Podcast

December 15, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Purpose Without Preaching

So, how do you impart a meaningful takeaway for your young picture book reader without it feeling like a lesson? In Purpose Without Preaching, Laura Backes illustrates how to write picture books with purpose that don’t preach at kids but trusts them to find the kernels of truth hidden within your story.

Laura Backes publishes Children’s Book Insider, The Children’s Writing Monthly. Laura and her husband Jon Bard co-own WritingBlueprints.com. She has edited and critiqued thousands of picture book manuscripts. Her credits include Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read (Random House) and articles for Writer’s Digest, The Writer and Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. She was also the technical editor of Writing Children’s Books for Dummies. Recently, you may have seen Laura on her weekly Kidlit Distancing Socials.

In Laura Backes’ Picture Book Summit workshop Purpose Without Preaching, she gave actionable tips for infusing your manuscript with a message and how to get kids to hear that message without tuning you out. In this episode, we share some highlights from her talk.

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December 1, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – LeUyen Pham

In this episode, we’re pleased to bring you award-winning author-illustrator LeUyen Pham.

LeUyen is the author and/or illustrator of over 100 books for children including The Boy Who Loved Math, A Piece of Cake, and the Caldecott Honor Book Bear Came Along. Books she’s illustrated include the best-selling series The Princess In Black written by Shannon and Dean Hale, Grace for President written by Kelly DiPucchio, and God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You may also recognize LeUyen Pham’s work in the Freckleface Strawberry series by Julianne Moore and the Vampirina Ballerina series written by Anne Marie Pace. Vampirina Ballerina is now a Disney Channel series. Her own books include Big Sister, Little Sister, A Piece of Cake, and The Bear Who Wasn’t There.

How should an author communicate their vision to the illustrator? Should you include art notes in your manuscript? How do you decide where the page breaks should fall in your text? In this excerpt from her Picture Book Summit presentation, LeUyen Pham answers these questions and shares some of the behind-the-scenes creation of Bear Came Along as part of a broader conversation on why authors should trust their illustrator and keep art notes to a minimum. (Spoiler alert! Trusting your illustrator allows magic to happen!)

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Picture Book Summit Podcast Paul O. Zelinsky

November 10, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Paul Zelinsky

Today we bring you beloved author-illustrator Paul Zelinsky.

Paul Zelinsky grew up in Wilmette, Illinois. He is the son of a mathematics professor father and a medical illustrator mother. Although he drew compulsively from an early age, he didn’t know until college that being an author-illustrator would be his career.

While attending Yale College, Paul enrolled in a course on the history and practice of the picture book co-taught by Maurice Sendak. This experience inspired Paul to point himself in the direction of children’s books. His first book appeared in 1978, since then he has become recognized as one of the most inventive and critically successful artists in the field.

Paul received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrated retelling of RAPUNZEL, as well as Caldecott Honors for three of his books: HANSEL AND GRETEL, RUMPELSTILTSKIN, and SWAMP ANGEL. He also known for crowd-pleasing favorites such as THE WHEELS ON THE BUS and Z IS FOR MOOSE.

In this portion of his presentation from Picture Book Summit, Paul talks about what people (including editors) are looking for in a picture book, what makes a picture book work, and how structure in a picture book impacts a book’s layout and pacing.

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October 20, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Alvina Ling

In this episode, we hear from Alvina Ling. Alvina is Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a division of Hachette Book Group, where she has worked since 1999. She edits children’s books for all ages, from picture books to young adult. Books she’s edited include Caldecott Honoree Little Star and the Big Mooncake by Grace Lin, Horn Book Award Winner Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown, Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier, Shark Vs. Train by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, and The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer. You can find her on Twitter at @planetalvina and on Instagram at @alvinaling.

In this excerpt of Alvina’s Picture Book Summit presentation, she talks about what makes an editor want to publish a manuscript, how marketing moments influence editor decisions, and how a manuscript works its way through the acquisitions process. Enjoy this peek behind the publishing curtain.

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September 24, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Adam Rex

Today we are thrilled to bring you Adam Rex and his brand of humor. Adam wrote and/or illustrated all the books you like including the New York Times bestselling Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich , the New York Times bestselling School’s First Day of School, and also a number of titles about which the New York Times has been strangely coy.

