Guest Post: Jessica Vitalis on Heroes, Villains, & the Gray Space in Between

By Jessica Vitalis

Heroes and villains are typically archetypes that let us see the best––and worst––of the human race. In the Superhero genre, these characters are usually obvious: Superman and Lex Luther or Batman and the Joker. In real life, they can be obvious, too––we see that playing out on the world stage in the fight between Russia and Ukraine.

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Author Interview: Laurie Goodluck Reflects on her Influences & Forever Cousins

By: AJ Eversole

Today on Cynsations we are chatting with Laurie Goodluck. I had the pleasure of meeting her during We Need Diverse Book’s Native Writing Intensive in its debut year, 2020. Seeing her career move forward since that time has been absolutely beautiful.

What is the heart of Forever Cousins?

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Throwback Thursday: Mari Mancusi on Kids Kids Don’t Read Like They Used To…And That’s a Good Thing

Congratulations to Mari Mancusi on her newest book, New Dragon City (Little, Brown BYR, 2022)!

From the publisher’s description:

No one predicted the dragon apocalypse. The dragons came suddenly and decimated the world as we knew it, including New York City. Now, three years later, Noah, his hardcore survivalist father,

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Author Interview: P.J. Hoover Tackles Nonfiction With Problem Solvers

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Today I’m thrilled to welcome fellow Austin author P.J. Hoover to Cynsations!

P.J. may be best known for her fast-paced adventure novels like Homer’s Excellent Adventure (CBAY, 2020), The Hidden Code (CBAY Books, 2019) and Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life (Tor/Starscape,

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Author & Illustrator Interview: Patricia Newman & Natasha Donovan Reflect on A River’s Gifts

By Linda Joy Singleton

Spotlight image: Patricia Newman signs a book for Bebe, the narrator of A River’s Gifts book trailer.

I’m excited to celebrate an amazing new book by Sibert Honor award winning author Patricia Newman and acclaimed illustrator Natasha Donovan. I’ve been lucky to be in a critique group with Patricia for over a dozen years—she’s one of the best critique partners ever.

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Throwback Thursday: Guest Post: Tom Angleberger on Children’s Literature as a Team Sport

Congratulations to Tom Angleberger on the publication of his new graphic novel, Two-Headed Chicken (Candlewick, Sept. 6, 2022).

Take a look back at his reflection on Children’s Literature as a Team Sport. It first appeared on Cynsations in February 2020.

By Tom Angleberger

I’m coming up on the 10th anniversary of Origami Yoda (Amulet,

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Author Interview: Sangu Mandanna Reflects on her Publishing Journey

By Suma Subramaniam

I’m thrilled to welcome Sangu Mandanna to the Cynsations blog today!

Could you tell us about your latest book?

My latest book, Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom (Penguin Random House, 2022) is a middle grade fantasy about what happens when a young girl’s sketchbook world comes to life.

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