The Children's Book Podcast

Arthur A. Levine shares THE HANUKKAH MAGIC OF NATE GADOL, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. When Arthur and I last spoke at ALA midwinter 2020 in Philadelphia, it was to launch Levine Querido, the independent publisher bearing his surname. THE HANUKKAH MAGIC OF NATE GADOL is a new picture book that introduces readers to Nate Gadol, a Hanukkah spirit who can make anything last as long as it is needed. It’s an exquisite story told best by Arthur himself, so I won’t waste another moment. A quick note just to say that Arthur was driving while we spoke. You’ll notice it in his audio track and I didn’t want it to catch you off guard.   You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog.   Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/matthewcwinner   Thank you to this week's sponsors: TeachingBooks.net Professor Bookworm (offer code CHILDRENS20) Libro.fm (offer c

Jelani Memory and company share titles from A KIDS BOOK ABOUT. Jelani is the founder of A KIDS BOOK ABOUT, an innovative company bringing difficult conversations to readers through lived experiences and #ownvoices. Taking on such topics as racism, divorce, failure, and belonging, A KIDS BOOK ABOUT is doing something different in the children’s book market and the impact these books are making on readers and reading communities, as I’ve experienced firsthand, is powerful. Today you’ll hear ten different voices representing ten different topics addressed in the A KIDS BOOK ABOUT series, why each author wrote their book, and what advice they would share to their childhood selves if given the chance. We’ll hear about RACISM from Jelani Memory, DIVORCE from Ashley Simpo, BELONGING from Kevin Carroll, EMOTIONS from Nakita Simpson, ADVENTURE from Ben Tertin, FAILURE from Dr. Laymon Hicks, FEMINISM from Emma Mcilroy, DISABILITIES from Kristine Napper, SHAME from Jamie Letourneau, and EMPATHY from Daron K. Roberts. Yo

Oliver Jeffers shares WHAT WE'LL BUILD. In many ways it is a love letter to his daughter about our future together, in relationship with one another, and all that our collective knowledge and collective experience will do to help move us forward. Oliver notes in our conversation that “all art is reactionary”, and we spend time in this conversation noticing details that appeared and reappeared in his art, what some of those details or characters mean, and what it means to take note of who or what’s around you, whether or not you fully understand why.   You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog.   Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcast/message

Connie Schofield-Morrison and Frank Morrison share I GOT THE SCHOOL SPIRIT. This book and others in the series star a spirited girl named Miraculous and her luminous ability to bring joy, space, and light into wherever she is. It won’t surprise you to know that Connie and Frank are much the same as their lead character. Truly, I feel blessed just to have spent time in conversation with them. And now that I get to share this conversation with you I am absolutely all smiles. Enjoy in a very big way.   You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog.   Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcast/message

Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright share TWINS, an all new middle grade graphic novel. It’s fair to say that both Varian and Shannon put a lot of themselves into making this comic, but what surprised me most was how much of all of us are in these panels. Twins Maureen and Francine are off to middle school and Fran has had just about enough of always being mistaken for her sister. So she sets out to carve her own path. Unfortunately there’s collateral damage to making such big attempts and it sets the girls as literal opponents in the race for class president. You and your readers are gonna love this one a whole lot!   You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog.   Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcas

Thrity Umrigar shares SUGAR IN MILK and BINNY’S DIWALI. These books represent two different strands of Thrity's life this year, as she puts it. Artist Khoa Le lends exquisite illustrations to SUGAR IN MILK to tell a story within a story of a girl who has recently immigrated to America and struggles to feel she belongs. The girl’s auntie comforts her with the timeless tale of an Indian king, a group of Persian refugees, and a full glass of milk. BINNY’S DIWALI is a celebration in lights and community, brought vibrantly to the page with the help of Nidhi Chanani’s colorful art.   You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcast/message

Zetta Elliott shares A PLACE INSIDE OF ME. Zetta is a force on this earth and I had the good great fortune to connect with her to discuss A PLACE INSIDE OF ME, her new picture book illustrated by Noa Denmon. Zetta’s passion for writing as both a space for growth and for taking risks has led to her having more than a few really great stories to tell, and more than a few friends readily volunteering her name as a truthsayer and a beacon of light. In A PLACE INSIDE OF ME, Zetta helps readers honor all of their emotions as a community responds to an act of racial violence and the story’s protagonist processes the trauma. I can scarcely put into words how A PLACE INSIDE OF ME moved me except to say that it’s a book I think about and return to even now, a long while after that first read.   You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank y

