Guest Post: Author Suzanne Morgan Williams on Digging Deep & Getting It Right – Research Tips for Fiction & Nonfiction

Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!

By Suzanne Morgan Williams

Sometimes our books are kids’ first introduction to a subject. They will compare our work to what they learn later, so it’s doubly important to get the information right.

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Throwback Thursday: Debbi Michiko Florence on Her Path to Publication

Congratulations to Debbi Michiko Florence on the publication of her newest book, Jasmine Toguchi, Great Gardener, illustrated by Elizabet Vukovic (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Sept. 26, 2023.) From the promotional copy:

Eight-year-old Jasmine Toguchi is now an expert on travel and doesn’t want summer to end! In this final book chronicling her family vacation in Japan,

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Author Interview: Darshana Khiani on Finding a Structure to Tell Your Story

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Today we welcome author Darshana Khiani to talk about her journey to becoming a published author and how writing her new book, I’m An American, illustrated by Laura Freeman (Viking, May 2, 2023) presented very different challenges from her debut picture book, How to Wear a Sari,

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Guest Interview: Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson & Jeanette Bradley on Collaboration & Poetry Anthologies

By Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley

Lindsay: Thanks to Cynsations for inviting us to discuss the collaboration process for our latest picture-book poetry anthology, No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change, co-edited by Keila V. Dawson, Jeanette Bradley,

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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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Nonfiction for Older Readers: Kekla Magoon on How Discovery is in the Details

Photo of Kekla Visiting an Oakland Museum of California exhibit on the Black Panther Party. The wall images are spreads from The Black Panther, the Party’s weekly newspaper.

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Today I am thrilled to welcome Kekla Magoon to talk about the process of researching and writing her multi-award winning book Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People (Candlewick,

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Nonfiction for Older Readers: Maureen Charles & Ashley Walker Talk About Collaborating on a Nonfiction Project

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Today I am excited to introduce our Cynsations readers to Maureen Charles and Ashley Walker who recently collaborated on a nonfiction project for older readers. Their book Music Mavens from Chicago Review Press comes out this fall as part of their Women of Power series.

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Nonfiction for Older Readers: Martha Brockenbrough on the Joys of Writing Nonfiction

By Bree Bender

Award-winning author Martha Brockenbrough has written more than a dozen books for children and teens. Her work covers a wide range of topics from biographies to masterful fairytale retellings, nonfiction to fiction. Her work is insightful, thought-provoking, and industry changing. I had the incredible opportunity to chat with her about books,

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Nonfiction For Older Readers: Gail Jarrow on Digging Deep into Research

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Today we kick off a series of posts about writing nonfiction for older readers. In her book Nonfiction Matters (Stenhouse, 1998), Stephanie Harvey explores nonfiction reading and writing in the classroom with an emphasis on the process of discovery. She writes:

“As we studied,

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