Chris Barton's Blog: Bartography, page 13

Come see me at AASL in Tampa!

I'm excited to be presenting three times at the American Association of School Librarians National Conference in Tampa later this month! And I'll have three book signings as well, so if you'll be at AASL and our schedules align for at least one of those times, I'd love to see you. Here's the full list [...]

Moving Forward is a finalist for the 2022 Writers’ League of Texas Picture Book Award!

Such a big year for picture book biographies! Congratulations to Carmen Oliver on winning the Writers' League of Texas Picture Book Award with Building an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music from Trash. I'm proud to have Moving Forward: From Space-Age Rides to Civil Rights Sit-Ins with Airman Alton Yates [...]

The case against the Texas book ban, a.k.a. House Bill 900, a.k.a. the READER Act

On September 18, 2023, United States District Judge Alan D. Albright issued a written order enjoining the State of Texas from "applying, enforcing, or attempting to enforce" House Bill 900, a.k.a. the Texas book ban, a.k.a. the READER Act. As he states early in the injunction (which you can read in its entirety), "the Court [...]

4-book giveaway for This One’s Dedicated to… (#51): Donalyn Miller, The Joy of Reading

Welcome to this special, 51st episode of "This One's Dedicated to...," in which Jennifer Ziegler and I share our longer-than-usual conversation with educator and author Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer, Reading in the Wild, Game Changer!) about the dedications that she and the late Teri Lesesne wrote for their collaboration, The Joy of Reading (Heinemann, [...]

Win 1 of 4 signed copies of What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?

For my September 2023 giveaway, I'm offering four signed copies of my picture book biography What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, illustrated by Ekua Holmes and published by Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster. Why this book this month? For more reasons than I've counted until [...]

Librarians and teachers: How have authors been there for you?

Excerpt from an email I recently received from a librarian. I know I'm not alone in being there. For a project I'm working on, I'm looking for recent stories from librarians and educators about ways that authors have shown active, meaningful support for you and the work you do at a time when [...]

A quick take on Glitter Everywhere!: “everyone can learn something new”

And recommendations of dozens of other titles, too, courtesy of the We Are Teachers post "57 Awesome 4th Grade Books You’ll Want To Share With Students." Here's what they say about Glitter Everywhere! Where It Came From, Where It’s Found & Where It’s Going (written by me, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, and published by Charlesbridge): [...]

The Nonfiction Detectives on Glitter Everywhere!: “Highly recommended”

Many thanks to The Nonfiction Detectives for their enthusiastic review of Glitter Everywhere! Where It Came From, Where It's Found & Where It's Going (illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat and published by Charlesbridge). Here's a bit of what they say about the book: "What makes this title stand out is its inclusion of all the features [...]

The first question to ask after realizing you want to write a book

At my school visits and public appearances as an author as well as in my online interactions as a freelance editor, I often encounter people who remind me of myself from 20-plus years ago. When I first realized that I wanted to write books for young readers, I was excited, enthusiastic, unsure of where to [...]

Glitter Everywhere! on Chicago Today

NBC 5 in Chicago recently had librarian Betsy Bird on to talk about fun new books that she'd recommend for stopping the "summer slide" in reading skills, and she featured my new one, Glitter Everywhere! Where It Came From, Where It's Found & Where It's Going (illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat and published by Charlesbridge). She [...]