I know. I KNOW. It feels like summer vacation just started. You’ve barely cleaned out your kid’s backpack from this past year. You still have friends’ graduation parties to attend. You haven’t even taken a vacation. But the calendar does not lie, my friend. Now that July 4 has passed …
I think every picture book author has a mental list of picture books he or she loves SO MUCH that the writer wishes he or she had written them. My personal “why-couldn’t-I-have-written-that” list has five books on it.* And one of them is Carolyn Crimi’s BORIS AND BELLA, an absolutely …
Recurring elements are one of my favorite features in picture books. Picture books are shorter affairs, so the writer has to fit a plot into a tighter-than-normal space. To make the story hang together and feel like a coherent whole, there often are words, phrases or themes that repeat throughout …
If you love picture books, you’ve probably read one or two from Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She’s written a ton — well — more than 20. And her books are universally lovely. Often funny. Always moving. Deceptively simple. Amy has been in the news twice recently. First, when an essay she wrote …
I’m a fan of the TV show “Chopped.” That’s the one where contestants are given baskets full of odd, seemingly unrelated food items and have 20 to 30 minutes to combine them into a delicious dish. I watch enough episodes to be able to predict what the judges will say …
Full disclosure. Today’s post does not talk about a picture book. At least not one in the classical sense. I mean, I am blogging about a book, and it certainly has pictures, but it’s not a 32-page, full-color picture book. But this book is so beautiful, I had to give it some …
I have a new book out. A sequel to my debut book, SOPHIE’S SQUASH. It’s called SOPHIE’S SQUASH GO TO SCHOOL And, I cannot lie. I’m kind of excited. So I made a list … Five Things You Should Know About This Book It’s partly inspired by my daughter Sonia. When Sonia …
Take note, picture book lovers: There’s a new book in town. And you could win a copy. It’s PENNY & JELLY: SLUMBER UNDER THE STARS by the wonderful Maria Gianferrari who is so busy writing books she hasn’t had much time to slumber under the stars or anywhere else. We’ll …
Lisa Moser takes a different turn in her latest picture book STORIES FROM BUG GARDEN (Candlewick Press, 2016). Moser is known for traditional picture book stories like WATERMELON WISHES, KISSES ON THE WIND and RAILROAD HANK. But in her recent release, she creates a collection of delightful poems about a …
Love is a wonderful thing. And if you’re lucky, it lasts for always. Of course, always is a relative term. When Isaac and Monica — characters in John Green’s THE FAULT IN OUR STARS — text each other “Always,” they have no idea how short that time period will be. …