Turtle will be in stores in 2 weeks, and to celebrate, the first 20 preorders made through my local indie Dandelion Bookshop will be shipped with a 6x4 piece of original art! dandelionbookshop.com/spotlight/tu... #kidlit

TURTLE PARTY 🐢🎉 Join me @bookedevanston.bsky.social on Tues, April 28 to celebrate my new book's release into the wild. There will be pajamas, and drawing, and even a turtle egg hunt! I can't wait to share Turtle's story with you all.

Fun times with the Mannheim School District in Illinois 📚🖍🎉 Many thanks to the kids, teachers, and phenomenal librarians for making me feel so welcome. Check out those hand-painted book covers made by the library assistants! 😮 #kidlit

The experiments continue. Choosing the best paper for the job is tough, but I like this one. #kidlitart

7 Umami draw-alongs for 7 schools - another WRAD complete! The day is always a bit of a marathon, but it brings me so much joy to read and draw with the students. Thank you everyone for being such kind hosts! #wrad26 #worldreadaloudday

The easel has squeezed back into the tiny studio and all is set for World Read Aloud Day! 📚🖍️✨ #wrad26 #worldreadaloudday

Join the auction to support communities impacted by ICE in Minnesota! www.32auctions.com/publishingfo... We have our own struggles with ICE in Illinois, and I'm offering manuscript reviews for $50 donations to the IL Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights: www.icirr.org We stand together ❤️

2025 was tough from start to finish, but here's to a better year ahead, from our team to yours

Wherever you celebrate the holidays, here's hoping the whole village can make it.

The Choose To Read Ohio Booklist has some hot ones for 2026 🔥 Honored to have Umami on the list among some of our favorites!

Necessary repost! Wishing you a holiday surrounded by all of the hungry 🐧 you can fit at the table

The first experiment for something new 🦝 #kidlit

🐧 Find me this Friday at the Art Academy of Concinnati & Saturday at Books By The Banks 🐧 Fri 10:30 am: Panel talk at AAC with 6 other book illustrators Fri 5-8pm: Gallery opening at AAC with many book illustrators from the region Sat 10-4pm: Meeting readers and signing books at Books By The Banks

Celebrate #nationaldonutday with the kids 😉

🎂 Happy book birthday, Umami! 🎂 What is your favorite food on your birthday? Comment on my Insta post for a chance to win your own Umami washi tape! 3 winners to be announced - (shipping limited to US)

Baby's first book birthday! 🎂 This Wednesday, Oct 29, I'll be celebrating my favorite penguin's birthday with some special Umami washi tape giveaways. Let's party!

A little Reading Rainbow magic at Louisville Book Festival with @mychal3ts.bsky.social 🌈📚🐧 #kidlit

Saturday, join me for an Umami story time and draw-along in Louisville! Be ready to draw some 🐧🐧🐧

My Grandma passed away recently at the impressive age of 96, and I've been thinking about the many warm memories I have from a childhood visiting her home. These doodles are a sort of archive for me to record that place and time. ❤️

Back coaching my daughter's 2nd grade ⚽ team all while making a story about a ⚽ team. The kids are slightly easier to coach this season - at least there are less shoes that need tying, but I'll never figure out how to keep them from throwing grass everywhere.

I'm pleased to announce that I've officially teamed up with Andrea Morrison at Writers House! It feels good to join the talented crew, and I'm excited for what's ahead.

Many thanks to everyone who celebrated Umami with me at the Secretary of State's tent this past Friday. It was a joy to read, draw, and talk about things to eat at the fair!

Find me this Friday at the Secretary of State's Tent from 10am-12pm, giving away 100 copies of Umami! Many thanks to Alexi Giannoulias and the IL State Library for making it all possible 📚🎉 #ilstatefair

My Virtual Saturday Stories with The Society of Illustrators is now on youtube, so grab your oil pastels and follow along as we make a monoprint! www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JHF... @soi128.bsky.social #kidlitart

Doodles from 🇨🇦 - We were lucky enough to spend the first couple weeks of July visiting family and friends in Kitchener, Toronto, and Muskoka - which meant lots of sketching!

