KidLit in a Nutshell

🎉 Special announcement!

I’m starting an email newsletter called Kidlit in a Nutshell. ✉️ And it’ll be free!  In it, I’ll be cutting a long story short and bringing you a curated list of what’s new and extraordinary in children’s picture books each month.  I decided to start a newsletter since life is so busy and we all miss out on seeing posts regularly.  Basically, the books I share on Instagram and on this blog (plus a few select others) will be wrapped up in a nice, shiny email and sent to your inbox once a month so you can take it to the library, bookstore or online ordering session. 📚

I’ll also include a couple of surprises and tidbits here and there, like my current favorite cookbooks that I’m devouring cover to cover, favorite book lists covering different topics, and a handful of exceptional children’s books publishing next season that I can’t wait to read.  Plus occasional news about my forthcoming books, and maybe even a sneak peek or two of the art.  In a nutshell, a little (but a lot!).  If you’re interested, look for the gray box on the right side of this page and enter your email there. 📬

Ghost Pies Inspired by How to Make Friends with a Ghost

We’re resharing these ghost pies we made a few years ago inspired by Rebecca Green’s How to Make Friends with a Ghost.  They were very easy to make.  All you need is:

🌷 A tulip-shaped cookie cutter

🥧 Frozen pie crust

🍎 Apple cider jam (or another fall flavor)

🧁 Glaze (1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tbsp milk + 1 tbsp maple syrup whisked together)

🖌 Wilton’s Foodwriter Edible Color Markers

If you haven’t made hand pies before, check out Hello Wonderful’s recipe for Easy Mini Jam Heart Hand Pies.

Happy baking! 👻🥧🍁

A Story Is to Share: How Ruth Krauss Found Another Way to Tell a Tale

Carter Higgins’ newest book is a thoughtful tribute to beloved children’s author Ruth Krauss.  Ruth’s listening ear, observant eye and boundless sense of wonder and playfulness made her a remarkable storyteller.  Isabelle Arsenault’s art charmingly captures Ruth’s energy and circuitous creative journey.  Thank you, Carter, for sharing the beauty of Ruth’s life with us, and the magic and light that sprung forth from her perseverance.  You three are an inspiration to writers everywhere!

A Story Is to Share: How Ruth Krauss Found Another Way to Tell a Tale was written by Carter Higgins, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers.  One of our favorite books this year!  It’ll be out on October 11.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Wit and prodigious humor abound in this deft retelling of a classic tale about the meeting of three billy goats and a terrible, terrible troll.  It’s one of the funniest stories we’ve come across this year.  We have a feeling that it’ll be one that parents won’t mind reading aloud again and again. 😉 Seriously, folks, don’t miss this one!  Out on October 18.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff was written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen and published by Orchard Books.

Still This Love Goes On

With loved ones by our side, we watch the winter grow into hard ice “with little tracks appearing on the snow” and later, heading into the warm months, “summer flowers turn the fields to sun.”  Throughout the changing year, one thing remains constant — love.  It flows from heart to heart.  Love goes on and on.  A beautifully resonant and poetic celebration of the seasons, everlasting love of family and the Indigenous community.

Still This Love Goes On was written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, illustrated by Julie Flett and published by Greystone Kids.