Today I am thrilled to welcome Laura Shovan to Cynsations in anticipation of National Poetry Month in April. Laura is a novelist, educator, and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. She’s talking to us today about her writing and how with every project she tries to teach herself something new.
Continue Reading Author Interview: Laura Shovan on Learning Something New With Each Project »
Today I’m welcoming Joy Bean, Lead Editor for Arctis Books, to Cynsations. Joy, many readers might not be familiar with Arctis Books. Can you tell us more about the company?
Arctis Books USA is the sister company of NorthSouth Books, which readers may be very familiar with,
Continue Reading Editor Interview: Joy Bean of Arctis Books Brings European Titles to U.S. Readers »
When I first met Jarrett Lerner, Book 1 of his series EngiNerds (Aladdin, 2017) was just coming out. Since then he’s completed the series and has been busy writing/illustrating early chapter books, graphic novel chapter books, activity books, and has a novel in verse and early readers coming down the pike.
Continue Reading Writing Chapter Books: Jarrett Lerner on What He Wants For His Readers »
Today we welcome Veeda Bybee to the Cynsations team as a reporter. With a background in journalism as well as someone who participates enthusiastically in conversations surrounding the kidlit community, she is well-suited in this role. Veeda has contributed to the anthologies Rural Voices, edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter (Candlewick,
By Rebecca Kirshenbaum
Two-time Schneider Award Winner and 2018 National Book Awards Finalist Leslie Connor talks about her new middle grade novel, Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? (Katherine Tegen, 2022), the power of research, and the beauty of symbiotic friendships.
Your newest novel, Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?,
I am thrilled to welcome Michael Leali to the Cynsations Team as a reporter. He brings such positivity to anything he does, I know our readers will love his contributions! Michael’s middle grade novel The Civil War of Amos Abernathy (HarperCollins) debuts this May and we are excited to celebrate with him.
This morning, Mary Ann Cappiello, Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University, and Xenia Hadjioannou, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg campus of Penn State University, sent the letter below to The New York Times requesting that the paper add three children’s nonfiction bestseller lists to parallel the existing picture book,
Continue Reading Announcing the #KidsLoveNonfiction Campaign »
My novel in verse Red, White, and Whole (Quill Tree Books, 2021) is set in 1983. It’s about thirteen-year-old Reha, the child of Indian immigrants, who is torn between the worlds of her parents and her friends at school. Like many teens her age, she wants to wear cool clothes, and go to a middle school dance.
By Bree Rae
Newbery award-winning author and children’s literature icon, Gary Paulsen has passed away. He was 82 years old.
Beloved Author Gary Paulsen has Died Aged 82 via MacMillan. Peek: “It was Paulsen’s overwhelming belief in young people that drove him to write. His desire to tap deeply into the human spirit and encourage readers to observe and care about the world around them brought him both enormous popularity with young people and critical acclaim from the children’s book community.”
Obituary: Gary Paulsen by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly.
Photo Credit: Laura Billingham
Before my first middle-grade novel with Cordelia Jensen, Every Shiny Thing (Amulet, 2018), was published, I taught middle school for ten years, and those two identities—author and teacher—still feel intertwined. I’d never tried to write fiction until I became a teacher and got inspired by my students and the books I read alongside them.