I am a great believer that small things can have a big impact. So on January 1, 2017, I began a yearlong search for the beauty in everyday life—in people, in places, and in the world around me. I wrote on Facebook: One specific thing I’m going to do this year is to look […]
Category Archives: Author Posts
August
29
Nerdy Babies Cover Reveal by Emmy Kastner
posted by CBethM
Hi. I’m Emmy Kastner, author/illustrator of the Nerdy Babies series, coming from Macmillan’s Roaring Brook Press in Spring 2019. The Nerdy Babies series is such a thrilling entrance into the children’s lit world for me, reflecting many facets of who I am and who I’ve been: writer, artist, science teacher, mother, educator, reader. They’re an […]
August
28
The Setting Collector: Ten Tips for Writing (or Teaching!) Setting in Stories by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
posted by CBethM
I once heard an agent say, “If your story can be set anywhere, then your setting isn’t working hard enough.” I am grateful that I was recently given the challenge to write a story based on the real life of Viviani Fedeler, a girl born and raised in THE New York Public Library. Yep, the […]
August
26
THINKING OUTSIDE CATEGORIES FOR READER SUGGESTIONS by Ariel Bernstein
posted by CBethM
A child’s journey of reading books can seem pretty linear. They start with board books and picture books, usually read to them by an adult. Soon enough, many begin to recognize words in early readers. Sometimes an adult will read them chapter books, and often a young reader will begin reading those books on their […]
August
21
COVER REVEAL FOR THE WHISPERS by Greg Howard
posted by CBethM
Rural South Carolina in the seventies and eighties was not the hotbed of excitement that it sounds like, at least not for an awkward red-haired kid who felt like the real world was somewhere out there across the state line, passing him by. I was that kid—a mama’s boy and Grandma’s favorite, but I always […]
August
17
Behind the Scenes with Yuyi Morales’s Dreamers [Video Exclusive]
posted by CBethM
It is so easy to feel that we immigrants don’t belong, that we are not wanted, and that we have nothing to offer. When I came to San Francisco in 1994 from Mexico, I had that feeling, because I spoke no English and I only had a bag of clothes and a baby in my […]
August
16
The Ordinary is Extraordinary: Sharing Our Immigration Stories by Camille Andros
posted by CBethM
When I began working on The Dress and the Girl over eight years ago, it was sparked by a personal family story about the immigration of my husband’s great-grandfather from a small Greek Village to the United States. Harry Androutsos was seventeen years old when he left his family, home, and everything he knew to […]
August
14
Trailer Reveal: Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller
posted by CBethM
Hello, everyone! What a spud-tastic honor it is to have the book trailer for my upcoming picture book, Potato Pants!, revealed here at the Nerdy Book Club! It was shown in July at Nerd Camp but this is the first time it will be shared online. In Potato’s words: “EEEEEE!” (translation: WOOHOO!). The writing […]
August
10
Cover Reveal for The Iliad by Gareth Hinds
posted by CBethM
My graphic novel adaptation of The Odyssey was first published in 2010. Since then it’s gone on to be (without question) my best-selling book, used in classrooms throughout the country and lauded for its respectful treatment of the text and for bringing the story to life for many thousands of readers. Teachers have a […]
August
07
Shame Clings by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
posted by CBethM
I didn’t grow up poor, but my mother did. She grew up in an unheated home, eating the occasional squirrel shot by my grandfather, and when there was nothing else, a bowl of crackers floating in milk. Her poverty was not the only thing that caused her humiliation. Her mother, while suffering from schizophrenia, was […]
