The Weekly 411 (7/11/25)
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| © Melissa Mwai |
July 11, 2025 vol. 28
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 Melissa Mwai.
Picture Book Giveaway
We are pleased to host a giveaway of the picture book, My Name is Ai Lin, by Maria Wen Adcock, illustrated by Yu Ting Cheng (Sleeping Bear Press), out now. Enter to win a copy via the Rafflecopter below.
About the Book: When Ai Lin starts school, none of her classmates can say her name. They ask Ai Lin if they can just call her by another name. It’s not that important, right? But Ai Lin knows the significance of her Chinese name. No, it can’t be changed. Her name is part of her identity and heritage. It ties her to her family—present and past—and to its traditions. When Ai Lin shares her family history with her classmates, they come to understand that a name can be a person’s story, special and unique.
About the Author: Maria Wen Adcock is a first-generation Chinese American writer and is also the author of It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George. She is the founder of the award-winning Bicultural Mama blog and has appeared in Bloomberg News, HuffPost, and Newsday, and on The Dr. Oz Show. Maria is a board member of Multicultural Kid Blogs, an organization supporting diverse parenting bloggers, and the cohost of the annual event Read Your World Day. She lives on Long Island in New York. Visit Maria at www.MariaWenAdcock.com and follow her on Facebook (@MariaWenAdcockAuthor) and Instagram (@BiculturalMama).
About the Illustrator: Yu Ting Cheng is a Taiwanese illustrator who graduated with an MFA in computer art from the School of Visual Arts in New York. After several years in the animation field, today she draws inspiration from her love for storytelling and the everyday magic of life. Ai Lin’s journey resonates deeply with Yu because of her own experiences abroad. She believes that every name has a story waiting to be told and remembered. Yu lives in Taipei, Taiwan, with her family. Visit Yu Ting at www.yuting-art.com and follow her on Instagram (yutina.art).
About the Book: When Spencer moves to a new town, his mom is worried he may have a hard time making friends. But it’s easy! First, Spencer meets Fred, who is an excellent listener. Then there’s Dottie, who’s a bit wild, and Eugene, who’s a jokester. The only thing is, Fred, Dottie, and Eugene are all…plants. While the adults in Spencer’s life question whether he might want friends he doesn’t have to water, Spencer knows that friendship can blossom in the most unexpected places.
About the Author: Becky grew up in Northeast Wisconsin and spent most of her childhood playing in lakes and reading books. Shortly after graduating from Luther College, Becky spent a year working as a children’s bookseller at Barnes & Noble and soon discovered she enjoyed reading picture books more than anything else. Much, much more. Now Becky spends her days writing children’s books and working at her local library. She is the author of My School Stinks (2021), This Field Trip Stinks (2022), and How to Get Your Octopus to School (2023).
About the Illustrator: Jiarui Jiang is an illustrator and storyteller based in China. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with an MA in Illustration, and her work revolves around themes of nature, food, and more recently, beautiful insects. She loves to create children’s books based on the world as she remembers it from her childhood perspective, also creating characters with a performance aspect. Recently she has been exploring the creation of books with materials other than paper, such as—-A book with a cover made of clay.
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I always enjoy your picture book posts!
ReplyDeleteGreat roundup as always! Nice to see the article about age categories and genres - it always helps to have a refresher in mind about that!
ReplyDeleteBest Buds looks Iike a great book about friendship and the many forms it takes!
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by both of these books. Thank you for featuring them this week!
ReplyDeletego ai lin
ReplyDeletei said go ai lin
DeleteThank you for posting about my new book, MY NAME IS AI LIN! xoxoxo
ReplyDelete