Stories TBD
Long ago I decided to only post when a project was complete. Complete? Whenever is the messy, compelling work of engagement work around children’s lit complete? What about the ideas that bubble up every day? The sweet progress and frightful road blocks? Each day we have brainstorms around manuscripts, galleys, and F&G’s–things happening now that will not happen to readers until months or years from now. Illustrator Jamie Hogan’s Jamie Peeps blog is endlessly compelling because it is about the rich creative life she is living now. Is there room for...
Read MoreBaby Cheeks & Turtle Spots
To say that my job is a privilege would be an understatement. Here I stand 2 years after a conversation I had with Cathryn Falwell about how hard it is to find a visual clear (but compelling) picture book or board book for children 15 months to 2 years. As the book consultant for Raising Readers, I review over 500 board and pictures books a year looking for books with clarity, curiosity, and humor that kids can grasp at the youngest of ages. So here I stand with the original art to Cathryn’s Pond Babies due out from Down East Books in April feeling privileged to say,...
Read MoreNest, Nook, & Cranny Trail
Nest, Nook, & Cranny is a book for all ages featuring tongue-in-cheek sonnets and lyrical free verse by poet, Susan Blackaby. The collection of poems explores the many kinds of homes animals make for themselves. Readers experience different habitats–desert, grasslands, shoreline, wetland, and woodland–and the animals that call them home. “As a writer, I’m often asked where I get my ideas, and I usually say that I poke my nose out the front door. I suggest you do the same,” says author Susan Blackaby, “If you stay on the lookout for quirky, curious, and...
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