Chris Barton's Blog: Bartography, page 3

My message to librarians: “If this book seems like one that the world needs right now… we match!”

For more information about We Match! (coming July 15 from Astra Young Readers, with illustrations by Sharon Glick), I'm happy to share.

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We Match! book + dog bandana giveaway

Today -- one month and ten days until the publication of We Match! (illustrated by Sharon Glick) -- brings a new giveaway. The book's publisher, Astra, is giving away five copies, each with a We Match! dog bandana. The deadline to enter is just five days from now, so get in the running right away!

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June 2025 book giveaway: Win a copy of Meg Eden Kuyatt’s The Girl in the Walls

Earlier this spring I asked on Bluesky, "What’s a #kidlit book coming out this May—not anything that you had a hand in creating; someone else’s—that you’re really rooting for?" Author Meera Trehan responded by recommending Meg Eden Kuyatt's middle grade novel The Girl in the Walls, and Meg then paid it forward by recommending Marcella [...]

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Spinning Toward the Sun event with Liz Garton Scanlon, Sean Petrie, and me!

Austin friends, please come join Sean Petrie, Liz Garton Scanlon, and me at Birdhouse Books and Gifts this coming Sunday, June 1, at 3 p.m. for readings from and conversation about Spinning Toward The Sun: Essays on Writing, Resilience, & the Creative Life. It would be a big help to the good folks at Birdhouse [...]

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My 2nd round of testimony against Texas House Bill 3225

Barbara Jordan, please give me strength. This past Thursday, I was back at the Texas Capitol to testify (again) in opposition to House Bill 3225 — this time, before the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs. (The committee met inside the Senate chamber, which meant I had a great opportunity to get close [...]

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May 2025 book giveaway: Win an advance copy of We Match!

I've been on the go so much lately that it's taken me more than a week to shout to the world (meaning you) that my advance copies of We Match! have arrived. You can see the moment* for yourself: ? And if you like this peek at We Match! (illustrated by Sharon Glick and being [...]

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My essay about book bans in Texas Observer

A Texas Observer editor reached out after my April 14 testimony against one of the many book-ban bills pending in the current session of the Texas Legislature and asked if I'd be willing to adapt it into an essay in this storied publication. I was glad to. And though it shouldn't need saying, "Texas Shouldn’t [...]

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Publishers Weekly says We Match! is “funny and pointed”!

Thirteen-plus years after I started on We Match! (illustrated by Sharon Glick and coming this July 15 from Astra Young Readers), my new picture book's first review is finally here. And it's a good one. I love the Publishers Weekly reviewer's analysis of what Sharon Glick and I and the team at Astra strove to [...]

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My testimony against Texas House Bill 3225

At the Texas Capitol on Monday evening, I was among a group of librarians, parents, and others who testified — many of us after waiting more than ten hours — to the Texas House Committee on State Affairs in opposition to House Bill 3225. As the Texas Freedom to Read Project has summarized, HB 3225 [...]

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Feedback from my 2024-25 author visit hosts, pt. 4: “For better or for worse, what stood out about the feedback that you received after Chris’ visit?”

These are the books I'll be featuring in my 2025-26 author visits. Find out more about hosting me! I've done 167 author presentations so far this academic year, and often at the end of a visit a school principal or other administrator will ask me how things went. I always tell them, honestly, [...]

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