New Books in Children's Literature

Nov 18 2024 179 ep. 48 mins 28
New Books in Children's Literature Podcast artwork

Interviews with authors of children's literature about their new books

  Arts  Kids & Family
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Highlights Magazine: A Discussion with Executive Director George Brown

Nov 18 2024 46 mins  
George Brown is the executive director of the Highlights Foundation, scion to the Myers family, which created Highlights Magazine. The Highlights Foundation runs workshops for small groups of authors and illustrators in its bucolic surroundings, the homestead of Garry and Caroline Myers, who co-founded Highlights for Children in 1946. George discusses his fascination with children'

Sarah Aronson, "Abzuglutely!:Battling, Bellowing Bella Abzug" (Calkins Creek Books, 2024)

Nov 03 2024 52 mins  
In this lively interview with author Sarah Aronson, we celebrate her brand new picture book, Abzuglutely!: Battling, Bellowing Bella Abzug, illustrated by Andrea D'Aquino ‎ (Calkins Creek, October 15, 2024), which focuses on Bella's determination to fight for what is right, as part of her belief in Tikun Olam (repairing the world). We talk about Sarah's life and career, and her o

Childrens' Books in Public Libraries: A Discussion with Pat (Patrick) Gracey

Oct 27 2024 67 mins  
Pat (Patrick) Gracey is a senior librarian at the Toronto Public Library where he is a children's services specialist, leading the team that selects new picture books for 17 downtown locations (!). In our interview, Pat talks about the magic inherent in picture books, and focuses on some of his favorite Canadian (and semi-Canadian) picture books, including The Log Driver's Waltz b

Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple, "We Celebrate the Light" (Penguin, 2024)

Oct 16 2024 57 mins  
In our three-way interview, I celebrate with world-renowned children's authors Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple (who is also Jane's daughter), their brand new picture book, We Celebrate the Light, published last week (October 8, 2024) by Rise x Penguin Workshop with the 'luminous' illustrations of Jieting Chen (Illustrator). We talk about the process by which Jane and Heidi write their

Tina Shepardson, "The Sorry Seeds" (Gnome Road, 2024)

Oct 15 2024 45 mins  
Tina Shepardson and I celebrate her wonderful new picture book The Sorry Seeds, just published (two days ago!!) by Gnome Road with gorgeous illustrations by Bong Hyun Shin. In our candid conversation, Tina reveals the true childhood story that led her to write the manuscript, and discusses her own journey from child to teacher to author, the critical steps she took to become a publ

Kimberly Wilson, "A Credit Card Takes Charge" (Page Street Kids, 2024)

Oct 12 2024 48 mins  
Are you ready for the story of a credit card that takes cash on a spending spree? In my interview with picture book author Kimberly Wilson, we celebrate brand new book, A Credit Card Takes Charge, published just last week by Page Street Kids (Oct. 1st, 2024). It's third in her series of hilarious, punniful picture books dealing with all things monetary, with a fourth (a piggy bank

Cathey Stefanec Ogren, "The Little Red Chair" (Sleeping Bear Press, 2024)

Sep 14 2024 44 mins  
In this, our second interview, Cathy Stefanec Ogren talks about her brand new, wonderfully written and illustrated (by Alexandra Thompson) picture book, The Little Red Chair, just published by Sleeping Bear Press (August 1, 2024). We discuss Cathy's journey to success, the challenge of writing a picture book manuscript that 'begs' to be illustrated, and Cathy's advice for authors a

On Haya Shenhav's "100 Rooms"

Sep 08 2024 49 mins  
Professor Yirmi Pinkus celebrates with us the rerelease of the classic Hebrew children's book, 100 Rooms by Haya Shenhav, in a new American edition (Kalaniot Books, 2024), published (May 1st, 2024) by Kalaniot Books, with his stunning new illustrations. We also discuss his career as an illustrator alongside being an academic teaching the subject, and his thoughts on what enables th

Ruth Spiro, "One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story" (Dial Books, 2024)

Sep 07 2024 47 mins  
In this, our second interview with prolific author Ruth Spiro, we celebrate the publication of her brand new book, One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story (Dial Books, 2024), with the stunning illustrations of Victoria Tentler-Krylov. Ruth talks about her remarkable career, writing scientific board books for toddlers (25 and counting!), as well as stories of inspiration to repair the

Dan Gutman, "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" (Holiday House, 2024)

Aug 04 2024 49 mins  
Dan Gutman is the renowned, prolific author of some 190 books for kids from kindergarten up to middle school. His books include Rappy the Raptor (picture book) and the "My Weird School" series (early readers) about kids who go to a school in which all the grownups are crazy. Over thirty five million books have been sold . He has also written “Wait! WHAT?” a series of biographie