Thank you, Marjane Satrapi, for the inspiration, understanding and wisdom you gave us. Rest in peace.

Here's a video explainer for the now THREE federal book banning bills that could impact EVERY PUBLIC SCHOOL IN THE NATION.

Curious about my personal story, and how it influences my work? Check out my latest Substack, along with the best bit of writing advice I ever received (thank you, Jim Averbeck!) substack.com/@blackbirdex...

Secure CLASSROOMS over BALLROOMS. #guncontrolnow

Is it a good idea to elevate individuals to hero status in books for kids/teens, or is it more honest and inspiring to focus on the movement behind the individuals? Read my thoughts (and those of @Yuyimorales) in my latest newsletter. Link in bio/Linktree #herosjourney substack.com/@blackbirdex...

MORE NEWS: ALA & our co-plaintiff @afscme.bsky.social have prevailed in our lawsuit to preserve the Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS)! Our binding settlement agreement with the Dept. of Justice protects the agency and its congressionally mandated work. More: www.ala.org/news/2026/04...

‪I love to talk to middle/high schoolers and college students about the story behind my graphic novel Song of a Blackbird. If you would like to have me come speak to your school or university, check out my website! #authorvisit #graphicnovel #kidlit www.vanlieshoutstudio.com/author-visit/

Wanna see me get overcome with emotion when ALA/YALSA’s awesome librarian Justin Hofstetter asks me about getting the call from him and the rest of the Printz committee about Blackbird’s selection for Printz Honor? www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqEc...

“Concerned” parents are forcing librarians to remove books about and by people not white and straight. But they wouldn’t be so afraid if they weren’t threatened by our changing world. Just like the Nazis in WW2... open.substack.com/pub/mariavan...

There's still time to register for this free virtual event supporting a worthy cause...and what a fantastic author lineup! pen.org/event/we-ris... @penamerica.bsky.social @justusbooks.bsky.social @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social @cbcbooks.bsky.social @authorsguild.org @thebrownbookshelf.bsky.social

BIG feelings are OK in our sideways world. We feel because we care. We care about others and about our world. We feel because we are human. Be human. Also, check on your friends. #behuman (Illustration from Song of a Blackbird, where Emma just witnessed Erik get shot by the SS for resisting).

Thank you, Lisa, for including 🐦‍⬛

Inspiration comes to us in many forms. Injustice, war, propaganda, indifference, oppression.... all these can inspire too. They can inspire action, resistance, expression, compassion, love, ART! #resist #songofablackbird

Quote by Iranian-French graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi. This is just about the best time I can think of to re-read her incredible graphic novel Persepolis. #satrapi #persepolis #iran #war

ART is LOVE. Art that serves humanity and truth endures, while art that serves expectations most often does not, and is propaganda if it serves ideology. open.substack.com/pub/mariavan...

Thank you @oklibs.bsky.social for including Blackbird on the intermediate Sequoyah reading list! I’m thrilled that teens all over Oklahoma will be reading this superb list of books and that they will learn about the artists in the Amsterdam Resistance through Blackbird🐦‍⬛! #oklahoma #kidlit

Happy Lunar New Year! In Song of a Blackbird, we see how Koenji has painted this street poem: Grab our UNBRIDLED FUTURE TIGHTLY by the MANE and RIDE IT like a WILD mustang towards the WORLD we DREAM about. Koenji was channeling FIRE HORSE energy. Let’s GOOOOOOOO! #kidlit #lunarnewyear

The only thing more powerful than HATE is LOVE.” - Bad Bunny Happy Valentine’s Day 🧡

Your Black History Moment Not in The Epstein Files.

I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators 25 years ago. It has provided me with a roadmap and with community, which are the two most important things when navigating the world of kidlit. To be recognized by @scbwi.bsky.social means everything. Thank you, my friends! #kidlit

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

So proud and grateful to be honored along these astonishingly beautiful Macmillan books. @fineangeline.bsky.social, @adinaking.bsky.social, @vanlieshoutstudio.bsky.social, @juanamartinezn.bsky.social @alyssacolman.bsky.social @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social #ala #kidlit #graphicnovel #printzaward

Isn’t she lovely? Black, red and SILVER look SMOKIN’ HOT together, as it turns out. @mackidssl.bsky.social @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social #americanlibraryassociation #youthmediaawards #printzaward #graphicnovel #kidlit

"Fireworks is distinguished by the way it captures the rhythm of a summer day," Caldecott committee chair Jewel Davis said. "It is a rare book that trusts the quiet, lived-in moments of childhood to be just as spectacular as the main event." www.slj.com/story/All-Bl...

