The Weekly 411 (1/2/26)
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| © Stephen Macquignon |
Jan. 2, 2026 vol. 1
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 Stephen Macquignon.
Middle Grade Giveaway
We are pleased to host a giveaway of the middle grade novel-in-verse, A Year Without Home, by V.T. Bidania (Nancy Paulsen Books) out on Jan, 13. Enter to win a copy via the widget below.
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| art by Christina Jung, design by Theresa Evangelista |
About the Book: Inspired by V.T.’s family history, A Year Without Home illuminates the long, difficult journey that many Hmong refugees faced after the Vietnam War. For eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, home is the lush, humid jungles and highlands of Laos. But home becomes impossible to hold onto when the communist government takes over after U.S. troops pull out of the Vietnam War. The communists will be searching for any American allies, like Gao Sheng’s father, a Hmong captain in the Lao Army who fought alongside the Americans against the Vietnamese. If he’s caught, he’ll be killed. On foot, by taxi and finally in a canoe, Gao Sheng and her family make haste from the mountains to the capitol Vientiane and across the rushing Mekong River, to finally arrive at an overcrowded refugee camp in Thailand. As a year passes at two different camps, Gao Sheng discovers how to rebuild home no matter where she is and finally find her voice.
About the Author: V.T. Bidania was born in Laos and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has an MFA in creative writing from The New School and is a McKnight Artist Fellow. She is the author of the Astrid and Apollo series, the first children's book series to star Hmong American characters, and A Year Without Home, a fictionalized memoir in verse about her family's escape from Laos at the end of the Vietnam War.
Middle Grade Giveaway
We are pleased to host a giveaway of the middle grade book, Just a Piece of Stone, by Mary Ann Hake (Elk Lake Publishing). Enter to win a copy via the widget below.
About the Book: Travel backward in time as the Goldberg family experiences moments of history—including the Holocaust, meeting Leonardo Da Vinci, castles, knights, battles, and thefts. They also face kidnapping, explore caves, flee as refugees, and live under various conquerors. Just a Piece of Stone begins in the United States and moves to Europe and Asia, with each chapter sharing a story about a different boy in the family lineage. From grandfather to grandson for thousands of years, Just a Piece of Stone travels the world and explores life in amid adventures in different time periods, along with a bit of suspense for the reader. The unique book’s chapters can also be read from back to front for a chronological experience.
About the Author: Mary Ann Hake has published four children’s books in addition to hundreds of pieces in periodicals a well as curricula and contributions to a dozen compilation books. Her middle grade historical novel Just a Piece of Stone, released as top new release in several categories, received a 5-star review from Reader’s Choice, and was featured in Kirkus Review. The first two picture books in her Smells of the Seasons series about a blind girl, who explores the world using the sense or smell, received the Mom’s Choice Award and were shared on Arkansas PBS’s literacy program Rise and Shine. A freelance editor, she enjoyed previous work in a bookstore and as a librarian, along with teaching writing to all ages.
Just a Piece of Stone giveaway
9 Tips for Aspiring Writers: How to Get Fresh Takes on Old Ideas (from Picture Book Summit)
Apply by Jan 5 Inked Voices MG and YA Novel-in-Verse Workshop with Julie Bliven (Jan 12-Apr 30) In this workshop, you will work with children's book editor, freelance editor, former Charlesbridge editor Julie Bliven, and a small group of writers on your novel in verse over two rounds (with revision time between!).
Apply by Jan. 13 Inked Voices Middle Grade Workshop with Alison Weiss (Jan 20- April 16) Work with freelance editor and former acquisition editor at Pixel + Ink Alison Weiss and a small group of writers on up to 15,000 words of your prose MG novel, over two rounds. In each round, you will submit up to 7,500 words, then exchange written critiques with your peers, receive a written critique from Alison, and discuss your critique with Alison in a live debrief to conclude each round. This workshop will be followed by a workshop starting in June for writers who wish to continue working with Alison on their next chapters (next 15K). There is no obligation to sign up for the second workshop, but for writers who wish to continue, this provides the opportunity to workshop up to 30,000 words of a middle grade project.
Jan. 7 and 14, 7:30 pm - 9 m ET Inked Voices Intensive: Go Big! Creating Fiction That's Both Timely and Timeless, with Lorin Oberweger Writers can sometimes focus too much on incremental steps and not enough on big leaps forward. But we can improve our odds of success by crafting bigger, more ambitious stories; creating iconic characters with memorable voices; deepening and adding breadth to story stakes; exploring themes that are both personal and universal; and understanding the difference between chasing market trends and understanding moments of cultural transition.
In session 1, we’ll focus on techniques for pushing ourselves out of our creative comfort zones and developing the skills that make for timeless fiction. In session 2, we’ll deal with cultivating themes with both personal and universal resonance, as well as looking at ways to anticipate changes in the cultural landscape, rather than chasing market trends. The intensive includes short live exercises, take-home exercises and a comprehensive handout. Each class includes 15 minutes for participant questions. Geared toward writers in all stages of novel development.
Jan. 22-Feb 23 class Inked Voices Picture Books Workshop, with agent Leslie Zampetti (Jan 22- Feb 23) In this intimate online workshop, you'll receive a written critique of a picture book manuscript from literary agent Leslie Zampetti at Open Book Literary, plus get the opportunity to speak to her individually in the live group call that follows critiques. You'll also exchange critiques with your workshop peers. Writers are expected to be at an intermediate level of picture book writing craft or above and familiar with elements of craft such as characterization, plot, internal arc, and pacing, in order to offer craft-rooted feedback to their peers.
Thank you for all of these resources. I will apply to the inked voices 👀
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the inked voices. Could this also be for a middle grade graphic novel?
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