By Sundee T. Frazier

A boy at a school visit once asked, “What was the hardest part of writing Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It (Delacorte, 2007)?”

“Everything!” I answered without hesitation.

Wanting to give the boy’s sincere question a more thoughtful and specific answer, I told the students about how a trusted advisor had proposed that the competent draft I’d written—and which I was confident would essentially be The Story—wasn’t the story at all.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Sundee T. Frazier on Starting and Persevering »

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it today! I’m thankful for my very cute husband and co-author Greg Leitich Smith, the children’s-YA literature community, and especially you!

Cynsations will be on hiatus until Monday.

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Congratulations to Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos on the release of Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science (Clarion, 2010)! From the promotional copy:

When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered that they each had sugar in their family history, they were inspired to trace the globe-spanning story of the sweet substance and to seek out the voices of those who led bitter sugar lives.

Continue Reading Cynsational News & Giveaways »

By Joseph D’Agnese

When I meet math teachers at schools or conferences, they assume that I am a lifelong math lover since my picture book is about Leonardo of Pisa, namesake of the Fibonacci Sequence.

I should come clean. Math teachers, here’s what I’ve been ashamed to confess: When I was a kid,

Continue Reading Guest Post: Joseph D’Agnese on Math Phobia »

Sequels by Michelle Knudsen from Through the Tollbooth. Peek: “When my editor expressed interest in a sequel, I was thrilled — and terrified. For the first time I had to really think about how to continue to the story, and figure out how to approach writing a new book that depended so much on something already written and out in the world.”

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By Patrice Barton

A picture is worth a thousand words. No pressure for an illustrator, right?

Luckily, in chapter books, the author has already supplied the words. So my approach here is to create illustrations that play a supporting role. My pictures must say just enough but no more.

When I was a kid deciding whether or not to read a chapter book,

Continue Reading Guest Post: Patrice Barton on the Difference Between Illustrating Picture Books and Chapter Books »