Betsy Bird's Blog, page 15

Newbery/Caldecott 2026: Spring Prediction Edition

It’s heeeeere! Everyone’s favorite oh-dear-god-why-are-you-talking-about-2026-when-we’re-barely-surviving-2025 post!

That’s the happy news. The sad news is that I broke my streak. Since 2016 I had correctly predicted at least one Newbery or Caldecott winner in my spring prediction posts. That all came crashing to the ground last year. Behold:

2008 spring predictions: I get one Caldecott right (How I Learned Geography)

2009 spring predictions: I get two Newberys right (The Evolution...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Maggie B. by Irene Haas

Kate gave me a challenge and I…. kinda met it? We’ve somehow managed to do two picture books in a row on the podcast that involved tidal waves. I was charged with finding a third. To my utter amazement, today’s book was not one that we’d done before. Time to buckle up, folks! Kate and I haven’t disagreed about a book so much in quite a while. We talk His and Her Preciousses, whether or not apple trees are “insufficiently whimsical”, and the degree to which Margaret here is off the grid.

...

Review of the Day: The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi, ill. Monica Arnaldo

The Interpreter
By Olivia Abtahi
Illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
Kokila (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$18.99
ISBN: 9780593620441
Ages 4-6
On shelves now

When I was a kid I remember watching the blue jays in the trees. They’re loud birds, ones that call attention to themselves. Seeing me gazing at them, my mom told me that blue jays warn the other birds when predators or danger is around. Then she said something that kind of stunned me. ���But we don���t really know that much about them...

A Conversation Worth Reading: Kyle Lukoff Discusses His Work and A World Worth Saving

God blessed me by making me transsexual
for the same reason he made wheat but not bread
and fruit but not wine: because he wants humanity
to share in the act of creation.
���Julian K. Jarboe

I have a tendency to overstate when something is “the first” to me in some way. It’s not that these “firsts” are untrue. More that in the world of “firsts”, not all are created equal. There’s a great deal of difference, for example, between the first picture book I’ve seen to involve a dog racing a strawberry...

Justice for Little Sibs! A Conversation with Casey Lyall and Sara Faber About The League of Littles

Do you remember when it was hard to get your hands on new graphic novels for kids? I sure as heck do. In that dark ages before the rise of Telgemeier I ran a little book group for kids in New York City. One of my readers was a voracious graphic novel fiend. She was only in 2nd or 3rd grade but she devoured them. Each week she’d come up to me in the library, eyes wide with hope, and ask if any new graphic novels had come in. And almost every week I had to disappoint her.

Would that she had...

The History We Cannot Repeat: A Conversation with Livia Blackburne About Dreams to Ashes

There’s no denying that children’s nonfiction has become a force to reckon with in the last 20 years. From what was once rote recountings of the same five historical moments over and over again to today’s innovative takes on little heralded or considered topics, informational titles for kids are incredible. 2025 is no exception to this. Already this year I’ve read books about imprinting, potato scientists, all female anti-poaching teams, moons around Jupiter that could contain life, lice, Ru...

Would You Like a Laura Amy Schlitz Cover Reveal? A Conversation About The Winter of the Dollhouse

I love Laura Amy Schlitz.

This is a simple and true fact. I love her work. I love her as a person. I love everything about her. Folks, some of you reading this may be too young to remember what will have to be remembered as (I’m going to start using capital letters now) The Greatest Newbery/Caldecott Banquet of All Time. Do you remember it? Were you there? And no, I’m not talking about the year that Stephen Gammell won the Caldecott. I’m talking about a year where both the Newbery winner and ...

Climate Anxiety: Teaching Hope. A Pre-Earth Day Conversation with Martha Meyer and Patricia Newman

As adults, we have a responsibility to our young readers. There are problems with the world in which we live. How do we teach children about this problems without, at the same time, giving them anxiety?

At Evanston Public Library, library employee Martha Meyer pondered this very question. In the days of the COVID lockdown she tried to figure out the best possible solution, and what she came up with was The Blueberry Award. A play on the “Newbery” Award, Blueberry winners celebrate a love ...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

How is it we’ve never done an Oliver Jeffers book on this podcast? Well, that stops today, folks. Kate wanted something light and goofy, and by gum I’d say this book fills the bill. First off, it came out in 2005 (which means it just barely crests our 20-year rule). Second, it’s cute and it’s what, I truly believe, put Oliver Jeffers on the map in America. Today we’re talking about penguins in all their myriad forms. Kate challenges me to think of another picture book with a tidal wave and so if...

Cover Reveal and Conversation: Veeda Bybee and The Invincible List of Lani Li

Sometimes when I’m asked to do a cover reveal of a children’s book, the request will come from someone in a publicity department. Sometimes it’s from an agent. Sometimes an editor. And sometimes it comes from one of the creators of the book itself. I take all these requests with a grain of salt. Today, I said yes. You want to know why? Because I don’t want to give anything away but the cover of this book? Mighty impressive, folks. Mighty impressive.

The book? The Invincible List of Lani Li by...