Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot believe our luck, Dear Readers: the very busy and in-great-demand Lynda Mullaly Hunt has graciously agreed to visit us for Friend Friday. I have been dying to read her newest book, Shouting at the Rain,(Nancy Paulsen Books) ever since reading the transcript of her heartfelt and honest keynote speech at… Read more »
I love learning new things and I’ve found children’s books a rich resource for providing glimpses into times, places and people I hadn’t been previously aware of. Today, Friend Friday is shining the spotlight on Michelle Markel and her wonderful picture book, Out of this World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington (HarperCollins). I was… Read more »
I am impatiently waiting for the “Beam Me Up, Scotty” form of transportation so that I might easily have coffee on occasion with some of my favorite kidlit people, like Nanci Turner Steveson, who live much too far away from me. Nanci writes stories filled with heart and hope and an unwavering gaze at the… Read more »
Cindy Lord is one of my Silver Sisters (along with Jennifer Holm). The three of us shared Newbery Honor awards in 2007 and have been friends ever since. I honestly don’t know when Cindy finds time to sleep — she has been absolutely prolific in the past years, creating engaging picture books (featuring Hot Rod… Read more »
In her essay below, my friend Martha Brockenbrough describes her editor, Jean Feiwel, as “fierce.” This is the exact word I would use to describe Martha herself: fiercely kind, fiercely funny, fiercely generous, fiercely grammatically correct (I offer as proof her book, Things That Make Us [Sic]), and fiercely honest. Her respect and concern for… Read more »
Erica Perl and I bonded over yogurt. Passionfruit, to be precise. Evidently yogurt is quite the predictor of whether two book creators will be copacetic as we have been good friends for a good long while. I admire many things about Erica’s writing, including her humor, warmth and respect of her characters. Even when they… Read more »
Behind Dan Richards’ mild mannered appearance lurks a superhero; or at least, he was dressed in a superhero costume one of the first times we met at the International SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. Dan is a great supporter of his fellow book creators, especially those in the Pacific Northwest. He has a great sense… Read more »
I met Roxanne Lambie at a reading association conference in El Paso, if I remember correctly. She was at a table with her first book, Quantum (Clean Reads) and I had a moment between responsibilities, so I began to chat with her. When I learned she was a pilot, we chatted more. And something she… Read more »
Though I love to read nonfiction, I am almost more fascinated by why its writers choose the topics that they choose. That is why I am especially grateful that Loree Griffin Burns has stopped by today to share just such insights about her newest book, Life on Surtsey, Iceland’s Upstart Island (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Though… Read more »
What a treat it is to host a fellow dog-lover! I think I may have met Wendy Wahman through her delightful, Don’t Lick the Dog, before I actually met her, but I knew from that book that we would be kindred spirits. I am so pleased to host her today in celebration of her newest… Read more »