By Louise Hawes
From the promotional copy of The Language of Stars by Louise Hawes (McElderry, 2016):
Sarah is forced to take a summer poetry class as penance for trashing the home of a famous poet in this fresh novel about finding your own voice.
Continue Reading Author Interview: Louise Hawes on The Language of Stars »
The One and Only Ivan: Meet the Author Book Reading from TeachingBooks.net. Peek: “Katherine Applegate introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating The One and Only Ivan.”
Empowering Parents to Increase Literacy in the Home by Sarah Walzer from Lee &
By Misa Dikengil Lindberg, Alexander O. Smith and Avery Fischer Udagawa
This month, the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore will feature Cynsations’ own Cynthia Leitich Smith speaking on “The Irresistible Fantastical Supernatural: Writing a World that Beckons.”
Also featured at AFCC 2016 will be Cathy Hirano,
Continue Reading Guest Interview & Giveaway: Translator Cathy Hirano (Pre AFCC 2016 Con) »
By Amy Bearce
Confession: I have a terrible time with world-building. So, naturally, I consistently write fantasy, where world-building is critical.
You gotta be kidding me! Credit: Pixabay, mintchipdesigns, CC0
In real life, I’m not very observant about the space around me. I notice people’s emotions, but not what they are eating or what they are wearing.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Amy Bearce on World-Building Woes (& Wows) »
Kurt Dinan is the first-time author of Don’t Get Caught (Sourcebooks Fire, 2016). From the promotional copy:
10:00 tonight at the water tower. Tell no one. -Chaos Club
When Max receives a mysterious invite from the untraceable,
Continue Reading New Voice: Kurt Dinan on Don’t Get Caught »
By Carole Boston Weatherford
& Jeffrey Boston Weatherford
From Carole
Set during World War II, You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen (Atheneum, 2016) follows the training, trials and triumphs of the U.S. military’s first African American pilots.
The book pairs my poems with scratchboard illustrations by my son,
“What your child reads sets the path for their own self-worth as well as how they see others. Grace Lin is a children’s book author/illustrator whose book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown), received the Newbery Book Honor. She shows how the books that are not on your child’s bookshelf are just as important as those that are.
Continue Reading Video: Grace Lin on Windows, Mirrors & Children’s Books »
Mary E. Cronin and Bonnie Jackman
Life is just different for kids of LGBTQ parents.
They navigate awkward questions, tricky social situations, and hetero-normative language on a daily basis.
My wife Bonnie Jackman and I shared sparks for inspiration as well as seeds of conflict for writers in “Re-imagining Families: Writing about Characters with LGBTQ Parents”
Continue Reading Guest Post: Mary E. Cronin on Writing Children & Teens with LGBTQ Parents »
Illustrating Lonnie Johnson’s Story: Whoosh! from Don Tate. Peek: “…unlike many other subjects I’ve written and/or illustrated about…Lonnie Johnson is still living. He lives and works today in Atlanta, Georgia, at his company, Johnson Research & Development Co. For that reason, being just a phone call or email away,
As with a lot of aspects of creative media these days, Disney movies have been criticized for their lack of diversity.
While such criticism is necessary, I think it’s important as well to give praise where it’s due and acknowledge things done right.
So I want to hand it to Disney for featuring resonant Asian-white characters in several of its recent animated movies,
