Why write about Frances Perkins, America’s longest serving Secretary of Labor and the force behind the Social Security Act? The short answer is that when Peachtree’s publisher Margaret Quinlin and my editor, Kathy Landwehr, suggested Frances as the subject of a picture book, I jumped at the opportunity to write about a woman I’ve […]
August
12
How Can I Help? by Ruth Spiro
posted by CBethM
My educator friends are struggling. I’ve had conversations with close personal friends across six feet of open space in my backyard, as well as with those I barely know across many miles on social media. I hear you, I’m afraid for you, and I believe that your voices are the ones we must prioritize in […]
August
04
THE ANTI-BOOK by Raphael Simon
posted by CBethM
Next year I will publish my twelfth book, but I am as nervous as a first-timer—because The Anti-Book will be the first book to appear under my own name. Already I can see myself obsessing over the Goodreads reviews: Remember, it’s just one reader’s opinion, well, one hundred readers’ opinions… Okay, so maybe the […]
July
31
BOOK TRAILER PREMIERE: ACCIDENTAL ARCHAEOLOGISTS by Sarah Albee
posted by CBethM
Hello Nerdy Friends! It’s an honor to reveal the trailer for my latest book to you here at the Nerdy Book Club. In the best of times, educators who read for the sheer love of it and who work to get books into the hands of their students are my superheroes, and these are . […]
July
30
10 Picture Book Biographies About Women in Presidential Politics by Kate Hannigan
posted by CBethM
As we move into the final stretch of the 2020 election, it’s a great time to reflect on how far America has—and hasn’t—come since August 1920, when the 19th Amendment’s ratification granted women the right to vote. In those 100 years, there have been few opportunities to cast ballots for female candidates seeking the highest […]
July
29
All the Birds in the World by David Opie
posted by CBethM
Every morning, I walk my dog on a path along the Norwalk River, which takes me past a mound of algae-covered mud that I call “Bird Island.” The island is affected by the tide that flows up from the sound, so sometimes Bird Island is just a strip of mud, sometimes it’s the size of […]
July
27
All The Stars for Levine Querido by Maggie Bokelman
posted by CBethM
In January, back in the Age of Handshakes and Hugs, I was hunting and gathering ARCs at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Not long before that, I’d been reduced to accepting an ARC called . . . drumroll . . . Cooking With Tinned Fish from NetGalley after convincing myself that, hey, […]
July
24
“Feeling like a dandelion”: A COVID-19 online book club adventure by Deborah Van Duinen
posted by CBethM
Author Katherine Paterson tells the story about how, a few days after 9/11, when she did not know what had become of her son John’s brother-in-law and close friend who worked in the South Tower, she realized she was scheduled to speak at a middle school in a neighboring town. “What in the world does […]
July
14
TRUE CONFESSION: I WAS A SERIES MACHINE by Kara LaReau
posted by CBethM
Ten years ago this July, almost to the day, I was just finishing my final radiation treatment. I’d been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in January of 2010, and had undergone two surgeries that February. In August, I was to begin chemotherapy, which would last until October. 2010 was a heck of a […]
July
09
Cover Reveal of The House That Wasn’t There by Elana K. Arnold
posted by CBethM
All my life, from the time I was two years old, my Nana and Papa lived on a street called Rollingwood Drive. It was a skinny, winding sort of street, with narrow sidewalks and lots of trees. Theirs was Number 33—halfway down the block, on the left-hand side. I drove down that street as a […]
