Get Your Wellies On
The Spring rains have arrived and it is time to pull on your Wellies like Christopher Robin and head into the 100 Acre Wood (or your local equivalent). In a podcast conversation on with Chris Lenois of WKVT’s Live & Local, we explore children’s books that take us “into the wild.” Listen to the conversation HERE. ________________________________________________________________ Wildwood (The Wildwood Chronicles Series #I) By Colin Meloy Illustrated by Carson Ellis Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers ISBN-13:...
read moreSay Happy Birthday to Arun Gandhi!
Today, Arun Gandhi, the fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi turns 80-years-old! After a lifetime of educating the world about total nonviolence and forgiveness, he has brought his crucial lessons to children with the publication of the stunning picture book Grandfather Gandhi. The book is co-written with Bethany Hegedus and beautifully illustrated by Evan Turk. I am saying “Happy Birthday” to this astonishing human being by purchasing a copy of Grandfather Gandhi and donating it to my local school library. Why? Because we should...
read moreCrazy Syncopation
In a podcast conversation on with Chris Lenois of WKVT’s Live & Local, we explore children’s picture books on Jazz and the Jazz Greats. Listen to the conversation here. There’s a crazy syncopation And it’s tearing through the nation And it’s bringing sweet elation To every single tune It’s jazz. —Jazz by Walter Dean Meyers In the podcast, Chris compliments Wynton Marsalis’ commitment to “pay it forward” and “honor his Jazz past.” If you are a Jazz fan, consider sharing...
read moreSCBWI Whispering Pines
Whispering Pines gals, are you here?? Hello! First, here is the handout that I gravely ran short of… View & Download Discovering Your Readers And to your questions… How important is it to have a blog or website pre-publication? Quite important. Part of what a publisher may look at is your presence in the online world. Are you professional? Engaging? Do you have a following that will immediately translate into sales once your book is released? Which is better to have, blog or website? Your blog and website should be one in...
read more900 Children’s Books
For the 10th March in the Curious City Decade, I will stand before a circle of doctors, nurses, home health professionals, early childhood educators, librarians, Kindergarten teachers, parents, and grandparents while they read, review, revel in, and (sometimes) reject close to 100 children’s book titles for ages Birth to Five. As the Book Consultant for Raising Readers, I have the year long pleasure of prescreening every baby, toddler, and PreK book published to arrive at the 80-100 that the committee will further vet at this annual...
read moreJustice, Equality, Rights…Forever
As Women’s History Month opens, I was curious to open the document The Declaration of the Rights of Women signed on the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I was quite taken with the last line: We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever. —The Declaration of the Rights of Women How do we pass on the concepts of justice, equality, and civil and political rights to our daughters, sons, and...
read moreValentine to Kid Lit
As the day to celebrate romantic love approaches, we ask what Kid Lit character holds your heart in a way only a Valentine should? Who would you run away with? Listen to Podcast of our conversation on Kid Lit Love with Chris Lenois of WKVT’s Live & Local here. In a poll of children’s book writers, librarians, and readers on Facebook, the Classics came into play. Would you also… Go down the river with Huck Finn? Go into that dark cave with Tom Sawyer? Go up into the Alps with Heidi? Take the plunge with Mr. Darcy? Go into...
read moreReading for Empathy, Reading for Distance
Looking back on 2013, what were the news stories that you could not get enough of? What stories did you need to avert your eyes from? Sometimes the veil of story allows us – as adult and child readers – to more deeply understand and bear the news of the day. In fact, in a study released by the journal Science, it was found that reading literary fiction makes us more empathetic, socially perceptive, and emotionally intelligent than reading non-fiction or the news. Read more in the New York Times article, “For Better Social...
read moreBooks Under the Covers
In the way of grand Children’s Lit conversations, Chris Lenois and I from WKVT Live & Local went from talking – great picture books to get under the covers with (or to put under the tree) – to detective boys fiction – to outstanding non-fiction – to audiobook opportunities. Zig Zag Zoom. Whatever part of that conversation struck your fancy, here is a list of the books we discussed and here is the Podcast of us sweetly nattering on…...
read moreWhy YA?
Curious City spoke with Chris Lenois on WKVT’s Live & Local about “Why YA?” Why is YA (or Young Adult Literature) on the rise amongst non-teen readers and filling movie screens? Listen to the podcast here. In the discussion I touched on the rise of Dystopian fiction and the harrowing fictional issues of war and destruction in these novels being a “first world problem.” I wrote about this topic for the Vermont College of Fine Arts journal Hunger Mountain in an article entitled, “It’s the End of...
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