The Weekly 411 (5/16/25)
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| © Berrie Torgan-Randall |
May16, 2025 vol. 20
The Weekly 411 gathers all the links added to Kidlit411 each week. To receive this post by email, sign up for our email updates. Are you on Facebook? Join our Kidlit411 group for conversations and camaraderie. We can also be found on Bluesky. This week's illustration is by Berrie Torgan-Randall.
Publishing News
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Fired by White House
NEA Grants Terminated, Staff Departs as Trump Proposes Eliminating the Agency
Publishers Prepare for Battle with Big Tech Over AI
Picture Book Giveaway
We are pleased to host a giveaway of the picture book, Precious, written and illustrated by Carlos Aponte (Nancy Paulsen Books)out on May 27. Enter to win a copy via the Rafflecopter below.
About the Book: Sometimes hearing a song gives you all the courage you need for a day. That’s what happens to Pedrito after a hurricane howls through his neighborhood and he has to give up his rescue dog. The moment his big brother starts strumming “Preciosa,” a beautiful song about his beautiful island, Pedrito knows that somehow everything will be okay. Precious is a beautiful celebration of the power of community, music, and strength of Puerto Rican culture. The book not only includes English and Spanish lyrics from the song “Preciosa,” but also will also be published simultaneously in Spanish as Preciosa.
About the Author-Illustrator: Carlos Aponte received a Pura Belpré Honor for Across the Bay and wrote and illustrated A Season to Bee. Carlos is a faculty member at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Middle Grade Giveaway
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| cover art: James Firnhaber/ design: Cassy Price |
About the Book: After a hard school year, V has been sent to her Grandma Jojo's house for the summer in order to get away from it all. But unlike neurodivergent, artistic, sock-collecting V, Jojo is uptight, critical, and obsessed with her spotless house. She doesn't get V at all. V is sure she's doomed to have the worst summer ever. Then V starts hearing noises from inside the walls of the house... Knocks, the sounds of a girl crying, and voices echoing in the night. When V finds a ghostly girl hiding in the walls, they seem to have an immediate connection. This might be V's chance to get back at her perfect grandmother by messing with her just a little bit.
But the buried secrets go much deeper -- and are much more dangerous -- than V even suspects. And they threaten to swallow her and her family whole if she can't find a way to uncover the truth of the girl before it's too late.
About the Author: Meg Eden Kuyatt teaches creative writing at colleges and writing centers. She is the author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection “Drowning in the Floating World,” the forthcoming “obsolete hill” (Fernwood Press) and children’s novels including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor-winning Good Different, and the forthcoming The Girl in the Walls (Scholastic, 2025). Find her online at megedenbooks.com.
How to Use Personal Experience to Create Originality in Your Picture Books
The Most Common Pitfalls in Middle Grade Manuscripts
How to Rein In Wandering Characters
The Inside Story of Character Reactions
Want to Write Better Action Scenes? Cut the One Thing
May 22, 8 p.m. CT Writing Irresistible Picture Books The average picture book is only 600 words long. How hard can that be to write?! This question leads a lot of aspiring authors down the road of the picture book. While picture books are easy and fun to read—they can be extremely challenging to write well! Join former literary agent and founder of Good Story Company Mary Kole on an exploration of this amazing, engaging, and colorful category of children’s books. She will share insider perspectives & how to avoid common pitfalls (replay available) (free)
Both of these will be so much fun to read.
ReplyDeletePretty cover from author - illustrator
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading these!
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