The coil chains of the backyard swing sang along with me: “Kum Ba Yah.” “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” That answer that was blowing in the wind. Singing and swinging, swinging and singing, I brushed the billowed clouds with the soles of my sneakered feet. I soared above the treetops. I flew higher than the birds. […]
March
28
Ten Picture Books to Change Your Reading Life by Angie Moore
posted by CBethM
I would never have thought five or six years ago that picture books would become such an essential part of my reading life. But my life changed four years ago when I decided to go back to college to get my teaching degree. I love to read, but with all of the additional schoolwork I […]
March
27
Nonfiction Man, Episode 2 by Anna and Steve Sheinkin
posted by CBethM
If it’s humanly possibly I appreciate teachers and librarians more than ever, now that I’m home all day with a fifth and an eighth grader. Well, at least my middle school daughter and I have a little more time to draw Nonfiction Man comics, our new series about a struggling superhero who sets out to […]
March
26
The Hidden Life of Aesop’s Fables by Ian Lendler
posted by CBethM
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg The Lion and the Mouse The Town Mouse and the Country I’m sure that just by reading these titles, you could tell me the basic story, and even their moral. We all can. These are some of the better known of Aesop’s Fables. All around the planet, Aesop’s […]
March
25
Shining Our Light Into the Darkness by Christina Soontornvat
posted by CBethM
When I tell people that my new novel, A WISH IN THE DARK, is a middle grade twist on Les Miserablés set in a magical Thai-inspired world, I often get looks of genuine surprise. I understand their reactions – it’s not the most expected mash-up in the world. But looking back at how the book […]
March
24
Illustrating The Next President – Author Kate Messner Interviews Illustrator Adam Rex
posted by CBethM
Hi, Adam! Thanks so much for making time to chat with me about the art for our book, THE NEXT PRESIDENT: THE UNEXPECTED BEGINNINGS AND UNWRITTEN FUTURE OF AMERICA’S PRESIDENTS. Because you’re an author as well as an illustrator, I know you can relate to that feeling of opening up the email with […]
March
23
Two Heads Are Better than One: How Author Collaboration Works? by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan
posted by CBethM
We have collaborated on fourteen nonfiction books together. People always ask “How does it work?” Our more controlling writer friends say they wouldn’t want to have to compromise or worse give in, or even worse divide the royalties in half. Sometimes we agree to disagree, to table a conflict and get back to it later. […]
March
22
Reading or Not, Here We Go: A Social Distancing #Bookaday Challenge by Donalyn Miller
posted by donalynm
“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps greater.” —J.R.R. Tolkien If you asked me three months ago what I would do if the world […]
March
21
An Invitation to a Community Poetry Project by Laura Shovan
posted by CBethM
Dear Educators and Parents, I am putting together a community poetry project for kids. Adults can play along too. For several years, I have run an annual poetry writing project. For one month, participants receive a daily writing prompt related to a theme. (In 2014 we wrote in response to Pantone paint colors; in 2019 […]
March
20
Ten Years of Authors for Earth Day! by Nancy Castaldo
posted by CBethM
Since 2010 Authors for Earth Day has been “supporting literacy through conservation” in schools throughout the United States, and Canada, Australia, and Israel. It was founded by Brooke Bessesen with the mission to “inspire young readers to use their power of VOICE, both as voters and as writers, and to help them shape their future […]
