Betsy Bird's Blog, page 4

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers Preview (Spring 2026)

Eerdmans is one of those companies you’d do well to keep your eye on. Their list is not gigantic, but there’s a level of high-quality art and writing to the children’s books they produce that always strikes me as interesting. Case in point, today’s consideration of a slew of Spring 2026 titles. Just the right mix to cure what ails ye!

Let us begin!

The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne by Laura Alary, ill. Yas Imamura

ISBN: 9780802855152

Publication Date: January 27, 2026

N...

Myrick Marketing/Publisher Spotlight Publishing Preview: What On Earth, Albatros, Barefoot Books, Beetle Books, and Child’s Play (Summer/Fall 2025 & Winter 2026)(Part Six)

At this point this is turning into less of a preview and more of a present (which is to say, many of these books are out already). That’s okay. These are still cool books from small publishers that you may or may not have heard of (and odds are, probably you haven’t). As ever, if you’d like to see even more from this season, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of this series so far!

This Book Is Too Quiet! by Christina Cubells, ill. Joana Casals

ISBN: 9781804661819

...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey

Kicking off October with Edward Gorey just seems obvious at this point in time. After all, since he died 25 years ago, there are a lot of celebrations happening in his honor this season (see one of them below in the Show Notes). Naturally, since he did quite a few “picture books” (a term we use in the broadest sense) it seemed logical to tackle his best known work. Is it for children? Not intentionally, but I make the case on the show that there are picture books out there that are not inten...

Review of the Day: Our Lake by Angie Kang

Our Lake
By Angie Kang
Kokila (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
$19.99
ISBN: 9780593698235
Ages 3-6
On shelves now

I think that until a parent starts reading picture books to their kids on the regular, there may be a perception that the best picture books are the flashy ones. Think of , or The Very Hungry Caterpillar or The Monster at the End of This Book. These books practically come with their own pyrotechnics, so filled are they with flash and bang and ener...

Distilling a Story Down to Its Very Essence. Mar��a Dolores ��guila Talks About A Sea of Lemon Trees

The verse novel never really went away, but its appearance in 2025 has been interesting. It never seems to show up in the same book twice. One minute you’re reading a serious contemporary tale of grief and recovery, the next a loving Jewish ghost story filled with regrets, and the next a bit of historical fiction based on true events.

That last description I just mentioned pertains to Mar��a Dolores ��guila’s much lauded A Sea of Lemon Trees. With two starred reviews (to say nothing of it...

Distilling a Story Down to Its Very Essence. Mar��a Dolores ��guila Talks About The Sea of Lemon Trees

The verse novel never really went away, but its appearance in 2025 has been interesting. It never seems to show up in the same book twice. One minute you’re reading a serious contemporary tale of grief and recovery, the next a loving Jewish ghost story filled with regrets, and the next a bit of historical fiction based on true events.

That last description I just mentioned pertains to Mar��a Dolores ��guila’s much lauded The Sea of Lemon Trees. With two starred reviews (to say nothing of ...

Out There, Waiting for Me: A Q&A with Jennifer L. Holm About OUTSIDE

Jenni Holm’s on a bit of a fascinating tear these days, wouldn’t you say? Now here we have a career worth examining with interest. She wins herself multiple Newbery Honors then shifts gears and starts doing graphic novels with her brother. Babymouse, Sunny, that sort of thing. Then she sort of doubles back and does novels again, only this time they’ve a distinctly science fiction bent. Your cloning issues in The Thirteenth Goldfish or living in outer space in The Lion of Mars. Little wonder ...

“Trying times like these require good music and dancing.” A Blues Boy Cover Reveal and Q&A with Alice Faye Duncan

Who has yet to receive a picture book biography? Is there a list somewhere that one can check? I’d start one myself, except that it sounds like a lot of work and, honestly, who has the time? Besides which, I’m often rather astounded when I learn who has and has not been featured. Take blues musicians. We’ve had Muddy Waters and Bessie Smith and…. a lot of jazz musicians, actually. Far more than blues. We’ve had books ABOUT the blues, but the musicians themselves get relatively short shrift. Mayb...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch, ill. Michael Martchenko

In the news recently were news articles about the diseases that Canadian picture book creator Robert Munsch is facing at the moment. Inspired, we thought we owed the man a third episode (after the marvelous Paper Bag Princess and the unfortunate Love You Forever). Much like our recent foray into Max’s Dragon Shirt, we return to the 90s in picture book form. The scrunchies! the clothing! The fact that there used to be kids named Stephanie! It’s all there. We consider the book, its humor, its ...

Divorce, Picture Book Style: Michael Datcher Discusses A Song for Two Homes

I don’t teach children’s literature or the writing of picture books in any capacity, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to make up writing exercises for fun. For example, imagine you had to write a picture book about divorce. Now imagine you had to write a picture book about divorce and it had to be a GOOD book. Which is to say, interesting and beautifully written with cool art. Do you have any concept of how incredibly difficult that is to accomplish? I count on one hand the number of pictu...