"Be A Reading Ninja!" - Free, print-ready poster for schools, libraries and bookstores

Feel free to download my free, print-ready "Be A Reading Ninja!" poster, which prints on an 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. You can find more free, print-ready posters, reading logs, activity sheets and other bonus material in my Print-Ready Archives.

This poster began with a cherry stain which inspired a drawing which inspired the poster above. :-)

Comic: The Paperless Office

Happy launch day to FAIRY SPELL: How Two Girls Convinced The World That Fairies Are Real - by Marc Tyler Nobleman and Eliza Wheeler (Clarion/HMH)

More info about FAIRY SPELL: How Two Girls Convinced The World That Fairies Are Real by Marc Nobleman and Eliza Wheeler on the HMH site.

More info: Donalyn Miller's Book-A-Day Challenge | Archives of my #BookADay posts. 

Are you ready for StoryADay May? A guest post from Julie Duffy

I met Julie Duffy when we both worked for the same company out in Philadelphia. Julie is a writer and the host of StoryADay.org, a creative writing challenge that happens each May (and yes, you're invited!). I asked Julie to tell us about StoryADay May, how it got started and how it works. I love the subtle placement of books in the background, heh (thanks, Julie!):

You can find Julie Duffy and StoryADay on Twitter at @StoryADayMay, StoryADay on Facebook and at StoryADay.org. Julie was also kind enough to write a guest post about StoryADay May:

Click to read more ...

Writers and illustrators: Be aware when research/prep turns into procrastination.

If you love a book, write a nice review. It gives the author encouragement on days they want to take up scorpion petting. - @LianaBrooks on Twitter

Advice to writers/illustrators: Take the long way. Shortcuts rarely pay off.

Video of how I created one of my broken crayon drawings

You never know what will come out of a broken crayon (#48 in series). I decided to take a video of how I created one of my broken crayon drawings, and I gave it away on Twitter - congrats to Ann Schimmoler, who won the final result (I am still waiting to hear from Ann so I can mail the doodle to her).

See my Broken Crayon Page for more art, resources for educators and info about my upcoming broken crayon book with Linda Sue Park and Simon & Schuster.

Advice For Young Writers, Embracing Magic & ENGINERDS: Three Questions With Jarrett Lerner

Jarrett Lerner writes books about farting robots, belching knights, and other serious matters. You can find him online at jarrettlerner.com and on Twitter at @Jarrett_Lerner. You can also often find him at the mgbookvillage.org, which he cofounded and helps run. He lives with his wife, his daughter, and a cat in Medford, Massachusetts.

I first encountered Jarrett on Twitter, where he is an enthusiastic champion of kidlit. When I asked him about ENGINERDS, I loved that he made sure to give credit to the illustrator, Serge Seidlitz, who did the cover and spot illustrations inside the book. Yay for authors who appreciate their illustrators!

Click to read more ...

Comic: The Frog Prince, Revisited

Writing Advice, Indie Bookstores and Classroom Tour: Three Questions with Colby Sharp (THE CREATIVITY PROJECT)

Colby Sharp is a fifth grade teacher in Parma, Michigan. I first heard about him through the Nerdy Book Club (of which he is a co-founder) and Nerd Camp Michigan (ditto). He runs The Yarn podcast with his friend Travis Jonker. You can find Colby on his website, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Thanks to Colby for answering Three Questions for me today!

I love Colby's classroom tour, especially hearing the stories behind some of the art! Did you know that Deborah Freedman created the header for The Nerdy Book Club?

Colby's advice for young writers: Start out by copying the people you love. Doing this can help you eventually find your own style and voice.

What he's excited about now: independent bookstores. Colby described the amazing things he sees indie bookstores doing and encourages us to make sure we use some of our book buying power to support these community bookshops.

Colby is one of the most positive and enthusiastic people I know, especially when it comes to helping kids find the books that help them fall in love with reading. I was honored to be one of the contributors to the just-released THE CREATIVITY PROJECT, published by Little, Brown Books For Young Readers. 

Synopsis of THE CREATIVITY PROJECT (Little Brown Books For Young Readers, 2018):

"Colby Sharp invited more than forty authors and illustrators to provide story starters for each other; photos, drawings, poems, prose, or anything they could dream up. When they received their prompts, they responded by transforming these seeds into any form of creative work they wanted to share. The result is a stunning collection of words, art, poetry, and stories by some of our most celebrated children book creators. A section of extra story starters by every contributor provides fresh inspiration for readers to create works of their own. Here is an innovative book that offers something for every kind of reader and creator!"

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For more interviews, see my Inkygirl Interview Archive.