The Children's Book Podcast

Irene Latham (@Irene_Latham), Karim Shamsi-Basha (@arabinalabama), and Yuko Shimizu (@yukoart) share THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO. This true story is set in Syria in the town of Aleppo during recent wartime. While most of the city sought refuge and fled the city, many could not leave or chose to stay behind to help. This is a story about one of those helpers. Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, known to all as Alaa,...

Hello my beautiful booknerds.  I am hard at work on another batch of episodes to share with all of you and I am really, really excited about what's coming up. There is no shortage of truly stunning books being published. Books that I know will be on my shelves and on my mind for a long while. Books that I want to talk about and I want you to hear about. Books made even better by listening to the c...

Matthew Cordell (@cordellmatthew) shares HELLO, NEIGHBOR!: THE KIND AND CARING WORLD OF MR. ROGERS. Matt was first on the show back in 2015 for a book called WISH. At the time I used to close each episode with this question: I'm assembling an all-star kidlit kickball team? Who would you want to be on your team? Fred Rogers, he answered without hesitation. Like many, I've watched Matt's career over...

Dylan Glynn (@DylanGlynn) shares RAIN BOY, his picture book debut, and BE AMAZING, written by Desmond is Amazing. In RAIN BOY, the title character is ridiculed at a party for bringing everything down. But rain is going to rain, right? When being who you are is what you do, it can be awfully difficult to feel welcome in any space where who you are is rejected. Similarly, the cultural climate of hom...

I gave the Soaring '20s High Flying Picture Book Debuts group the keys to the podcast for the week. Today a group of kidlit bookmakers is answering the question, "What ways do you hope readers and teachers will connect with the book?" I'm joined by a very special group of bookmakers, including Rajani LaRocca, Elisa Boxer, Christina Soontornvat, Kirsten Larson, Abi Cushman, NoNieqa Ramos, and Kelly...

It's our 4th day with the members of the  Soaring '20s High Flying Picture Book Debuts and we are going all the way back to childhood! Today a group of kidlit bookmakers is answering the question, "What aspects of childhood do you see expressed through your art and/or your writing?" Joining me to share their responses are Kelly J. Baptist, Rob Justus, Candy Wellins, Sam Wedelich, and Kjersten Haye...

The Soaring '20s High Flying Picture Book Debuts return for day 3 of 5, taking over this here humble podcast space! And today it's all about the details! Writers and illustrators take in their surroundings and experiences and sometimes put it into their craft. Today a group of kidlit bookmakers is answering the question, "Are there any details in your book that have come from your life?" Illuminat...

It's Day 2 of the Soaring '20s High Flying Picture Book Debuts! Today a group of kidlit bookmakers is answering the question, "What did writing or illustrating your book teach you about your craft or about yourself?" Answer that question today is none other than Carrie Finison, Shelley Johannes, Anna Crowley Redding, Gregory Barrington, Qing Zhuang, and Colleen Paeff. Check the link in the show no...

It's my first ever podcast takeover! Let's get into it! The Soaring '20s High Flying Picture Book Debuts feature some really outstanding books by kidlit authors and illustrators debuting in 2020. Today, we're going to hear a handful of new and debut picture book folks take on the question "What experiences or observations of the world compelled you to write your story?" Long time friend of the sho...

Torrey Maldonado (@TorreyMaldonado) shares WHAT LANE?!. This is a story about Stephen, a young black boy trying to find his way, one circumstance at a time. It's a story about a neighborhood and a bunch of kids. It's a story about confronting racism, confirmation bias, white privilege… all of it. And what it looks like to be an ally. It's a story, as Torrey puts it, for anyone who has to navigate...

Mahogany L. Browne (@mobrowne) shares WOKE: A YOUNG POET'S CALL TO JUSTICE, written with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III. This evocative picture book companion to WOKE BABY is an emotional powerhouse, laying groundwork for conversations about advocacy, anti-bias practices, intersectionality, disability acceptance, youth empowerment, and more. This book w...

Jillian Tamaki (@dirtbagg) shares MY BEST FRIEND, written by Julie Fogliano. Jillian won a Caldecott honor for her art in THIS ONE SUMMER, a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki, her cousin. She later turned a lot of heads in a picture book she wrote and illustrated called THEY SAY BLUE. But in choosing to make the art for MY BEST FRIEND, Jillian shares that there was one line in the manuscript...

