Advice for young writers, debut picture book SUN DOG, deals with the universe: Deborah Kerbel answers three questions

I met Deborah Kerbel through our local Torkidlit group. Deborah is the author of eight books for young readers. She was born in a police station, smack-dab in the centre of London, England but moved to Canada before she was old enough to cultivate a love of marmalade. She’s the proud mom of two book-loving teens and a rescue schnoodle named Fred. You can find Deborah at DeborahKerbel.com, on Twitter and on Facebook.

I was super-excited to hear that Deborah not only has a new middle grade, but also her first picture book! SUN DOG is written by Deborah and illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo (see Suzanne's amazing plasticine creation process in her Inkygirl interview from 2013).

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Donalyn Miller's 10th Annual Summer #BookADay Challenge has launched!

Woohoo! Donalyn Miller has launched her 10th Annual Summer #BookADay Challenge. See the archived Facebook Live event here.

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SCBWI Success Story, Creative Process and Jen Betton's upcoming debut solo picture book, HEDGEHOG NEEDS A HUG (June 19, 2018)

I first met Jen Betton at the 2012 SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles when she came up to introduce herself. She said my blog post about getting an Illustration Mentorship Award at the Portfolio Showcase inspired her to attend (!). Thanks to Jen for answering questions about her process and her advice for young writers and illustrators.

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Anyone else feel like this when they're about to start reading a much-anticipated book?

Interview with Helaine Becker and Dow Phumiruk about COUNTING ON KATHERINE: HOW KATHERINE JOHNSON SAVED APOLLO 13 (Launches June 19)

I met Helaine Becker through Torkidlit and Dow Phumiruk through the SCBWI, and I was so excited when I found out that they were collaborating on a picture book: COUNTING ON KATHERINE: HOW KATHERINE JOHNSON SAVED APOLLO 13. Their book is geared toward ages 5-9, launches from Holt Books For Young Readers on June 19, 2018 and has already garnered praise from publications like Kirkus and the Junior Library Guild.

Helaine and Dow were kind enough to answer some questions for me about their new book.

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Writers & illustrators: Learning to handle rejection is an essential skill, before AND after publication.

"Don't be afraid to be weird." Advice for young writers from WEAVE A CIRCLE ROUND's debut author, Kari Maaren in a Three Questions interview

I met Kari Maaren through a filk music convention, and fell in love with her song Being Watson (which almost always makes teary-eyed). She also is cartoonist with a webcomic, West of Bathurst, and an active one, It Never Rains. After being a fan of her other work, I was VERY excited to find out she was writing a book.

Her debut novel for young readers, WEAVE A CIRCLE ROUND, is a thoroughly engaging read with an irresistible main character (I love 14-year-old Freddy Duchamp's voice, both inner and outer) in a fearless and original take on time travel and coming-of-age. If you want to know more about the book, you should read the Globe & Mail review, the starred Kirkus review, starred Publishers Weekly review, starred School Library Journal review.

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HOW TO CODE A SANDCASTLE by Josh Funk and Sara Palacios - Highly recommended!

If you don't have time to read the rest of my post, that's fine. Here's a one sentence summary: I love everything about HOW TO CODE A SANDCASTLE by Josh Funk and Sara Palacios, and I can't wait until it launches from Viking Books For Young Readers and Girls Who Code on May 15, 2018!

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Comic: The Explanation

Thanks to Paul Carroll (Twitter: @writeranonymous) for the caption!

Summer reading, access to books and Donalyn Miller's post on the Nerdy Book Club

If you enjoy books for children and young adults, then I encourage you to go visit the Nerdy Book Club blog, if you haven't already. I enjoyed Donalyn Miller's recent post about how to increase book access for all children. Enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I was inspired to drawing the image above. Although the tips in the article are geared mainly toward educators, I found them informative and motivating for book creators as well.

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Interview: Kevin Sylvester on MINRS series, science and advice for young writers

A while back, I raved about how much I enjoyed Kevin Sylvester's first and second MiNRS books for middle grade. Here's my #BookADay post about the first MiNRS book. 

With the third book in the series coming, I asked Kevin to tell my readers about his MiNRS series as well as offer some advice for young writers. Thanks to Kevin for answering in the video above!

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