Here are all of this year's Youth Media Award winners and honorees. What a great day to celebrate something, and how nice that it is youth literature. bookriot.com/2026-youth-m...

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Let us never forget what we as humans are capable of when we let our darkest impulses rule us. #holocaustremembrance #neverforget

So proud and grateful to @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social, the Printz committee, @firstsecond.bsky.social and @mackidssl.bsky.social!

Read today’s post/newsletter to learn about that time when a David Lynch-loving ninth grader taught me the art of revealing a secret. A secret hiding in Song of a Blackbird... #graphicnovel #davidlynch #kidlit #hiddensecrets #ww2 #dropcaps mariavanlieshout.substack.com/p/the-art-of...

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” -Anne Frank Mural by Eduardo Kobra in Amsterdam North.

Many of the historic photos in Song of a Blackbird are not just historical records. They were acts of resistance. A group of resistance photographers risked their lives to document the occupied city🐦‍⬛ substack.com/@blackbirdex... #ww2 #resistance #photography #amsterdam #graphicnovel

❤️🧡🤍

Let’s remember Martin Luther King’s words today and always. #mlk #martinlutherkingday #ihaveadream

Oh thank you, John! @mrschureads.bsky.social

Blackbird’s 6 stages of Resistance. Where you at? 1. Margot’s seduce into submission 2. Gus’s mock them with swagger and flair 3. Henriette’s quietly plot to rescue our neighbors 4. Emma’s now you poked the bear 5. Erik’s let’s start the revolution 6. Margot’s scorched earth let’s burn it all down

Way to make an author feel like a superstar! The Albany Middle School librarian Linda Perez made this sign to mark my parking spot today. Librarians promote reading and learning and THEY are the superstars. And the eighth graders? They rocked! Keep reading and asking questions, guys!

She also had her dog in the car. And a glove compartment filled with stuffed animals for her young son. Be on the side with the whistles, not on the side with the guns. Because the side of the guns will come for you next🐦‍⬛

NEW The Best Books for Teens and Young Adults of 2025, recommended by Susannah Richards, specialist in literature for youth fivebooks.com/best-books/t...

Browse all our 'best books of 2025' lists (both fiction and nonfiction): fivebooks.com/books/best-b...

Some good news to kick off 2026! Blackbird is a 2025 Blue Ribbon Book by the Bulletin of the Center of Children’s books. Thank you, BCCB and to all readers who have bought, borrowed and read the book since it published almost a year ago! #songofablackbird #kidlit #graphicnovel #ww2 #bccb

The people who start wars are never the ones to suffer from it, but often the ones who profit from it. Trump started this war without notifying Congress, which represents the American people. He took this decision alone. This is not how a democracy works.

We watched The Greatest Night in Pop last night (Netflix). It's about the incredible uniting power of music and art, which is something we can rely on in these times. I hope you will read more books, listen to more music and make more art in 2026. I will be taking that energy with me into 2026.

All the support has lifted me up and strengthened my resolve to keep reminding teens to do what’s right, even (especially!) when that is hard. I consider the thoughtful reviews and year-end lists as as a call to even more action. THANK YOU.

WOOT! So happy that @thehornbook.bsky.social has included Song of a Blackbird🐦‍⬛ in their Fanfare list of best books of 2025 (under Fiction). Thank you, Horn Book!

⭐ Stargaze with MacKids ⭐ SONG OF A BLACKBIRD is a National Book Award longlist selection that weaves together two timelines (1943 & 2011) to reveal how art, in the face of political upheaval and adversity, can become our greatest lifeline. bit.ly/4pkttUR @vanlieshoutstudio.bsky.social

To read more about what it is like to be nominated for the National Book Award (and about what a tough racket the publishing biz is), read my latest Blackbird Express newsletter! open.substack.com/pub/mariavan...

So grateful and proud that School Library Journal selected Song of a Blackbird as one of the best books of 2025, under graphic novels! Thank you @SLJ.com for this wonderful honor! #kidlit #SLJ #graphicnovels #songofablackbird #ww2 #bestof2025

Hope as a Warrior Emotion. Read about how belief in a better future is the best antidote to complacency, desperation and cynicism. Open mind. Open heart🐦‍⬛ open.substack.com/pub/mariavan... #blackbird #hope #songofablackbird #kidlit #graphicnovel #resistance