Texas is a big state, so I'm thrilled three authors put ONE CAN BE in @littlefreelibrary.bsky.social boxes there. @bartography.bsky.social and @jennyziegler.bsky.social took care of Austin, while @beckywalkerbooks.bsky.social covered Houston. Texas is our 45th state! #onecanbe #50states #texas

This summer will mark 25 years since I began the (eight-year!) process of making THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS. Thank you, Lori and your students, for reaffirming that it was time well-spent.

nic cage movie posters but with muppets: thread

My first bookstore event of 2026 is just 8 days away! I’m excited to be spending next Wednesday evening, 1/14, with some great people at Nowhere Books in San Antonio. If you plan to be there, too… WE MATCH! Details: nowherebookshop.com/event/2026-0...

I made an interactive map! This is a look at the effects Tx book-banning laws have had just *since the end of last school year*. I made it because it's easy to hear a shocking story about a book ban and then forget it and lose the larger picture. www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...

Every so often, I update my as-comprehensive-as-I-can-get-it list of children's literature conferences and festivals hosted by U.S. colleges and universities. For 2026, that time has arrived! chrisbarton.info/all-the-coll...

I was asked recently to create a 4-minute video clip showing what my 45-minute (give or take) school-visit presentations look like these days, and THAT WAS HARD. But I finally managed to edit it down to these 238 seconds, and I’m actually pretty happy with what I came up with. youtu.be/4yY5mkVIkOg

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Please don’t take your eyes away from the damage book banning laws are doing in Texas. In Boerne ISD, a kindergarten class was forced to cancel its planned holiday party book exchange due to HB900 and SB13.

I found a wallet in the Denver airport recently. It was a few days before Thanksgiving, I was super early for my flight home, and there it was, a couple of seats down from where I waited at an almost entirely empty gate. And I thought, “Someone’s about to have a really lousy holiday week. Unless…”

Very exciting news: WE MATCH! is now 1/4 of the way to having an EGOT! I mean, I’m assuming that the “E” in EGOT stands for Endies… 100scopenotes.com/2025/11/26/a...

I was so glad to be here to this moment. Congratulations, Frank, and here’s to all the good work to come from those you’ve inspired!

For the next three weeks I’m going to share individual playlists for the 15 chapters in BACKBEATS. First up, blues legend Sam Lay, who came to Chicago as part of the Great Migration and played with Walter, Wolf, Muddy, and at the “Dylan Goes Electric” concert. King of the “double shuffle.”

Are you at NCTE? Don't worry Dr. Ann made you a great chart.

Seeing how full the #NCTE25 schedule is makes me realize how dependent I’ll be on friends’ posts to let me know which sessions to attend—and how helpful it might be to put that info out there myself. So, here’s where I’ll be on Saturday. What should I see in the meantime?

WE MATCH! is big in Bozeman, Montana, the home city of illustrator Sharon Glick. Folks there have shown our book loads of love at our August launch and at our three public library and elementary school events this past week. Thank you, Bozeman! www.bozemandailychronicle.com/arts_and_ent...

They all wanted copies of WE MATCH! and I wanted them all to have copies of WE MATCH! so… we matched!

We’re a small library, so we have a physical suggestion box- or patrons just ask me. I bring in probably 8/10 requests- it really does work!

If something you love is the product of someone in the U.S. who is self-employed or who owns or works for a small business, you need to understand how dire things are about to get. That thing you love is in jeopardy (if it wasn’t already).

$2,341.96. That’s what Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas says my wife and I will pay for our monthly health insurance premiums in 2026. This year, for the same coverage? It’s been $899.72. So, what are we calling this? Trump Tax? Trump Hike? Trump Gouge? Trumpremiums? Whatever, I hate it.

That’s some good company — thank you so much, Nancy! (Ernie is listening, too.)

I've got some great news: It is thoroughly satisfying to share what I hope will be my last-ever update on the 2023 Texas book ban, a.k.a. House Bill 900, a.k.a. the READER Act, which is that a federal judge has stopped the law with a permanent injunction. chrisbarton.info/the-case-aga...

At this morning’s school visit, I finally got asked by a student to say “6, 7.” I feel relevant at last. Also, during Q&A, after a string of students asked questions about my dog, one of their classmates asked me, “Can we *only* ask you about your dog?”

I found this a really illuminating thread on what demonstrations do and why they matter.

Axolotl attendees, and I think they’ll agree: The No Kings march in Austin has been a joy. I saw fellow church members, former coworkers, another children’s author, an actual rock star, and above all a diverse, peaceful, and good-natured assembly of people who love this country passionately.

Remember The Great Brain??

