Brian Gehrlein's Blog, page 3
December 12, 2022
Author Spotlight: Alli Brydon
Happy Monday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
Ahhh...that magical time of year. That wonderfully wild rollercoaster between Thanksgiving and Christmas where teachers, students, and everyone in between are just seemingly counting down the days and fighting the temptation to coast on neutral while juggling literally all the things. Or maybe that's just how it feels since I'm a teacher.
I often forget not everybody has that traditional school schedule dominating their waking hours, but th...
October 15, 2022
#PBCritiqueFest 2022
Happy Saturday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
Are you ready, kidlit fam?Exactly six days from today, our annual #PBCritiqueFest will kick off for the fourth time! This massive one-time critique giveaway will give 32 kidlit creators an opportunity to have their work critiqued by published authors, illustrators, and literary agents. In this post, I hope to provide more information about how everything works as well as announce our festival participants. If after reading this post you sti...
September 23, 2022
Agent Spotlight: Jennifer Mattson
Happy Friday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight! I'm so glad you stumbled into this dusty corner of the internet.
If you happen to be on the hunt for a partner, a literary agent, someone to champion your work, and you find yourself slogging through the murky query trenches, this interview is for you...
I'm extra pumped to bring you this very special Agent Spotlight today. Because I have the privilege of spotlighting my very own literary agent, Jennifer Mattson of Andrea Brown Literary Agen...
August 25, 2022
Author Spotlight: Rebecca Gardyn Levington
WELL HELLO THERE!
So nice to see you! So nice of you to drop by and look at these words with your eyeballs and check out an awesome new picture book by Rebecca Gardyn Levington! Super pumped to be back in the figurative saddle and spotlighting picture books again.
Okay, so...elephant in the room...it's been a minute. Like...a minute since our last post. When I look back on life between now and last November I also kind of get it. In essence, I had too many balls in the air and I dropped one. ...
November 30, 2021
Author Spotlight: Matt Forrest Esenwine
Happy Tuesday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
Thanks again for all the author and illustrator love for Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld on their newest collaboration. If you happened to miss the post, check it out here. Many congrats to Aimee Larke on winning a copy of Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever!
Before we move on and jump into today's Author Spotlight, I had some author-heart moments I just HAD to share. Our eldest son, Peter, is going to be three next month. I never imagine...
November 24, 2021
Author & Illustrator Spotlight: Beth Ferry & Tom Lichtenheld
Happy Wednesday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
What a WHIRLWIND of a week. Thank you all again for making the launch of The Book of Rules so much fun! And many congrats to our Book of Rules raffle winners: Vanessa Flores, Jessica Shaw, Andrew Hacket, Tina Lusby, and Katie Brandyberry! Enjoy following the rules...I sure hope nobody gets eaten.
Today, I'm pleased to share another unique Spotlight interview. We have the one and only Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld in the house! Their new...
November 18, 2021
Meet The Book of Rules!
Happy Thursday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
I had every intention of getting this out on Tuesday...I had every intention.
But then Tuesday happened.
If I'm really honest I never really knew what to expect on debut day. It was this date, a looming moment in time that I knew would mean a lot. A date that would change things. But I kept telling myself it would be a normal day. I'd teach, get the boys after school, get everybody fed and to bed, and share a simple celebratory cupcake ...
November 9, 2021
Author-Illustrator Spotlight: Chris Haughton
Happy Tuesday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
To begin...today marks ONE WEEK until The Book of Rules hits shelves. ONE WEEK! I'm so excited!!! I keep waiting for the film crew to emerge from the shadows and say, "Just kidding! You don't have a book! It was all pretend, you silly dreamer! Now, go teach an English class!"
So far they have yet to emerge...
If you want to read more about The Book of Rules (and what it really means), check out my author letter by clicking the button above...
November 7, 2021
#PBCritiqueFest 2021 Winners!
Happy Sunday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight.
And just like that...another PBCritiqueFest was over. And what a festival it was! The reviews, purchases, pre-orders, promotions, and other posts were so cool to see! All of that energy and enthusiasm translated into the biggest turnout we've ever had. Then 31 critiques turned into 39 critiques. What?! Yepp. That happened. We had 335 individual registrations and...wait for it...4,754 raffle ticket entries! MADNESS!
So, if you won, do some qui...
October 10, 2021
#PBCritiqueFest 2021
Happy Sunday and welcome to Picture Book Spotlight!
It's that time again...Exactly one week from today, our annual #PBCritiqueFest will kick off for the third time! This massive one-time critique giveaway will give 31 kidlit creators an opportunity to have their work critiqued by published authors, illustrators, and literary agents. In this post, I hope to provide more information about how everything works as well as announce our festival participants. If after reading this post you still hav...