As the E.B. White saying goes, ““Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested. And the frog dies of it.”

Adam Rex dives into analyzing humor anyway in this snippet from his Picture Book Summit presentation. Whether he’s editing a tweet or creating a new picture book, Adam has a way of making us laugh with his combination of words pictures. Join us as Adam digs down deep into word choice and the rules of humor in creating a funny picture book.

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September 8, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Jane Yolen

In today’s episode, we’ll hear an excerpt of Emma Walton Hamilton’s interview with the legendary Jane Yolen at Picture Book Summit. Jane is the award-winning author of over 365 books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott Medal-winning book OWL MOON, THE DEVIL’S ARITHMETIC, and the bestselling series HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT? She is also a poet, a teacher of writing and literature, and a reviewer of children’s literature. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century. Her books and stories have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, the Golden Kite Award, the Jewish Book Award, the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Award among many others.

In this interview with Jane, she discusses how she manages to be so prolific (she prefers the word “versatile”) and how she finds and develops the unique voice of each of her books.

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August 26, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – David Shannon

The delightful David Shannon joins us in this episode. David Shannon graduated from Art Center College of Design. He has written and/or illustrated over thirty-five books for children, including the best-selling Duck On A Bike, Alice the Fairy, A Bad Case of Stripes, and the semi-autobiographical No, David!, which received a Caldecott Honor. His newest book is Grow Up, David!

In this segment from David’s Picture Book Summit presentation “It’s Done!”, he talks about:

What happens when you’re done with a manuscript.
How to know your manuscript is really done.
What are reasons for being done.
What are some of the challenges you can expect on the way to getting done.

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August 4, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Carole Boston Weatherford

In today’s episode, we’ll hear from Carole Boston Weatherford. Carole has won numerous awards for her picture books including the NAACP Image Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Sibert Honor, John Steptoe New Talent award, and SCBWI Golden Kite award. A New York Times best-selling author, Carole is one of the leading poets writing for young people today. She believes that poetry makes music with words. She mines the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles. Her 40-plus books include JUNETEENTH JAMBOREE, FREEDOM IN CONGO SQUARE,VOICE OF FREEDOM: FANNIE LOU HAMER, SPIRIT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, MOSES: WHEN HARRIET TUBMAN LED HER PEOPLE TO FREEDOM, and YOU CAN FLY! THE TUSKEGEE AIRMAN.

In this segment from her Picture Book Summit presentation, Carole Boston Weatherford talks about discovering premise. Then she touches on determining a book’s point of view. Premise and point of view are important pieces in your picture book puzzle. Join us for a heartfelt discussion with Carole about crafting her books.

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Picture-Book-Summit-Podcast_feature_image_Renee-LaTulippe

July 20, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Renée LaTulippe

In this episode, we feature children’s author, poet, and founder of the Lyrical Language Lab, Renée LaTulippe. In this segment of Renée’s Picture Book Summit presentation From Drab to Fab: Ridding Your Writing of Ho-Hummery, she demonstrates the critical role word choice, or diction, plays in crafting outstanding picture books. Renée’s advice is life-changing for writers as she explains how just a few word changes can change the whole tone and meaning of your story. You’re going to want to listen to this one more than once!

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Picture-Book-Summit-Podcast_feature_image_Andrea-Davis-Pinkney

June 9, 2020 In Podcast

Podcast – Andrea Davis Pinkney

Andrea Davis Pinkney - Picture Book Summit podcast

Today’s episode is from New York Times Bestseller and Coretta Scott King award-winner Andrea Davis Pinkney. Andrea’s Picture Book Summit presentation was “Nonfiction with a Twist.” Andrea is known for picture books such as POEM FOR PETER and MARTIN AND MAHALIA. She’s also written biographies of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald among others. In this excerpt of Andrea’s presentation, she shares how she gets her ideas and the unusual role a flip flop played in capturing the voice of her biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Remember, nonfiction doesn’t mean nonfun!

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Podcast

Podcast – Purpose Without Preaching

Podcast – LeUyen Pham

Podcast – Paul Zelinsky

Podcast – Alvina Ling

Podcast – Adam Rex

Podcast – Jane Yolen

Podcast – David Shannon

Podcast – Carole Boston Weatherford

Podcast – Renée LaTulippe

Podcast – Andrea Davis Pinkney

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