Hint: it was either me or Chris.

Who said it, @dheiligman.bsky.social or me? "The first book I remember loving...[was] A Pickle for a Nickel, and it was about a boy named William who taught the heretofore quiet parrot of his silence-loving neighbor, Mr. Bumble, to loudly repeat the title phrase." chrisbarton.info/how-do-we-ma...

Who said it: @victorpineiro.bsky.social or me? "Ooh, I LOVE nonfiction about music! I recently read a massive book about the history of grunge music called Everybody Loves Our Town, and I also adore Hanif Abdurraqib’s nonfiction music books." chrisbarton.info/how-do-we-ma...

Great writing and non-algorithmic recommendations of new music are worth paying for! For me, the Friday picks from Don’t Rock the Inbox are a highlight of each week. Your week could use another highlight, right?

My wife and I went to the movies last night and saw one battle after another. By which I mean we saw a screening of The Librarians, the powerful new documentary about the onslaught of book bans and other well-funded attacks on U.S. libraries and our freedom to read. youtu.be/Ykll4MWltsQ

We invite eligible works published in 2025 across 14 categories—including a brand new one for Best First Book of Nonfiction—with over $25,750 in prizes going to the winners.

Great reporting and writing about a terrible situation. “Deportations like Sergio’s — to fixtures of the community — are making people think, ‘This could be me next, or my favorite place next, or somebody who I talk to every day.’” wacobridge.org/2025/10/06/d...

Bad news feels inescapable. There’s a lot of it, it goes viral, and things are getting worse. But resistance is also everywhere, and it doesn’t get the same attention. We need to share mass resistance, to inspire hope and so that more and more people join in. www.jphilll.com/p/resistance...

But “Glitter” has 7 letters. “Shark” and “Train” only 5. Oh! “Dazzle”!

Do you want the chance to get a free copy of Loudmouth AND find out how @bartography.bsky.social and I "match"? Sure you do. (You'll also find out I was not a perfect child.) Read his latest post: chrisbarton.info/how-do-we-ma... #teachersky #booksky #librariansky So many other skies....

For educators and children's authors who could use a lift—and for anyone else who might wonder why educators and children's authors do what we do, despite the challenges—I want to share with you (with the sender's permission) an email I received a couple of days ago.

Do Chris and I match? There's only one way to find out... Read our weird and shall I say Unique... conversation below! #booksky #kidlit #Yalit #doctors #libriansky #Spanish

I asked my fellow nonfiction author @dheiligman.bsky.social (VINCENT AND THEO; CHARLES AND EMMA; TORPEDOED) to play How Do WE Match? with me, and we outdid ourselves. chrisbarton.info/how-do-we-ma...

Shark vs. Train: Who will win? Congress has not authorized the use of military force.

I grabbed my copy of We Match at the @scbwi.bsky.social #MINIMFA conference this weekend in Austin. Be sure to get a copy for all the littles in your life! #BookSky #FREADOM

Submissions are now open for the Texas Institute of Letters 2025 Literary Awards! texasinstituteofletters.org/til-2025-lit... If you don’t know the TIL, we’re an honor society that’s been around since 1936. I’m VP, and we in TIL pride ourselves on honoring the best of the best of Texas writing.

I just finished two new "How Do WE Match?" chats that I'll be sharing soon, but first I want to mention that Wednesday morning I'll be picking four winners of this pair of books, in conjunction with my most recent chats. There's still time to get in the running: chrisbarton.info?s=how+do+we+...

The literary contests from the Texas Institute of Letters are open for submissions! Please consider submitting your work for many different literary categories for Texas writers or writers writing about Texas subjects. Deadline, Friday, January 9, 2026. texasinstituteofletters.org/til-2025-lit...

Submissions are now open for the Texas Institute of Letters 2025 Literary Awards! texasinstituteofletters.org/til-2025-lit... If you don’t know the TIL, we’re an honor society that’s been around since 1936. I’m VP, and we in TIL pride ourselves on honoring the best of the best of Texas writing.

#11 There’s a community I’m trying to score points with (or against).

This! Most libraries have a form you fill out to request books.

If there’s an author you appreciate, one of the simplest, most helpful, least expensive things you can do for them is ask your public library to add that author’s newest book to their collection. Many library websites have a form for that. So give it a try, and make an author’s day!

I've never seen a library with a form, but reaching out to librarians sometimes works. I like talking with librarians - they know stuff!

If there’s an author you appreciate, one of the simplest, most helpful, least expensive things you can do for them is ask your public library to add that author’s newest book to their collection. Many library websites have a form for that. So give it a try, and make an author’s day!