Folks, it is my extreme pleasure and delight to welcome Mr. Gene Luen Yang to the blog today. He’s just finished up a book that’s part memoir, part sports history, and all exciting. We discuss his anxiety about finding new projects, how this book came together, and what’s slated for the future.
Representation and children’s books. I talk fables and fairytales with Natalie Portman.
Each year, the winners of the Sydney Taylor are “sent”, as it were, on blog tours. And today, I am pleased beyond measure to be speaking with Andrew Maraniss, winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor for Middle Grade, for his book Games of Deception: The True Story of the First US Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany.
“I did change the outcomes and timelines of some major events, which allowed certain settings to exist when in real history they were already gone or hadn’t yet come into existence, but I tried to always alter them in favor of the exiled or subjugated parties.” Dylan Meconis presents new information on the sequel to her hugely lauded graphic novel, Queen of the Sea.
Today, I am very pleased to be interviewing not simply one creator but a whole group at once. The Sowing Circle is a sisterhood of Southern Black writers. And, in their own words, the group mission is to “sow affirming words and images in the hearts of children in order to reap a generation that is inquisitive, empathetic and enlightened”.
For 25 years, Mexicans and Americans have celebrated “La Posada Sin Fronteras” (Inn without Borders) in Friendship Park. This is a Christmas tradition, which means that Mitali Perkin’s newest book, BETWEEN US AND ABUELA, is a different kind of Christmas story. I find out why she chose to write it.
Imagine, if you will for a moment, that you were to create your own book publishing company. Would that be a nightmare for you, or a dream? For David Kirk, it’s neither: It’s a reality.
“It’s almost as if he grew a tree in a garden and didn’t allow any of the leaves to grow on it at all, it’s just the bare bones of a tree, and asked me to come in and decorate the tree. But without that strength of that tree, nothing would hold up on it.” LeUyen Pham and Victoria Stapleton talk about the fabulous picture book Bear Came Along.
“Picture books are especially great in that way because they can be as funny for a toddler as they are for an older sister and the parents and the grandparents, too. If the whole family can share a good laugh, that’s pretty life affirming, no matter what’s going on in the news that day.” We talk with Adam Rubin about his latest book and why humor is key.
“The pee is simply the warm, wet catalyst that exposes the characters personalities.” Zach and Bob discuss unicorn pee, the difficulties of painting wet pants, and how kindness is king.
Ms. Cassandra Federman is on hand to answer a question or ten about the creature in question and her own book. Along the way she clarifies for me the difference between a manatee and a beluga whale, the trend of 4th wall busting characters, and her own history of rescuing manatees.
Interviews? They’re cool. But interviews between authors and illustrators in the form of a comic? Much much cooler. To that end, I bring you the marvelous Andrea Tsurumi (of my beloved Accident) and her partner-in-crime Gideon Sterer as they discuss their book NOT YOUR NEST.
One of my favorite picture biographies of last year, this book captures with seeming effortlessness the life and times of one of the world’s greatest painters. His art seems tailor-made for children, and the story itself stands as a marvelous example of how to make a picture book biography at all. I got to ask Barb and Mary some questions and, in the process, get a little schooled on my own assumptions.
When I am a good little blogger, and I mind my Ps and Qs, and catch all my spelling errors, and rein in my less than charitable attitudes for at least a good four hours, then once in the while the Blogging Gods will smile down upon me and I will be granted a boon. […]
Today’s cover reveal is interesting because rather than talk with the author about an upcoming book and its cover, I’ll be talking with writer Alice Faye Duncan about a book of hers that’s out later this month, alongside a cover reveal for a picture book biography that’s drop dead gorgeous. As of this writing, MEMPHIS, […]
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