Best Books
Review of the Day: While We’re Here by Anne Wynter, ill. Micha Archer
Thoughts on gatekeeping, children's books, diverse voices, and how you can create a picture book that somehow, remarkably, gets everything right, all at once.
Kilroy Was Here: Meghan McCarthy Discusses her Incredible Appalachian Title, The Long Hike
Take a deep dive into the origins of the incredible true story that will get your kids hyped to explore some trails of their own.
Review of the Day: Chernobyl, Life and Other Disasters by Yevgenia Nayberg
When your kids have devoured the samey samey GNs out there and they want a comic that’s a cut above (and doesn’t look like anybody else), that’s when you hit ‘em in the Chernobyl. Far and away a favorite of the year.
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Shouldn’t Work. Does. Brilliantly. We Discuss Charts for Babies with Michelle Rial
Michelle Rial (a.k.a. the new funny person you need to add to your roster) has not only created what might be the most amusing-for-toddlers-AND-parents book of the year, she's gone above and beyond the call of duty to answer some interview questions from me today... IN CHART FORM!
A Conversation in Hair with Sope Martins and Sean Qualls
With two jaw-droppingly good books on Black hair out in 2026, I wanted to get the creators in discussion with one another. How did they do their research? Where's the overlap? What's unique about how they chose to tackle the material?
A “glimpse of the unseen self through the medium of motion.” Helen Yoon Discusses Donutrina in the Nutcracker Sweet
"...maybe I'm the medium. Less creator, more conduit; a host body for the two-centuries-old Nutcracker virus." Turns out, Helen Yoon may be the greatest interview subject I've featured to date. Y'all, you GOTTA read this!
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Secret Agent Men (and Women!): A Double Crossed Q&A with Rebecca E.F. Barone
"I’ll read anything that’s a good story! We use stories as a way of making sense of and understanding the world around us, and I’d argue that’s as much the point of fiction as it is of nonfiction." Rebecca E.F. Barone waxes rhapsodic about her latest spy thriller.
Review of the Day: You Are Now Old Enough to Hear This by Aaron Starmer, ill. Jaime Zollars
If you want your child to read books that they’ll forget in a month’s time, hand them pablum. If you want them to think, rethink, and return to a book for the rest of their life? This is what you give.
Holding Their Systems Together: Katy Duffield and Hannah Salyer Discuss Their Upcoming WE ARE THE KEYSTONES
"...a brilliant tapestry rich with images and lots of atmosphere." That's the kind of informational picture book we're discussing with its author and illustrator today. If you want guidelines on how to write such a book, then I think you need to read this.
Keep Your Head on a Swivel: An Endless Game Interview with J.D. Amato
"...there was a palpable 90s dream of kids building their own societies and sorting things out on their own." Join us for an interview today with the creator of a comic that brings to vibrant life that feeling all over again.
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