January Issue
Happy New Year! Our January line-up includes interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Drew Daywalt, Cintia Alfonso Fior, Shaun David Hutchinson, Barbara Dee, Matthew Schufman, and Teresa Robeson!
Conrad Storad takes us up, up, and away in a beautiful balloon, Judy Newman adds a splash of color to her column, and Nick Spake reviews Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget!
Check out our newest book reviews and winter reading list! It's all inside!
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FEATURES
Jamie Lee Curtis
Celebrates a New Year and a New Picture Book
by Raven Howell
For Jamie Lee Curtis, a wondrous event occurred on Christmas Eve, 2020. “When I saw my 4-year-old neighbor, Betty, I said, ‘Santa’s on his way!’ She scolded me and said, ‘No no no, Jamie—one more sleep, then Santa.’ That moment of her literal truth inspired my new picture book, Just One More Sleep: All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait ... and Wait ... and Wait. That’s where the book was born.” And it was worth the wait.
Jamie Lee Curtis has a successful career as an Academy Award-winning actress and producer, but she shimmers like the bright star she is for the children’s community, too. Just One More Sleep (Philomel/Penguin Random House), her 13th picture book, captures every bit of the delightful humor and wit Jamie’s books are known for.
In 1993, she penned her first children’s story, When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth, and from there Jamie was off and running—er, writing. Well, both, most likely. With a cheerful twinkle in her eyes at barely 8 a.m., she says, “I get up early. I’m someone who wakes up joyful and ready for the promise of a new day. I wake up energized, fully amped. My switch gets flipped and I’m in the day. I look forward to each day because of the possibility. I’m a creative person, and a positive person.”
That positivity and creative energy is reflected in Jamie’s books and has been a comfort to many young readers’ lives, offering kids tools to help them learn and grow. Just One More Sleep is no different in that sense. The text celebrates the benefits of delayed gratification, explaining why waiting can be fun and wonderful. “The passage of time, how children relate to waiting and patience are the themes at play,” says Jamie. “It’s about how a young child metabolizes time into the phrase of ‘just one more sleep.’ I hope it will resonate with all families of young children.”
Jamie is quick to stress the importance of families sharing togetherness. “Bedtime reading for busy families is often the time of connection. It’s that moment that’s crucial and so beautiful.”
Drew Daywalt
Writes The Wrong Book
by Raven Howell
How would the inspiration to write The Wrong Book possibly come about? For Drew Daywalt, it happened unsuspectingly. “My 8-year-old daughter Abby bonked me over the head with it 12 years ago. This book is yet another idea that I stole from my kids. It’s okay though,” he says in characteristic joviality, “I’m paying for her college with it.”
Just in case your children’s literary radar has been off course, Drew Daywalt is the New York Times bestselling author of The Day the Crayons Quit series and The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors. He wrote BB-8 On the Run, a Star Wars book for Lucasfilm Publishing, and several others including the 2019 Monkey and Cake threesome. Drew has received the coveted E.B. White Read Aloud Award and earned a spot on the Time Magazine Top 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time list.
His new release, titled The Wrong Book, is the ideal hilarious read for kids who love to question everything you say. The premise of the book involves the narrator simply being ... well, wrong. When the main character tries to correct the narrator, he learns that it’s much more fun to just join in on the zaniness.
Drew’s daughter Abby is 20 now, but when she was 8, they were browsing at a bookstore together. Drew recalls, “She’d found one of those board books for preschool kids and it was shaped like a puppy. The whole book was shaped like a puppy and each page was puppy-shaped too. And I think the title was something like The Puppy Book. Abby said, “Isn’t this a funny book, Dad?” And I was like, “Yeah, look at that.” And then she said with a sly look on her face, “You know what would be funnier? If it was called the KITTY book!” And she howled with laughter at the idea of a book so blatantly wrong. And I was like, hmm … there’s a book idea there.”
Cintia Alfonso Fior
Inspires a New Generation of Changemakers
by Lindsey Giardino
Children’s fiction author Cintia Alfonso Fior first realized she wanted to be a writer after working with diverse underserved populations in South America, North America, and Africa. The perception of injustices and the great need to advocate for underserved populations, particularly children, inspired her to write her magical realism debut novel for young readers, Moraline—the Grand Prize Winner of the 2023 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, and a 2023 Reader’s Favorite Golden Medal Winner.
Fior is a child psychologist with a MA in Peace and Justice Studies from the Kroc Institute of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego and was the former chair of the American Family Therapy Academy’s (AFTA) Family Policy & Human Rights Committee. Her goal is to use storytelling to teach kids conflict analysis, resolution, and peacebuilding. Originally from Argentina, she lives with her family in San Diego, CA. We wanted to learn all about her and her work!
Tell us about your background/life growing up.
I was a curious late bloomer who was always daydreaming like Moraline. As I grew up, I have always loved helping children thrive. I remember pleading with my mom as a 17-year-old to let me travel to work in a cholera prevention campaign for rural elementary schools in Corrientes, Northeast Argentina, my country of origin.
Tell us about your career.
I am a psychologist, qualitative researcher in the Global South, and founder of Rising Advocates, an educational advocacy group utilizing storytelling for peacebuilding. Our focus on critical thinking and awareness offers the potential to transform classrooms into collaborative communities, integrating peace education within social and emotional Learning curricula. As I write this, I find myself situated in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, doing a building capacity with mental health providers and elementary school teachers.
Shaun David Hutchinson
Invites Readers to The School for Invisible Boys
by Raven Howell
Author Shaun David Hutchinson has a multi-faceted background. In addition to studying medieval and renaissance literature at Florida Atlantic University, he’s been involved with emergency medicine, firefighting, and is EMT certified.
