Author Interview: Susan Kuklin on Writing Nonfiction & Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

Author Interview: Susan Kuklin on Writing Nonfiction & Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

From the promotional copy of Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, words and photographs by Susan Kuklin (Candlewick, 2014).

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens. 

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before,

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Guest Post: Carmen Oliver on Founding a Children’s-YA Author & Illustrator Booking Agency

Guest Post: Carmen Oliver on Founding a Children’s-YA Author & Illustrator Booking Agency

By Carmen Oliver
of The Booking Biz

“I don’t believe in barriers…just fly your plane.”

—Captain Nicole Malachowski from Tanya Lee Stone’s Almost Astronauts (Candlewick, 2009)

Over the last eleven years, I encountered a lot of barriers.

A lot of uncertainty.

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Guest Post & Interview: J.L. Powers & George Mendoza on Children’s Book Illustration & Colors of the Wind

Guest Post & Interview: J.L. Powers & George Mendoza on Children’s Book Illustration & Colors of the Wind

By J.L. Powers

What would your life be like if it felt like you were looking into a kaleidoscope every time you opened your eyes?

What would it feel like to experience strange visions twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, even at night when you dream?

That’s what happened to George Mendoza when he started going blind as a teenager.

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New Voice: David Zeltser on Lug, Dawn Of The Ice Age

New Voice: David Zeltser on Lug, Dawn Of The Ice Age

Curriculum Resources

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

David Zeltser is the first-time author of Lug, Dawn Of The Ice Age: How One Small Boy Saved Our Big, Dumb Species (Egmont, 2014). From the promotional copy:

In Lug’s Stone Age clan, a caveboy becomes a caveman by catching a jungle llama and riding it against the rival Boar Rider clan in the Big Game. 

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Guest Post: Simon Nicholson on An Alternative History & Investigator of Mystery

Guest Post: Simon Nicholson on An Alternative History & Investigator of Mystery

Excerpt, educator’s guide & more information!

By Simon Nicholson

I was reading books about Houdini. It seemed to me one of the most exciting things about him was that, as well as being the world’s most famous illusionist, he also devoted much of his life to doing battle against “magic”.

Enraged at the thought of ordinary people being exploited,

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Kimberley Griffiths Little on The Power of Story & Our Brains

Guest Post & Giveaway: Kimberley Griffiths Little on The Power of Story & Our Brains

By Kimberley Griffiths Little

When I was young I read a book a day.

I always had a book with me, whether it was inside my desk when I was done with the class assignment, or in the car as the family drove somewhere (and especially long trips), the waiting room of the dentist office,

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