They say, write what you know. And if what you know is how to lie on a steel table, your head screwed into place, a laser pointed at your face, that might be a good place to start. We live in dark times. How dark are they? SO dark that a book about a kid with a potentially deadly eye cancer is the bit of lighthearted levity we all need and crave.
As of yesterday, The Eric Carle Museum is presenting its first virtual exhibit. Called ART in PLACE: Social Distancing in the Studio, the show consists of 21 picture-book artists, isolating in their studios, working in the midst of a pandemic. Or, as Executive Director Alexandra Kennedy puts it, “We may all be in isolation—but these artists are helping to make sure we don’t feel isolated.”
From an economic standpoint, it would make a lot of sense for publishers to look at the current shift from physical to electronic galleys and say, “Okay. This is how we’re doing it from now on.” But is that for the best?
I’ve always been a big fan of this book, but as we have learned time and time again, just because I like something, that is NO indication that Kate will as well.
You know those parents that get roped into reading to their kids’ preschool/Kindergarten/church group and walk aimlessly through libraries and bookstores in a hazy daze of barely contained fear? This book is for them. Guaranteed laughs, short content, and the kind of book I could see a kid demanding over and over again. Worth buying? “Yerp!”
Today we sit down and chat with professional cartoonist Terri Libenson as she walks us through the ins and outs of depicting a bat mitzvah’s meaning and awkwardness in a modern book age.
Hans Christian Andersen was a weird dude. Today I premiere a video that shows some art from a book about him. Whatta fella.
“Candyland is more complex than this game looks.” Continuity errors? Devil chimpanzees? John Cleese cameos? Kate and I discuss the book that spurred on all those movie franchises.
From sourdough starters to fairytales, bats, and migrants, here’s a round-up of a slew of small publishers and what they have coming out in the summer and fall.
You don’t need to be a president or a military leader to change the world. Anyone can do it but it takes faith and numbers. It takes smarts and skills and morals. And what it really takes is a knowledge of history. Of what works and what doesn’t. It takes this book. Now hand it to someone who needs it.
Distance learning takes a turn for the strange when I get to be in charge.
“I’m giving myself extra points for doing this springy book in spring . . . which I did not realize until this moment. Patting on the backy of me!” Prior to today’s episode the only Jerry Pinkney title we’d done on our podcast was Sam and the Tigers (as part of our Little Black Sambo […]
Not every 12-year-old is going to be ready for the abuse and pain addressed in Bradley’s latest. But for those kids that want a book can be honest with them about the world, written at their age-level, with funny parts and a happy ending where things get better, this is that book. It ain’t easy but it’s there for you.
I’ve been stuck inside too long. I can’t help it anymore. I have to . . have to . . . have to write the silliest post about our current times I could think of. Beware!
“Too often, children’s books by black authors have been limited by the prison of the single story, the notion that all black people share a single lived experience, and that experience, generally portrayed as heavy or edgy, usually takes place within an inner city landscape, where few rivers run, few trees grow, and birdsong is the last thing on anybody’s mind. Light, joyful, or quiet stories about our deep engagement with nature, therefore, constitute a publishing space black authors have not been encouraged to enter—until now.” Nikki Grimes provides today’s guest post on her latest book.
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