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!!
Category: educational
World of Books 13: Spain
Here are two picture books by different author-illustrators from Spain that encourage individuality and whose characters are insects and other arthropods. Coincidentally, among the protagonists
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.
Books Make the Perfect Gift
We all know a book that touched our life, that made us cry or laugh out loud. I know I’m preaching to the choir here.
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.
Where to Begin with “Back to School” Picture Books?
Morning alarms are set once again. Backpacks burst with new notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils. School buses buzz around town. “First day of school” photos
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
Jory John’s Cool Series
Jory John’s Food Group series of books is fun-tastic. With animated, edible protagonists and scads of legume puns (has-bean, A Tale of Two Chickpeas, Ray
Author Visits and English Learners: Tips for Presenting Your Books
Guest Post by Terry Farish I was invited to present with kidlit writer and media specialist Sara Lesley Warner on the topic, Welcoming Kids to
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.
When Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
Inspiration is all around us, within our homes and throughout our vast, amazing world. Case in point: the featured image comes from my once-in-a-lifetime trip
Fiction isn’t Fact, right?
A fiction writer makes things up. The characters, places, thoughts, plot elements, it’s all fake, right? Well, sometimes, yes, and sometimes, no. Creativity plays a