Thank you to all who came out to celebrate Forests! And a special thank you to my husband who helped me with the puppets.

Please join me to celebrate the launch of FORESTS at Children's Book World, 10580 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles. I'll bring puppets and you can take the What Forest Are You? personality quiz. There MIGHT also be some sweet treats :) See you there!

Come join me and my puppets for a fun and educational story time! We'll learn about amazing forests all over the world and what we can do to help them. Part of the author's proceeds will be donated to the National Park Foundation and the National Forests Foundation.

I'm so excited to attend my first American Association of School Librarians conference! I will be signing FORESTS at four different times, and participating in a fantastic panel with authors Melissa Stewart, Charles R. Smith, and librarian Tom Bobe. Come say hi!

I'm so pleased that Forests received a lovely starred review from Kirkus. You can read the full review here.

I'm so honored to share that FROM PARK TO PLAYA: THE TRAILS THAT CONNECT US (illustrated by Sophie Diao and published by Cameron Kids/Abrams) has been selected by California State First Partner, Jennifer Seibold Newsom, as part of her First Partner's Book Club. Even more exciting--I got to spend the morning with her presenting at Altadena Public Library and giving away copies to the kids who attended! 

The First Partner and I bonded over our mutual love reading, libraries, and California parks as places to bring community together and get kids off screens. Doing a storytime with her is an event I will never forget!

I'm SUPER excited to attend the American Library Association Annual Conference this weekend. Not only will it be amazing to see all my librarian and author friends, but it will be my first time seeing FORESTS in person...and my first time meeting the illustrator of CAVES, VOLCANOES, and FORESTS, Kalen Chock! 

If you are coming to the conference, please come see us on Saturday from 12-1pm at the Scholastic Booth #1805 (write it down because Scholastic tends to not list their author signing in the main ALA directory!)

I'm thrilled to share that Volcanoes, illustrated by Kalen Chock and published by Scholastic, has been named to the American Librarian Association Notable Book List.

According to the Notables Criteria, "notable" is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children's books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways.

My mother was a member of the American Librarian Association, and I know this honor would have been especially meaningful to her. Thank you, ALA, and congrats to all the other book creators on the list.
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Check them all out here: https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb​

When I stopped working in the corperate world as a producer at Viacom for shows on VH1 and MTV, one of the many things I missed was the office holiday party. So when I emerged from the haze of stay-at-home motherhood to forge my next path, one of the first things I did with my AMAZING writing group was suggest we have our own holiday party. It has become a beloved tradition where we pick Secret Santa gifts for each other...and of course they are picture books! Buying picture books for picture book authors is no easy feat. How do you pay tribute to the author friend, while also, hopefully, surprising them with a book they hadn't known of? My Secret Santa, Gela Kalaitzidis, absolutely nailed it.

First, since Gela is Swedish, she gave me When Dad Showed Me the Universe by Ulf Stark and Eva Eriksson. Gela has educated our group about Swedish books and their delightfully dark/subversive edge, which also appears in her own award-winning work. Here is how the book starts, to give you a taste:

One day Dad said he thought I was old enough for him to show me the universe.
"Where is it?" I asked.
​"Not too far," he said, taking off his dentist coat with its flecks of blood.

Okay--NOT what you're used to seeing in American picture books lol. But I am IN!

The second book was equally perfect, Dive, Dive into the Night Sea by Thea Lu. There are so many reasons why this was the perfect gift for me. Lyrical book about nature? Check. Main poetic text with informational sidebars? Check. Dreamy illustrations depicting our wonderous relationship with nature in an adventurous environment? Check. Unusual book format? Check. I love everything about this book! She also included a printout of an interview with the book's creator. Wow, do I feel seen with this one. Thank you, Gela!

Here we all are, Chelsea Lin Wallace, Erica Rich, Julia Wasson, Sasha Mayer, and our East Coast member, Carter Higgins, on Zoom! I love these women and would have zero books published without their support.

Happy holidays!