Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Congratulations to Patrice Barton, Libby Martinez and Pat Mora on the release of I Pledge Allegiance (Knopf, 2014)! From the promotional copy:
Libby’s great aunt, Lobo, is from Mexico, but the United States has been her home for many years,
Merlin, circled by Homicidal Aliens & Other Disappointments (Candlewick)
By Brian Yansky
Writers often bemoan the fact that they must work a day job as well as write.
They need the day job to pay the bills, but they often don’t like it much, and it keeps them from doing the thing they love–writing.
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Brian Yansky on Teaching Writing »
By Phil Bildner
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.”
— Nelson Mandela
I don’t have many heroes.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Phil Bildner on The Soccer Fence »
Kate Hannigan is the first time author of Cupcake Cousins, illustrated by Brooke Boynton Hughes (Hyperion, 2014). From the promotional copy:
Baking a fluffy pink cupcake is awesome, but wearing a dress that looks like one? No, thank you!
Cousins Willow and Delia can’t wait to spend a week vacationing together with their families.
Continue Reading New Voice: Kate Hannigan on Cupcake Cousins »
Liam and Greta
Greta Cencetti is a children’s book illustrator whose work has been published in Italian, English, German and Chinese. Her artwork has been exhibited Germany, the U.K. and China.
Most recently, her series of illustrations
Migrant Children featuring children during depression era U.S.A. were exhibited at the GALATA Museum in Genoa,
Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Obituary: Kate Duke by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “Children’s author and illustrator Kate Duke, known for her playful concept books starring an affable cast of guinea pigs, died unexpectedly at her home in New Haven, Ct., on Sunday, April 20.”
Writer and Artist Kate Duke Dies at 57 by Mahnaz Dar from School Library Journal.
Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Congratulations to debut YA Author Catherine Linka on the release of A Girl Called Fearless (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014)! From the promotional copy:
Avie Reveare has the normal life of a privileged teen growing up in L.A., at least as normal as any girl’s life is these days.
By Kami Kinard
My world is peopled with middle graders – my daughter, her friends, and the students I see when I volunteer or do school visits. Additionally, most of the fictional characters I’ve come to know and love are middle graders.
I met a lot of them in the books I read,
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Kami Kinard on Middle Graders Make Great Characters »
I’ve heard authors say they didn’t feel like they wrote their story—more like they were a conduit to some greater force writing through them.
It sounded like a bunch of hooey until it happened to me.
They say you write what you read. Well, I grew up reading fantasy.
Megan Jean Sovern is the first-time author of The Meaning of Maggie (Chronicle, 2014). From the promotional copy:
Eleven-year-old Maggie Mayfield can’t stop thinking about Oreos and this is just one of her many conundrums.
She also has two older sisters with bods that don’t stop and she has to wait to campaign for president for almost an entire quarter century.
Continue Reading New Voice: Megan Jean Sovern on The Meaning of Maggie »
