Launch Campaign: Kate the Great: Pre-order Takes All!
Will YOU get a signed copy of the new Kate the Great (Crown) by Suzy Becker? The Magic 8 Ball says… It is certain It is decidedly so Without a doubt Yes, definitely You may rely on it Most likely Outlook good Yes Signs point to yes Reply hazy try again Ask again later Better not tell you now Concentrate and ask again My sources say no Outlook not so good WHATEVER your fortune holds, the independent bookseller, An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe has Kate the Great: Winner Takes All available for pre-order! “A breezy, enjoyable excursion…A zippy little visit with a...
Read MoreAuthor Interview: Monster Trucks: Pit Stop on the Blog Tour
Beep, Beep -and- Beep, Beep, Yeah! The spark plug of an author, Anika Denise just zoomed over to Curious City in her Little Blue Bus. Anika was taking a quick pit stop on her zippy Monster Trucks (HarperCollins) blog tour. Below we talk about her hilarious girl-power truck picture book and our partnership on Trick or Reaters, the children’s book website where it is Halloween EVERY day. When was the last time Curious City got to hang out with her ghoul friend, Anika? When Anika donned bat wings and a monster wig and joined authors Josh Funk and Jennifer P....
Read MoreHarry Potter Influences Muggle Election
Just when you thought nothing more could be written or read about the 2016 American presidential election, in steps the boy wizard. The Boy Wizard Returns For twenty years author J.K. Rowling has held readers and movie-goers in thrall. With 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books sold worldwide in 73 languages, Rowling has created a beloved brand that was worth 15 billion dollars in 2013. That estimated worth was before tickets went on sale for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the new play written by Jack Thorne with J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany. The play premiered on...
Read MoreWhat a Beautiful Morning: An Interview with Arthur A. Levine
An interview with author Arthur A. Levine about his acclaimed picture book What a Beautiful Morning (Running Press). Interview conducted by Kirsten Cappy of Curious City. You love to sing, and your character in What a Beautiful Morning loves to sing. Was music a part of your family experience and relationships? “My dad was a very enthusiastic singer. He loved nothing better than to walk around the house early in the morning singing at the top of his lungs, ‘Oh, what a beautiful morning.’ (That was sometimes very irritating if you were trying to sleep.) But music is the connection between me...
Read MoreGive Pride, Read Pride
One weekend the horror of the Pulse attack. The next weekend LGBTQIA communities all over the country celebrating PRIDE week. Even as a straight ally, I cannot begin to touch the pain of the seven days between these events. What can one DO to help? My only answer is (my only answer ever is) to give and read stories. LGBTQIA kids in every community in American need to see themselves in the pages of the books they read. They need the camaraderie, the closeness, the confidence-building, the empathy of meeting someone like themselves on the page. Why might LGBTQIA need this connection more...
Read MoreThere MIGHT Be Giants (In KidLit)
There was a time when there MIGHT have been giants. The existence of giant, ill-tempered men could explain thunderstorms, volcanoes, mountain ranges and people that disappeared in the night. But as the world was explored and explained, giants fell into myth. But all things that have sifted into myth live on in children’s stories. Giants may stand in for that childhood feeling that other humans and the world are awfully BIG and sometimes awfully mean. Like Jack, children may want to outwit these big people by sheer bravado. But then there are the friendly giants that spare us from...
Read More