Although in recent years he’s held a position in the computer industry, Shaun segued into a career using his creative talents and has written a long list of YA fiction, nonfiction, and short stories. There are two main motivational factors for this. “I write because I love it. I can’t not do it. It is the thing that gives me purpose. I write the books I do because I want to make sure the books exist now that didn’t exist when I was young and needed them,” he says.
When Shaun’s debut YA novel, The Deathday Letter, was released in 2010, it received high critical praise and became a CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children’s Book Council) selection. But this budding author wasn’t sure about his future in writing. “Honestly, when The Deathday Letter came out, I was pretty sure that was going to be it for me. Not that I didn’t want to write more books. It was just that publishing is so tough, and second books are notoriously difficult. I wish I could go back and tell that younger me to take a deep breath because by the time he’s older me, he’ll have over 15 books under his belt.”
Shaun is living proof that even with day jobs, authors can be full-time writers. “The goal was always to be able to support myself solely with my writing, though it’s a lot tougher for most writers than people think. I made a lot of trade-offs to be able to do it, so many that I decided to go back to work in computers last year. Not that I have any intention of slowing down with my writing, but it’s nice to not worry if I’m going to sell enough books each year to eat.”
One to Read:
Barbara Dee
Barbara Dee is the award-winning author of 14 middle-grade novels focused on smart kids facing real challenges with resilience and humor. Barbara’s previous novels have centered on tough topics like sexual harassment, climate anxiety, and the opioid crisis. Her books have earned several starred reviews and have been named to many best-of lists, including The Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books, the ALA Notable Children’s Books, the ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, and the ALA Rainbow List Top Ten.
With her trademark combination of heart and humor, Barbara chronicles a seventh grade girl’s struggle with writer’s block and anxiety in her new middle grade novel. Unstuck follows Lyla as she navigates unexpected changes in her school life, friendships, and family dynamic, all while working on writing an epic fantasy novel. We had to learn more about how to get unstuck … literally and figuratively.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I grew up in Brooklyn, NY—a public school kid whose face was always in a book. I also wrote stories and poetry and kept a journal through middle school. People who remember me from those years probably think of me as a tall, skinny redhead, friendly but introverted, a serious student. I wouldn’t quibble with that impression, really, except to add that despite my bookwormish exterior, I got into my share of mischief!
After I graduated from Yale as an English major, teaching high school English felt like the natural next step, and in many ways, it was ideal. I loved talking about Hamlet and Great Expectations, I loved being in the classroom, and I loved my students; in fact, I’m still in touch with several of them! But after five years, it felt like time to explore other options, so my husband and I both enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School, where we were editors on the Law Review.
Q&A with
Matthew Schufman
by Julianne Black DiBlasi
Have you ever sat in traffic and started daydreaming about running away, living off the grid, and ditching society altogether? It can’t just be me. Seriously, fess up! A quiet life alone is an ideal moment in time, but how would it feel long-term?
As adults, we sometimes forget how that same loneliness can creep in full-time during our school age years. A simple lunch period when your best friend is home sick can feel like an eternity. Struggling to make friends can make daily trips to school feel like … well, living in a secluded cabin like a forest ranger.
Fraser the Forest Ranger by Matthew Schufman does an amazing job visually and emotionally making that connection by creating a physical situation that hits to the core of the friend-making struggle. Expertly illustrated, the story delicately unravels the need and search for companionship. And while I expected the main character to return back to his cabin and decide he was happiest at home (ahem, projecting), with the takeaway promoting self-acceptance, it took a totally different direction, which not only makes for a fun ending, but provides a much better lesson! No spoilers here!
Q: As both the author and illustrator, how would you explain to fans your process? For example, are you a sketch book person? A note maker? Story board creator?
A: My process is very heavy on the illustrator side of things. My background is in graphic design, so I always like to start with some small sketches or thumbnails. Often before writing a story, I’ll play around with drawing until I feel like a character or world exists, and take it from there. I wish I was disciplined enough to keep a daily sketchbook, but I am more of a Post-It note or a random-scrap-of-paper person.
The Book Bug
Teresa Robeson
and the Wonders of Science and Stories
by Raven Howell
Start with several children’s stories, mix in science as needed, add a dash of cultural heritage, and you’ve got award-winning author Teresa Robeson’s catalog of picture and middle grade books.
“Picture books are children’s first introductions to the wider world,” she says. “They show kids new settings, people, things, and experiences they might not yet have encountered, and that is very important in expanding a child’s world view and mind. Picture books encourage kids to be curious and empathetic.”
Teresa’s Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom, won the 2020 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Picture Book Award, among other honors. It’s an inspiring biography of a Chinese American physicist who fought racism and sexism to become a top scientist in her field. Teresa finds some commonality with the physicist. “Wu and I are both Chinese American immigrants whose parents revered learning and we both have a passion for physics. If I could meet her now, I would want Wu to know that I’m honored to be able to write her life story for children, that I’m incredibly inspired by her, and that I commiserate with her about the unfairness of life.”
After the success of Queen of Physics, came the critically acclaimed Two Bicycles in Beijing with artwork by Junyi Wu. “I’ve been to Beijing twice. Once in 1997 with my parents and sister, then again in 2013 with my husband, children, sister, and father. Both times I was struck by just how much history the city is steeped in. The beautiful architecture there, along with a photo I took of a row of parked bicycles, inspired the story.”
MONTHLY COLUMNS
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Monsters at the Movies
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
by Nick Spake -
Life of a Reader
Color Me Orange
by Judy Newman -
Conrad‘s Classroom
Up, Up, and Away!
by Conrad J. Storad -
Liv On Life
Self-Destructive Countries …
by Olivia Amiri -
Kids Corner
Queen of physics
Word Search
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