Take a cue from Gato (and Walt Whitman): "I am large, I contain multitudes." From the cover, it's clear that Gato is a breaker of molds, a defier of norms and expectations. Text ©Winter Miller Illustration ©Danica Novgorodoff I have four legs, two ears, and a long, long tail, but the thing is... Text ©Winter … Continue reading Not a Cat: a memoir – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Today's perfect picture book confirms that, yes, a picture book can be vitally relevant to adults and children, relating basic truths about our lives and how we interact with our world. That the picture book as an art object can do this in so few words continues to thrill me. Fausto is a man accustomed … Continue reading The Fate of Fausto – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
I'm sure you have an opinion. What is the most ominous wintry scene in children's literature? CricketMuse argues that Edmund's encounter with the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia takes the prize, —while I argue that Jacob Marley's visitation of Scrooge has put the fear of miserliness into children for over 170 years. What … Continue reading The White Witch vs. Jacob Marley’s Ghost – Debatables
Question: Where was the first reported child abuse case in the United States? Answer: New York, 1874. Her name was Mary Ellen Wilson. For eight of her 10 years, she had been beaten, cut, starved, subject to hard physical labor, deprived of a bed and warm clothes, and generally tortured by her foster mother. A … Continue reading Nicholas Kristof – Call to Action
In 2015, I sat in a darkened auditorium in a hotel in Los Angeles, wanting to throw up. I had word poisoning. What was the source? The messenger's message. In that dark room, Shannon Hale, a keynote speaker at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference, was turning the spotlight on gender bias. … Continue reading Who Are You? Gender Bias – #KidLitWomen
Have you ever had an Amy Krouse Rosenthal (AKR) moment? Yesterday, I casually bought Terry Tempest Williams' book, "When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice." I read the title and decided to buy it. I didn't look inside. It just seemed like something I needed to read. When I opened it this morning, I … Continue reading Serendipity Strikes (AKR Moment)
There's an ongoing discussion in the kid lit world about why boys don't want to read "girl books," meaning books that star female protagonists or feature fairies or princesses on the cover or in the title. Is this "preference" intrinsic, or are they steered away from such interests, starting at a very young age? Shannon … Continue reading Reading Gender Into It – Children’s Books and Beyond
In a nation overtaken by arguments about immigration and the building of walls, Shanthi Sekaran's new novel underscores the complexity of the situation. But immigration issues are more than a decorative backdrop in Sekaran's novel. They provide the disturbing context for its premise: two women fighting for the right to raise one child, one of … Continue reading Lucky Boy – Shanthi Sekaran
I spent some delicious time with a few hundred Ansel Adams photographs today. But, surprisingly, the most memorable moment came not in the form of an image but as one of Adams's favorite quotes. It hit me head on: "People say that what we're seeking is the meaning of life. I don't think that's what … Continue reading What Does Literature Do to You?
Just an hour ago, I clicked on the "purchase" button at the online Apple store, spending $1700+ dollars on a new MacBook Air. Hence the Apple logo, the insatiably voracious version of Pac Man. Five minutes later, I panicked and canceled the order. This, after spending at least a week reading CNet reviews, Google and … Continue reading Apple vs Microsoft – What is a Writer to Do??
Jilanne Hoffmann 