Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 40
October 20, 2021
Teacher Guides: Lee & Low’s Katie Potter Offers a Publisher’s Perspective
Today we’re chatting with Katie Potter, Senior Literacy Specialist at Lee & Low Books, to get a publisher’s point of view on teacher guides.
Does Lee & Low create an educator guide for every book you publish?
Yes! Lee & Low Books offers free, high-quality Teacher’s Guides for more than 800 of our books. Lee & Low Books publishes a guide for every frontlist title that is released (and as close to the release date or year that we can!), and are working on completing guides for...
October 19, 2021
Guest Post: Laurie Morrison on Creating Balanced, Flexible Teacher Guides for Her Books
Photo Credit: Laura Billingham
Before my first middle-grade novel with Cordelia Jensen, Every Shiny Thing (Amulet, 2018), was published, I taught middle school for ten years, and those two identities—author and teacher—still feel intertwined. I’d never tried to write fiction until I became a teacher and got inspired by my students and the books I read alongside them. And as I was reading widely to find stories my students would connect with, I was also practicing my own craf...
October 15, 2021
Cynsational News
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: Time for Bed, Old House by Janet Costa Bates, illustrated by A.G. Ford (Candlewick Press, 2021).
Author/Illustrator InsightsQ&A With Natasha Tarpley and Regis and Kahran Bethencourt, The Me I Choose to Be by Suniti Srinivasan from We Need Diverse Books. Peek: [Natasha Tarpley:] “[Y]ou need to have that sense of who you are before you can go out and engage ...
October 14, 2021
In Memory: Teri Lesesne
Dr. Teri Lesesne, educational trailblazer and literacy advocate, died Aug. 31 surrounded by family at her home after a long battle with cancer.
Lone Star Remembers: Dr. Teri Lesesne from Lone Star Literary Life. Peek: “She touched the lives of many young authors, current and future librarians, and countless others and was especially passionate about connecting YA books to readers. She was known for saying that ‘the right book given to the right student at the right t...
October 13, 2021
Author & Illustrator Interview: Kavita Ramchandran & Srividhya Venkat talk on Dancing in Thatha’s Footsteps
We are pleased to welcome the author-illustrator team of Dancing in Thatha’s Footsteps (Yali Books, June 2021) to Cynsations!
Written by Srividhya Venkat and illustrated by Kavita Ramchandran, Dancing in Thatha’s Footsteps (Yali Books, June 2021) is a story about staying true to yourself and following your heart. Varun is fascinated by Bharatanatyam, the ancient classical dance from India that his sister is trying to perfect. He tries a few moves all by himself at home in se...
October 12, 2021
Guest Post: Holly Green & Emma Kress Talk About Writing Fierce Girls in YA Fiction
By Holly Green and Emma Kress
Cynsational Note: Today we are honored to welcome two YA debut authors, Holly Green and Emma Kress, who talk about their debut year and the importance of writing strong, fierce female characters.
Emma: Hi, Holly! I’m so excited we get to chat about our books together for Cynsations!
Holly: Yes! I’ve been so excited about this. For those of you who don’t know us, Emma and I met at VCFA back in 2016 when we started the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults pr...
October 11, 2021
Native Voice: Daniel Vandever Shares His Inspirations
Welcome to Cynsations, Daniel! You are the author-illustrator of Fall In Line, Holden! (Salina Bookshelf, 2017), which was an American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award Honor Book, and the author of a new book Herizon, illustrated by Corey Begay (Diné)(South of Sunrise Creative, 2021).
Could you tell us about your creative journey? Why did you decide to focus on children’s books?
My creative journey began out of necessity. I grew up of lesser means in ...
October 8, 2021
Cynsational News
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: Everybody in the Red Brick Building by Anne Wynter, illustrated by Oge Mora (Balzer + Bray, 2021).
Author/Illustrator InsightsAuthors Share Stories of Loss and Hope in Closing NAIBA/SIBA Keynote by Alex Green from Publishers Weekly. Peek: [Yuyi Morales:] “[Picture books are] how we…connect with children over the things that they are actually going through,...
October 7, 2021
Interview: Sylvia Vardell on the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
Many of you might know the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) best as that organization that awards the Hans Christian Andersen Award biennially to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. But there is so much more to the organization.
Today I’m happy to reintroduce Cynsations readers to Sylvia Vardell. We most recently featured Sylvia with her co-author Janet Wong last April with Guest Pos...
October 6, 2021
In Memory: Eloise Greenfield
Eloise Greenfield, the award-winning and prolific children’s author died Aug. 5 in Washington, D.C.
Eloise Greenfield, Who Wrote to Enlighten Black Children, Dies at 92 by Richard Sandomir for The New York Times. Peek: “In 48 books, she wrote about everyday subjects (the things a young girl loves, a boy rapping, a father’s death) and historical figures (biographies of Paul Robeson, Rosa Parks and Mary McLeod Bethune).”
Poet and Author Eloise Greenfield Remembered from School...
