Jan. 27 Designated Multicultural Children’s Book Day by Claire Kirch from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “The mission of MCCBD, co-founders Wenjen and Budayr explained to PW, is to “not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries.”
Meeting young writers at The Voracious Reader.
In the spring of 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia completed a successful orbital mission around the Earth, my hometown New York Islanders won the Stanley Cup and eight-year-old me wrote my first fan letter. It was not a letter to Shaun Cassidy or Scott Baio,
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Jennifer Wolf Kam on Words from the Past »
By Dana Walrath
My first novel, Like Water on Stone, just came out (Delacorte, Nov. 2014). Of course, I’m smiling. The cover and interior of the book are beautifully produced. I’ve poured my soul into it.
“What’s it about?” people ask me.
When I tell them, “It’s the story of three siblings who survive the Armenian genocide of 1915 with the help of the guardian spirit of an eagle,” I’ve learned that I better get my smile under control.
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Dana Walrath on Writing from the Marrow »
Norman Birdwell, Creator of “Clifford The Big Red Dog” Dead at 86 from The Martha’s Vineyard Times. Peek: “In 1962 Mr. Bridwell found himself having to support a wife and infant daughter on extra money he picked up doing freelance artwork. He considered supplementing his income by illustrating picture books.”
By Karen Rock
From the promotional copy of Creed by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie (Flux, 2014):
Three of us went in.
Three of us came out.
None even a shadow of who they once were.
When their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere,
Continue Reading New Voices Interview: Trisha Leaver & Lindsay Currie on Creed »
Matt Phelan is the first-time author of Druthers (Candlewick, 2014). From the promotional copy:
With warmth and humor, award-winning author-illustrator Matt Phelan follows a child as she leads her daddy on some rainy-day flights of fancy.
It’s raining and raining and raining,
Cover Reveal! Ink and Ashes by Valynne E. Maetani (Tu, 2015) from Lee and Low. Peek:
Claire Takata has never known much about her father, who passed away ten years ago. But on the anniversary of his death, she finds a letter from her deceased father to her stepfather.
By Dianne White
I haven’t always been a writer – at least not in the way I assume my friends who write must have been as children growing up.
I never wrote stories I couldn’t wait to share with my parents and teachers; I was not the kid who stapled lined pages together to write and illustrate my own books;
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Dianne White on Doing the Work & Not Giving Up »
Cynthia Leitich Smith & Jean Reidy at The Writing Barn
By Jean Reidy
I’ve been tackling a new genre – the middle grade novel. And after hammering out the latest draft of a novel-in-progress and getting solid feedback, I was excited to put the “work” into a workshop.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Jean Reidy on Choosing a Writer’s Workshop »
By Bruce Hale
Tell the truth, did you ever want to be a secret agent?
To experience the glamour, the danger, the mad spy skills?
I sure did, and from that childhood desire to be James Bond sprang my newest Disney-Hyperion series for tweens, School for S.P.I.E.S.
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Bruce Hale on Is There a Book Idea in Your Childhood? »