Eva Chen shares 3 2 1 AWESOME! and ROXY THE LAST UNISAURUS REX. Eva’s JUNO VALENTINE series brings forth the world of fashion in an inviting and inclusive way that Eva herself describes as something of a fashion feminist fairy tale. The latest in the Junoverse is 3 2 1 AWESOME!: 20 Fearless Women Who Dared to be Different. Illustrated by Juno Valentine artist Derek Desierto, this book counts down amazing accomplishments by women across the globe in a format that adds up to a whole lot of awe. Eva’s latest book is called ROXY THE LAST UNISAURUS REX. It’s illustrated by Matthew Rivera and in this story Eva embraces biracial representation and feeling like you’re the only one. As Eva shares, “every kid goes through a phase where they’re unsure of themselves or their place in the universe.” Eva Chen is on a mission to make sure that every kid knows that they’re home is right here. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book a

Fred Bowen and James Ransome share GRIDIRON: STORIES FROM 100 YEARS OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. GRIDIRON is a work of love and devotion and history and fandom. It tells in a collection of brief chapters a history of a sport made up in moments, from memorable plays to memorable leaders and memorable events that allowed more people into the game. And it does it with gorgeous, energetic, and often emblematic illustrations. Through it all, the sport, the figures, and the history, is an opportunity to bring people together. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcast/message

Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton share JULIE'S LIBRARY. Julie Andrews is a woman who needs no introduction, so perhaps you’ll humor me as we do this a little differently. You, I’m guessing, have grown up with Julie Andrews. So have I. Her film works alone were staples of my childhood and, in turn, we have shared them with our kids over and over again. Julie has appeared in movies we’ve streamed and she is a face our son readily recognizes when she appears on screen. Her life and career are an inspiration to many, but she is also someone whom my wife has looked to for strength and inspiration throughout her career as a vocalist and music teacher. We quickly binged all of the episodes of Julie’s Greenroom on Netflix as soon as it launched. And now the universe has given me something amazing in common with Julie because Julie Andrews is now a podcast host. Launched in May of 2020, JULIE’S LIBRARY is a brand new podcast from American Public Media with Julie and her daughter, children’s author and educator E

Tami Charles (@TamiWritesStuff) shares ALL BECAUSE YOU MATTER, a new picture book illustrated by Bryan Collier. Tami wrote this book for her son while thinking how to protect him from the cruelties of the world while also exposing him to the beauties. Is it not a parent’s job to protect their child and help to prepare them for the world they are entering? And if you don’t tell them how much they matter, who will? Much like children growing up, this is a conversation that went by much too fast. I sincerely hope you enjoy it. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Picture Book Summit Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcast/message

Linda Sue Park (@LindaSuePark) shares PRAIRIE LOTUS and GURPLE AND PREEN. Linda Sue’s newest middle grade novel, PRAIRIE LOTUS, takes place in Dakota Territory in the 1880s. Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder will note that this is the same time and location of LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE. That isn’t by coincidence. Linda Sue was also an emphatic fan of Wilder’s LITTLE HOUSE books and would often imagine herself in the world of those stories. This was a world, though, that would have harshly rejected Linda Sue and her family. In a novel nearly a lifetime in the making, Linda Sue shares how she reconciled her childhood love of an iconic book series with a need to hear the voices who were silenced throughout Wilder’s writings. In Park’s words, “All kids need books about all kids.”  You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this w

Deborah Wiles (@DeborahWiles101) shares KENT STATE. Deborah is known for a great number of outstanding middle grade novels, but her YA debut is one that I believe will fully stop you in your tracks. KENT STATE is a novel in verse or perhaps more accurately a novel in voices about the events on May 4th, 1970 which led to members of the Ohio National Guard opening fire into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students. It is a book about events that took place over 50 years ago, but it is also inseparably a story about what is going on right now. It’s a novel that examines the importance of social justice and what it means to be an American. It is a retelling that will move you. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Picture Book Summit Bookclub 

Meera Sriram (@Meeratsriram) shares A GIFT FROM AMMA: MARKET DAY IN INDIA, illustrated by Marionna Cabassa. I am always keeping an eye out for books that take the familiar and reshape and reshare in a new way. In this book, we take a color walk alongside our main character, noticing pinks and blacks and reds and all of the other colors of the market. But this isn’t just a walk for the eyes. It’s a walk for all the senses. Readers watch the charcoal black roast sweetcorn and kebabs while hearing the black drums beat and boom. They smell the powdery spice scent of turmeric, yellow like sunshine dust, while hearing a yellow rickshaw pass. Meera has captured the sensory experience of the markets she grew up visiting and she shares them with all of our readers. It is a place you’ll want to visit over and over again. And centering all of this is a child’s love for her mother. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and supp

