lost. ITSY BITSY is still twirling and whirling; teachers tell me they use the book to teach kids …
Happy New Year! I am thrilled to kick off 2021 with something beautiful. Award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang is here to discuss THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING, an exquisite picture book memoir written by Kalia – with stunning artwork by Khoa Le, an illustrator and painter based in Vietnam. Book description: …
Over the years, I have bonded with Kelly Starling Lyons through a sisterhood of storytelling and Syracuse University (SU). We graduated from college in the 90s, and we both studied magazine journalism at SU’s Newhouse School. One of our professors was the great Bill Glavin, an angel of a professor …
Whenever words come to me in the middle of the night, I embrace them. I get up, grab the notepad from my nightstand, and scribble everything down fast. For FLYING HIGH: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles, I was immersed in research about Simone’s life for several months. And …
Artist Keturah Bobo is here to talk with us about her beautiful picture books. With a sweet, rhyming text by actress Grace Byers and gorgeous illustrations by Keturah, I BELIEVE I CAN was published in March 2020 by Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins. This empowering book features positive messages of self-love – …
Get Ready! There’s a LOT in this one little post.Whether you’re a book creator, teacher, librarian, or reader, you’ll find a gold mine of craft tips from authors and illustrators of inspiring 2020 nonfiction picture books who banded together to form a group called 20truePBs. Plus, we’re doing a huge …
With recent starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, ALL BECAUSE YOU MATTER is on the way with a release date of October 6, 2020. Scholastic calls this picture book “an ode to black and brown children everywhere that is full of hope, assurance, and love.” The poetic text from …
One of my favorite things about storytelling is establishing a sense of cause and effect. This happened because this happened. Not just this happened, this happened, and this happened…. As storytellers, we get to use our creativity to make decisions about how we organize the events in our story, including …
A few years ago, I let Kelly DiPucchio know that SUPER MANNY STANDS UP! struck a chord for me. It brought back memories from when I was in elementary school and witnessed bullying. It always bothered me to see bullies target certain students repeatedly and with such meanness. And while …