Rajani pours her heart and incredible talent into each new story for children she writes: it’s no wonder she has garnered so many well-deserved awards!
Category: Book Reviews – Middle Grade
Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall Are Back At It…With STELLA & MARIGOLD!
One of the great highlights of my summer, besides attending a fantastic writing retreat in the green mountains of Vermont, was receiving an advanced reader copy of Stella & Marigold from Chronicle Books (thank you from the bottom of my book-loving heart, Chronicle). It’s the first book in a brand-new early reader series for children 6-9 years old, by the magical author-illustrator duo Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall.
The 2024 Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review
Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you’re invited to peruse my 2024 Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review! As another year draws to a close, I continue to marvel at the variety and quality of our posts, and thank all of our authors and readers for your commitment to our kidlit blog. Once again, I’ve been honored and challenged to highlight one post from each of our talented contributors with an image, date link, and brief summary. Enjoy!!
The Do More Club by Debut Author Dana Kramaroff
Every so often, a book rocks me to my core. THE DO MORE CLUB, a middle grade novel in verse by Dana Kramaroff, is just such a book. I’m not typically drawn to books in this style, but I’m so glad the tag line, “Spread Kindness So Hate Can’t Win” made me overcome my hesitation.
THE CURSE OF WILLOW COVE by Josh Roberts
Owl Hollow Press, 2024 THE WITCHES OF WILLOW COVE is a wonderful MG debut released in 2020 and I am delighted that the girls and
Gregory Maguire on Defeating Writers Block
Like many of you, I follow certain authors on Facebook where insights into their personalities, current works, and nuggets of wisdom are available. Gregory Maguire,
A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga: an unforgettable novel brimming with heart, humanity, gratitude, and perseverance
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hope, you’ll dream. Resilience, a fictional Mar’s rover, is so full of humanity, he will leap off the pages and right into your hearts.
This is How You Do It: A Look at Real Children’s Lives and Stories
I have a confession to make—I’ve been spending scandalous amounts time this summer sipping tea (sometimes a probiotic soda) out on my back patio, reading
Interview with Poet, Scientist, Adventurer, and Kidlit Author Leslie Bulion…with a giveaway of her amazing book, Galápagos: Islands of Change!
If you read my earlier post, When Truth is Stranger than Fiction, you likely noticed the featured image, a Blue-Footed Booby whose picture I snapped
Interview With Nonfiction Children’s Book Author and Poet Christine Van Zandt…and a Book Giveaway!
It’s butterfly season here in Massachusetts, where I live. All of the beautiful monarch butterflies have come back up north to enjoy a few glorious
Books as Graduation Gifts? Absolutely!!
June is graduation month, and there is no more thoughtful gift to give your special graduate than an inspiring, encouraging, and enduring book. For this post, I set forth to cultivate a lovely collection for gift givers to consider, whether your student is graduating from elementary, middle, or high school, or even from the hallowed halls of college.
The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
Award-winning authors Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass have teamed up on this delightful and mysterious novel! How could any lover of middle grade resist?
Before We Turn the Page: The 2023 Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review
Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you’re invited to peruse my 2023 Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review! As another year draws to a close, I continue to marvel at the variety and quality of our posts, and thank all of our authors and readers for your commitment to our kidlit blog. Once again, I’ve been honored and challenged to highlight one post from each of our talented contributors with an image, date link, and brief summary. Enjoy!!
My Experience Writing a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book
Guest Post by Eric Grissom As a kid, my life was a bit of a whirlwind. My parents divorced when I was five, and
WRITERS' RUMPUS 