Chicago friends! Join me @ 10am this Sunday for a free Umami storytime, draw-along, and hands-on art project at BASH Kids Club 🐧🖍️🎉

Materials for this week's Virtual Saturday Stories with @soi128.bsky.social 🖍️🎉 - oil pastels (student Cray-Pas are perfect) - color pencils - spoon - 8.5x11 printer paper (bring a few sheets) - a space where you can be messy Register here: societyillustrators.org/event/virtua...

While digging through my grade school art I found a favorite! Pretty sure I was just supposed to make a house 🔥

🖍️Free event!🖍️ I'm excited to be teaming up with @soi128.bsky.social for an Umami edition of Virtual Saturday Stories next month. Bring the kids, some oil pastels, and color pencils, and be prepared for a little mess! #kidlitart societyillustrators.org/event/virtua...

🐢 studies #kidlitart

A translation donation for @oakparklibrary.bsky.social 🌎📚 I dropped a big box of books off at the library yesterday with translations of my books from Spain, Poland, Korea, Taiwan, France and the Netherlands. Happy to have the books out of storage and out in the neighborhood! #kidlit

Monoprint demo from a workshop with 5th graders last week 🦕 The more colors, the better! #kidlitart

This Saturday I have the good fortune of joining a panel alongside Valerie Reynolds @jashar.bsky.social and Lindsay Bonilla - Hooray for picture books! If you're in Columbus drop by and say hello 📚🎉 #kidlit

The great green room at Blue Marble Books complete with a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush 💚 Many thanks to the shop and Ft Thomas Schools for making me feel so welcome! #kidlit

Cincy & NKY Friends! Join me at Blue Marble Books this weekend for reading, drawing, and lunch with Filipino food truck Lasang Pinoy 📚✏️🥄 Sarap! #kidlit

Indianapolis! Come out and draw some 🐧 with me at Kids Ink Books this Saturday! I can promise you much fun, and a minimal amount of seagulls. #indianapolis #indianapolisbookstore #kidlit

Indianapolis - Northern Kentucky - Jacksonville - Columbus - The Umami midwest hoopla kicks off next weekend! 🐧📚🎉

It's nice here.

A day at the state capital with Umami! It was a joy to be on a picture book panel at the @ilreadcouncil.bsky.social conference alongside @ruthspiro.bsky.social, Doug Cenko, Kat Chen and @mollycranch.bsky.social - we talked about all of the normal kidlit things like dnd and romance novels

See you next year, Turtle! I've spent the past several months finishing the art for my upcoming book, Turtle Slept In, and at last it's off to the publisher. I'm going to miss stepping into this beach adventure each morning, but it's time for the next one. #kidlitartpostcard

An Umami Menu! Whether my favorite foods are a little obscure, or I'm just not the best at drawing, I've had a few families ask "What the heck is on that plate?" Wonder no more! I now have a list for all of our adventurous little eaters out there. Bon appétit 🐧🍽️

Umami is returning to the Bologna Children's Book Fair - this time as part of the Society of Illustrators Original Art show! You can't keep this bird out of 🇮🇹 #bolognachildrensbookfair #kidlit

Happy World Read Aloud Day 📚🎉 Virtual visits here we go! #wrad #worldreadaloudday #kidlit

Just one week until World Read Aloud Day! 📚🎉 It's going to be a full day of virtual visits, but I still have room for one more school at 130pm CST if any K-2 educators would like to join me for some reading and drawing. Lemme know! #wrad #worldreadaloudday #kidlit

Back from NY after one last look at the Society of Illustrators Original Art show - this time with the fam, (kid-free 👍). We celebrated my Mom's birthday with art, food, drinks, and all of the gross weather the city could muster. I even found some time to swing by my favorite booksellers! 🖋️🐧📚

Check out this amazing 2025 Illinois Reads book! And, don’t miss meeting the authors who will be joining us at the 2025 Illinois Reading Council Conference! Find out more at: www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org/conference-i... illinoisreads.org #IRCreads @ILReadCouncil @jacobgrantbooks.bsky.social

A tasty one from @thehornbook.bsky.social 🍽

Happy New Year 🐧🎉 Eat your noodles today!

Oak Park! We'll all be looking for ways to keep the kids busy on the final day of winter break. Join me @oakparklibrary for an Umami event in the neighborhood! Space is limited, so RSVP today: oakpark.librarycalendar.com/event/drawin... #kidlit

See you in 2025 🐧❤️