Chris Barton's Blog: Bartography, page 42

Writing what I’d love to learn

A post I wrote for the Nerdy Book Club has gone online, and I think you’ll like it. It’s titled “Write What You Know? Try Writing What You’d Love to Learn,” and it expands on a theme I discuss a lot in my school visits. Here’s a taste: As I write, I also discover more […]

Q&A with Jonah Winter, author of Lillian’s Right to Vote

In this year of momentous anniversaries, I feel a strong affinity for Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Schwartz & Wade), the new picture book written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Shane W. Evans. The story that illustrator Don Tate and I tell in The Amazing Age […]

A 2nd starred review (from Booklist) for the Christensen brothers!

Things are shaping up nicely for Willam, Harold, and Lew Christensen, the subjects of my new book with Cathy Gendron, ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition (Millbook Press). Here’s some of what ALA Booklist had to say in the starred review that it published this week: Barton offers […]

A star for Nutcracker from Publishers Weekly!

I couldn’t be happier with this starred review from Publishers Weekly for ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition. Here’s an excerpt: Balancing evocative turns of phrase with a crisp, forthright narrative, Barton delivers an involving account of how watching The Nutcracker ballet, which originated in Russia, became an […]

Elizabeth Bird on The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch

Elizabeth Bird, librarian extraordinaire, had a lot to say this week about The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch on her School Library Journal blog. This book has received some great attention, but there’s nothing quite as rewarding for an author as knowing without a doubt that someone has made a point of thinking deeply […]

“Music, dance, a holiday tradition”

Thank you, Teresa Rolfe Kravtin, for this appreciation of ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition. It cites a book I adore, but whose connection to my own I had never considered: Every year, The Nutcracker is staged in communities across America, and with this book, author Chris Barton […]

‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America is out today!

A mere 12 years, 6 months, and 23 days after I saved my first file on the topic of Utah-born Willam, Harold, and Lew Christensen, today marks the launch of my newest book, ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition. It’s published by Lerner Books/Millbrook Press and gorgeously illustrated […]

Bartography Express for August 2015, featuring Tamara Ellis Smith’s Another Kind of Hurricane

This month, one subscriber to my Bartography Express newsletter will win a copy of Another Kind of Hurricane (Schwartz & Wade) by Tamara Ellis Smith. If you’re not already receiving Bartography Express, click the image below for a look. If you like what you see, click “Join” in the bottom right corner, and you’ll be […]

Another Kind of Hurricane and ways to support New Orleans

Tamara Ellis Smith, featured in the August issue of Bartography Express for her debut novel, Another Kind of Hurricane — — has asked me to share this with you. I’m so glad she did, and I’m happy to pass it along: HELPING NEW ORLEANS lowernine.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of […]

In which I give away Don Tate’s Poet — and a little behind-the-scenes info

One week from tomorrow, you can buy this beauty — the first book that my friend Don Tate has both written and illustrated: In the meantime, you can get in the running for a copy of Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton (Peachtree) that I’ll be giving away. More on that in a […]