Today’s is my daughter’s last day of school. Which means there’s a long summer ahead. My favorite thing to do during summer vacation when I was a kid was read. It was, for many summers, my primary activity. If you have small ones and want to start that same trend …
I’ve always been fond of librarians. I’ve never met one I didn’t like — although statistically — I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere. Why do I love librarians? Librarians love knowledge. They can find anything you need — often more accurately and quickly than Google — and they can …
Have you been to a bookish baby shower? I’ve been invited to several where guests were encouraged to bring a book as part of their gift to the baby-to-be. As a lover of books and a writer of them, I think this is a marvelous idea. Yes, babies need clothing …
If you’ve been watching Olympic figure skating, you know that skaters get judged on technical merit and artistic interpretation. And, as they’re skating, colored squares appear in the corner of the screen to show how well they executed the program’s required elements. A green box means the side-by-side triple axels …
Writers write for lots of reasons. We love words. We love telling stories. We love living in our heads. We love sharing our thoughts. We love seeing what we’ve written out in the world. But no matter what else drives us, I think all of us, on some level, hope …
“What process do you follow to write your stories?” I’ve heard that question more frequently as I’ve sold more picture books, and I never quite know how to answer. The people asking usually look as if they’re waiting for a golden ticket to inspiration. Like, maybe I’ll say that I …
Versatility is one of the characteristics I admire in other writers. It’s awesome when someone can do totally different genres or styles or voices equally well. If you appreciate this too, you’ll want to meet Dashka Slater. I first was introduced to Dashka’s picture books like DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER, ESCARGOT …
When the movie “Hidden Figures” came out last year, chronicling the roles three African-American women played in NASA during the space race, I liked it so much, I watched it twice. So, I was predisposed to like MARGARET AND THE MOON (Alfred Knopf, 2017), a picture book written by Dean …
Sometimes, people tell me they’ve always had an idea for a picture book. And, sometimes, when they tell me what their idea is — A toothbrush that joins forces with some dental floss to fight crime! An explanation of why all children are special told in the style of Geoffrey …
I visited Nerd Camp Michigan this summer — a gathering of teachers, librarians, writers and artists — where I had the great good fortune to see an advance copy of a book by Carter Higgins and Lucy Ruth Cummins called THIS IS NOT A VALENTINE. The book doesn’t release until …