Frank Murphy (@frankmurphy2009) and Kayla Harren share A GIRL LIKE YOU, co-authored with his wife Carla Murphy. Frank affirms with this sequel to A BOY LIKE YOU why the world needs every kind of kid. Sensitive, outgoing, smart, brave, caring, energetic, creative, and whatever other words that might come to mind as you think of the kids in your life. The first book was written in response to Frank’s observation of all the problems going on in the world, and to how the media continued to blame those problems most often on guns and on boys. We talk a lot about addressing toxic masculinity, but not all masculinity is toxic. As Frank shares, “there are great ways to be a man.” Under the talented hand of Kayla Harren’s pencil and brush strokes, boys from all kinds of families, neighborhoods, interests, and skin tones are seen and loved and valued on the page. The same care and respect was taken in centering girls for the sequel, A GIRL LIKE YOU, only now Frank invited in another voice to help tell the story and one

Adam Gidwitz (@AdamGidwitz) and Emma Otheguy (@EmmaOtheguy) share THE MADRE de AGUAS OF CUBA, book #5 in the UNICORN RESCUE SOCIETY series, illustrated by Hatem Aly. If you have been following along with this chapter book series, you have no doubt noticed that it’s doing something a little different than the other books out there. Series frontrunner Adam Gidwitz has paired up with a different #ownvoices author for each of the books since the first sequel. The resulting titles have taken readers all around the world to explore region-specific mythical creatures while also exploring the intersection of culture and current events. The latest installment takes place in Cuba and at the hands of skilled storyteller Emma Otheguy the characters seek to rescue a mysterious creature amid a threat to the area’s water supply. As Adam would say, this book and the others in the series are filled with “serious fun”. And if this is your first entry into the series, have no fear. This book is a great starting point and catche

Samara Cole Doyon (@HeartRoot_Fire) and Kaylani Juanita (@kaylanijuanita) share MAGNIFICENT HOMESPUN BROWN. This picture book is so many things and, whether you are reading it the first time or the twenty-first time, there is something new to discover with each new read. This is due in large part to the terrific balance between rich, poetic text and lushly detailed, beautiful illustrations. Samara’s and Kaylani’s combined gifts resulted in a stunning and resonant story that is, itself, a gift to read. It is a celebration of all shades of brown and the faces and families whose deep, secret brown, whose feathery brown, whose amber brown, whose radiant brown, whose magnificent, homespun brown is part of what makes them so magnificent. And because the two did not connect by voice previously, this conversation is a first connection and a shared appreciation captured on digital “film”. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this boo

Rashmi Bismark (@rashmibismark) shares FINDING OM, her debut picture book illustrated by Morgan Huff and published by Mango & Marigold Press. In the story, Anu explores the mantra Om with her much-loved grandfather Appuppa. Rashmi was drawn to writing about the southeast asian experience and reflects on the #ownvoices responsibility in communication through art in a picture book. I found it fascinating to learn about the balance between leaving space for the illustrator in a picture book as an author and the importance of communicating details in order to assure, as an #ownvoices author, an authentic representation of Anu and her Indian-American family. This attention to detail extends all the way to how Anu’s family members are sitting as the center on Om. There’s so much more to share, but I’m going to let my conversation with Rashmi do the talking. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent

Farhana Zia shares LALI’S FEATHER, illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman and published by Peachtree Publishing Company. It’s a story about a girl who finds a feather and sets about trying to find the owner. What she finds instead is a good number of other birds who think their feathers are superior in beauty or sturdiness or usefulness. Of course, none of these opinions are useful for Lali. But what’s more is that Lali is unperturbed by their comments. She seems to be consumed with an irrepressible joy for this small treasure. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and support independent bookstores (and this podcast) by visiting our BookShop Store.   Thank you to this week's sponsor: Picture Book Summit Bookclub (Patreon) Libro.fm And to the generous support from our Patrons. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/childrens-book-podcast/message

Kelly Starling Lyons (@kelstarly) shares GOING DOWN HOME WITH DADDY. Kelly is a wonder to me. Her books live in nearly every collection of our school library. Her JADA JONES series is so well-loved, that just mentioning her name in our library had students literally giddy to read her next book. She had not one but two picture books included in our mock Coretta Scott King award last year including GOING DOWN HOME WITH DADDY, a book illustrated by Daniel Minter for which he was awarded a Caldecott honor. Kelly’s newest book is called TIARA’S HAT PARADE, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell, and it centers on a daughter’s love for her mother and the heartfelt way she responds when momma’s millinery business is forced to close. We squeeze a whole lot into this one conversation, so be sure to put in a list of holds requests at your library to check out all of Kelly’s books for yourself. You can access even more information about this book and its author by visiting www.matthewcwinner.com/blog. Get a copy of this book and