I recently got to meet Phoebe Wahl at the 2026 Children’s Literature Conference here in Bellingham, Washington. The conference was a blast–more on that later–and […]
City Dog, Country Frog
Like millions of others, I love Mo Willems‘ pigeon books. In fact, that’s what I thought of when I heard his name. I had never […]
Bread is Love
Bread is Love is very much a modern picture book, and it isn’t just the 2026 publication date that makes it modern. Oh, the topic […]
Broken
Some agents only want to represent author-illustrators. As a writer who is not an illustrator, I resent this. However, when I read books like Broken, […]
A Big Day for Bike
Emily Jenkins, author of 2024 picture book A Big Day for Bike, has published a number of books for kids. Some have won awards; some […]
One Cosmic Rock
Karen Krossing’s 2026 nonfiction picture book One Cosmic Rock is a rare and ambitious book. The book’s subtitle points readers to both the rarity and […]
If I Was a Horse
I recently saw and met Sophie Blackall at the Children’s Literature Conference. This is an annual conference held in Bellingham, Washington (where I live), but […]
I Am We
I Am We: How Crows Come Together to Survive is a 2025 picture book written by Leslie Bernard Booth and illustrated by Alexandra Finkeldey. It […]
When Santa Wrote Back!
Nathan Christopher’s 2025 When Santa Wrote Back! is well-intentioned, with a clear premise: a boy named Jake writes Santa, and Santa writes back. When he […]
because of a shoe
Some picture books are moving. Some picture books are useful: they teach everything from letters to science. In some cases, like julie fogliano’s 2026 picture […]