Cynsations Reporter Elisabeth Norton is at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair this week, where she caught up with Sylvia Vardell. See their 2021 Cynsations interview about the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), and watch for Elisabeth’s Bologna 2023 post later this spring.
Meanwhile,
Continue Reading Throwback Thursday: SCBWI Bologna Author-Illustrator Interview: Naomi Kojima »
Today I talk with Jenn Bailey, the Schneider Award-winning writer of one of my very favorite picture books A Friend for Henry (Chronicle, 2019), illustrated by the wonderful Mika Song.
I’m so excited to see that Henry’s journey continues in Henry,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Jenn Bailey on Writing Early Readers & Henry, Like Always »
Spotlight image: Cate Berry writing in her 1967 Shasta camper.
Austin author and fellow VCFA alumnx Cate Berry has a new picture book, Thank You, Teacher, illustrated by Sara Varon (Balzer+Bray, 2023). I was eager to catch up with her and get her take on rhyming picture books,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Cate Berry on Finding A Creative Rhythm & Thank You, Teacher! »
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Suma Subramaniam, A.J. Eversole and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumihardja, illustrated by Shiho Pate (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023).
Author/Illustrator Insights
Day 21 Throwback: Vanessa Brantley Newton by Tameka Fryer Brown from The Brown Bookshelf.
Congratulations to Lois Lowry on her newest book, The Windeby Puzzle (Clarion, Feb. 14, 2023). From the promotional copy:
Lois Lowry transports readers to an Iron Age world through the suspenseful dual narrative of a boy and girl both battling to survive. In an utterly one-of-a-kind blend of fiction and history, a master storyteller explores the mystery and life of the 2,000-year-old Windeby bog body.
As a young adult author and former high school teacher who loves reading lists full of unique voices and identities, I find recent news about banned books heartbreaking.
Back in 1986, I wrote a high school research paper about book censorship, and here we are again. I dived back into this problem as an MFA student at the Vermont College of Fine Arts,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Lyn Hawks on How YA Is Literary: The Search for an Abundant Canon »
By Sandra Nickel & Kathi Appelt
Spotlight image: Sandra Nickel and Kathi Appelt talking at the Château de Chillon in Switzerland in 2019, photo by Ken Appelt.
After receiving her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Sandra Nickel studied an extra semester with Newbery Honoree and two-time National Book Award Finalist,
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Suma Subramaniam, A.J. Eversole and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 2023).
Author/Illustrator Insights
Congratulations to Jane Sutton on Gracie Brings Back Bubbe’s Smile, illustrated by Debby Rahmalia (Albert Whitman, 2022). Kirkus Reviews called the book “A tender reminder that family and culture can buoy us after loss.”
Take a look back at Jane’s first Cynsations guest post from 2010.
Guest Post: Jane Sutton on Revisiting a Theme
By Jane Sutton
My friend Fay called after reading my latest picture book.
Continue Reading Throwback Thursday: Jane Sutton on Revisiting a Theme »
I recently read Lyn Miller-Lachmann‘s young adult historical novel, Torch (Carolrhoda Lab, 2022), and am eager for Lyn to share her insights on writing in multiple points of view with Cynsations readers. First, from the promotional copy:
Czechoslovakia, 1969
Seventeen-year-old Pavol has watched his country’s freedoms disappear in the wake of the Soviet Union’s invasion.
Continue Reading Author Interview: Lyn Miller-Lachmann on Multiple Point-of-View & Torch »