Carole Lindstrom (@CaroleLindstrom) and Michaela Goade (@MichaelaGoade) share WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS.  The story was inspired by Standing Rock, by indigenous people fighting pipelines and fracking, fighting for the earth. It's a story for everyone, because we all have a part in this. But it's also a story about acknowledging those who care deeply for our earth and our waters. We all can be water...

Tami Charles (@TamiWritesStuff) and Jacqueline Alcántara (@_jacqueline_ill) share FREEDOM SOUP. What food traditions do you have in your family? And how do these traditions speak to your family's history? This is a story about making soup, but it's also a story about making traditions while looking back on the past. The origin of freedom soup dates back to the Haitian Revolution and it's that revo...

Lily Williams (@lwbean) and Karen Schneeman (@themeanmagenta) share GO WITH THE FLOW, a comic about menstruation. Period. It's a story about getting your first period and how not all periods are the same from one woman to the next, but it's also about destigmatizing menstruation in our society. It's about public embarrassment, but it's also about barriers to access of feminine hygiene products to...

Marcie Colleen (@MarcieColleen1) shares THE BEAR'S GARDEN, illustrated by Alison Oliver. The story, inspired by a community garden in Brooklyn, centers on a girl caring for a seedling until she can't any longer. It's a story about those hidden spaces that become worlds for the person or people who find them. And it's also a story about the worlds that can be created when we give trust over to othe...

Minh Lê (@bottomshelfbks) shares GREEN LANTERN: LEGACY, a brand new graphic novel from DC Kids. Stepping into the DC universe was an experience for Minh and how he made his mark was something truly unique and authentic. What results is a fast-moving, page-turning comic with depth and heart. One of the qualities I especially loved in the story was Minh's exploration of coming-of-age through Tai Pha...

Katrina Moore (@kmoorebooks) shares ONE HUG and GRANDPA GRUMPS. ONE HUG is Katrina's picture book debut. It's about what a hug can mean to someone else and speaks to the nature of hugs as a means of comfort, communication, and companionship. GRANDPA GRUMPS is about communication between generations despite a language barrier. The earnestness of the main character in this story as she tries to inte...

Ryan Andrews (@HeyRyanA) shares THIS WAS OUR PACT, a graphic novel about a band of friends determined to see where the lanterns end up after being sent down the river by the folks in their town as part of the Equinox Festival. There's a legend that they turn into stars, but no one has actually ever followed them to see. Where the river and these lanterns lead Ben and Nathaniel is beyond anything y...

I cohost a podcast on Book Riot called Kidlit These Days, where we examine the intersection between current events and children's literature. It's a lot of fun and feels like the most NPR thing I've ever done, which is pretty awesome in my mind. We're about to record an episode celebrating our first anniversary of the show, but I thought I'd invite you to listen to an episode we just recorded in r...

Deborah Marcero (@deborahmarcero) shares IN A JAR, a picture book about storing memories, shared or gathered on your own. It's about making what's distant near. There's something very special about experiencing something with someone else and Deborah's book speaks to being present, to stopping and noticing. I know we're distant now, but I hope you can call on those memories and feelings you've sto...

Recorded live at ALA Midwinter 2020, Scott Simon shares SUNNYSIDE PLAZA, his middle grade debut about a group home for developmentally disabled adults. The story is loosely based on Scott's own childhood experiences and I think it says a lot about who we see and who we make invisible in our society. We recorded this conversation in front of a packed audience in a very, very noisy exhibit hall, but...

Little Feminist Book Club (@Little_Feminist) team founder Britt Murlas and educational director Archaa Shrivastav join me to share the WE ARE LITTLE FEMINISTS board book series, including HAIR, FAMILIES, and ON-THE-GO. Each board book is full of beautiful photos depicting all kinds of kids and families from all different backgrounds, traditions, ages, shapes, and skin tones. The accompanying text...

This is a dedication to the life and light of Charlene Willing McManis, and the story she told the world. Traci Sorell (@tracisorell) joins me to share INDIAN NO MORE, a debut middle grade novel by the late Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell. Charlene poured a lot of life and a lot of history we don't get taught in schools into the writing of her debut novel. The result is an unforgettable...

Margarita Engle (@margaritapoet) shares DREAMS FROM MANY RIVERS: A HISPANIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TOLD IN POEMS. Margarita blends voices of real people with fictionalized accounts in order to create a book of many voices and many experiences in order to represent hispanic history in the U.S. Choosing poetry as her vessel helped to make the history personal, bringing us closer to the charact...