Nature’s Best Hope
Just got in advance copies of Nature’s Best Hope! I adapted this nonfiction book by Doug Tallamy, and it will be on shelves this April.
Reading and working on this middle grade title made me change the way I plant my backyard. I now have asters and goldenrod and milkweed and Joe Pye weed and other natives luring in bees, birds, and butterflies. It works! Try it!
Read MoreBROWN review “Best Picture Book of the Year”
There’s really nothing like having your book called “the best picture book of the year.”
Also, “one of the sweetest picture books ever created, ever, in the history of picture books.”
It’s probably going to go to my head.
So much is conveyed through the poetic words and gorgeous art of this sweet, peaceful, and long-overdue book. Go buy some copies.
Thanks, WackyMommy of Because I Said So book reviews!
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You’re Right, Books Are Dangerous
Blue paper covers shelves of books that students are being denied access to.
This just breaks my heart.
In a classroom–a classroom–books are being kept away from students. Students want to read, to learn, to feed their curiosity, to enlarge their sense of the world, to simply have fun, and they’re being told NO. Are being told that’s not what school is for. Are being told that curiosity and openness of mind and heart must be controlled. Are being told that THEY must be controlled, that they and their teachers cannot be trusted to make choices about their own reading. About their own minds.
The people who made these laws are right about one thing–books are dangerous. They tell facts. They explain ideas. They make change. They are change.
And if that scares you–you might do something like this to children.
But it’s about your weakness and your fears, not about the books. And not about the students. The only thing on display here is the cowardice of lawmakers who don’t deserve the title, don’t deserve their jobs, and who are cowering in fear of chapter books.
Shame, shame, shame.
Read MoreReview for TWO FRIENDS
Kirkus has lovely words for Two Friends, One Dog, and a Very Unusual Week!
Read MoreReaders will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience….Touching and inspiring.
Happy Frog Day!
This week Save the…Frogs! will be leaping onto shelves at bookstores and libraries everywhere. Find out about frogs that fly (okay, glide) and freeze solid. Learn what it’s actually like to change from an aquatic tadpole into an adult that can hop on land. And how exactly do frogs manage to capture dinner with their tongues? It’s all here!
Picture Book Contest
Astra is once again running its picture book contest–open to manuscripts (no illustrations) for ages 3-8 written in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, or Chinese. The deadline is April 30, 2023, so plenty of time to polish up your latest manuscript!
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Prehistoric Turtles
Archelon. Cretaceous period. Scarier than T. rex.
Currently I’m researching turtles for a nonfiction chapter book. I have discovered that in prehistoric times there was a turtle with a shell thirteen feet long. IT HAD TEETH.
I am not okay with this.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews