🌸💕🌸 @penguinkids.bsky.social @penguinschoollib.bsky.social #FlowerReport

For my #kidlit friends— a convo today on CT Public Radio between Colin McEnroe and others, including Jon Klassen—"What would it mean if nothing matters? This hour, a look at the philosophy of nihilism, and how it shows up online and in children's books." @npr.org www.ctpublic.org/show/the-col...

Congratulations to my hard-working friends at @ctcasl.bsky.social for their very deserved AASL Chapter of the Year Award! www.ala.org/news/2026/03...

"The art is mixed media. No AI was used in creating this book!" In case you were wondering. ;) www.deborahfreedman.net/flowers-for-... @penguinschoollib.bsky.social @penguinkids.bsky.social #noAI

It’s spring! #vernalequinox

Even in a world of mud, things still bloom... Like my book coming out 3/31, Flowers for Mama. It's about the beauty that children create—whether it's art... or love... www.deborahfreedman.net/flowers-for-...

Cannot wait to spend time with amazing CT educators. #nErDcampCT is always such an inspiring day. Please join us!

“Lunar New Year reminds me that beginnings do not wait for perfect conditions. It’s naming the season before you even see it…”

Here’s a children’s book called “Tiny Dino”, in which a hummingbird attempts to convince its animal friends that it is indeed a dinosaur. It makes for a decent introduction to the concept of comparative anatomy! dinodadreviews.com/2026/02/09/t...

#WRAD was just what my heart needed— so many thanks to all of the educators who connected me with their kiddos today! ❤️

Is this the way out

Saturday-night-at-the-timely-movies: "It Was Just an Accident,” a tragicomedy by dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi, (recently sentenced to prison in absentia for “propaganda activities against the regime”). Have you seen this one? #film @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/m...

"You have to choose: You're either a Steinberg person or a Steig person... All children are Steig people." @lianafix.bsky.social @newyorker.com Love this. Because I'm a Steig person. Which are YOU?

@jamellebouie.net I see it's deleted but I'm still filing away "smoothest brain" for future use ;)

"...considers it his duty to ensure that all editors have the freedom to decide what they want to publish... rather than having those decision made by the government. “At the end of the day, we stand with the First Amendment...”" Proud to be a @penguinschoollib.bsky.social author. 🙏

"AI slop existed long before AI did. It’s all the boring, committee-driven copycat filler... I think that our job as educators is not just to push back on AI slop made by AI, it’s also to push back on AI slop made by humans..." 💥(thanks for the link, @austinkleon.bsky.social)

Just watched a little anti-McCarthyism film while waiting until I can stream The Librarians on @pbs.org in February— "I couldn't remove a book because it has ideas you didn't like..." Bette Davis in "Storm Center," 1956...

📚👍It's #NationalRoofOverYourHeadDay! 🏠 Here's the 2018 review I did of @deborahfreedman.net's beautiful #PB, THIS HOUSE ONCE: www.heatherpiercestigall.com/ramblings--r... #kidlit #PictureBooks #WhatToRead #booksforkids #childrensbooks #bookreview #reading #Literacy #educators #teachers #librarians

Is it too soon to be thinking about #WorldReadAloudDay? Not if you look forward to it as much as I do! Heads up to educators who would like to have a free, 15-20 minute virtual author visit with me on Wednesday, 2/4/26—this week's newsletter will have a link to sign-up ↓

I’m not ready to put away the #Thanksgiving decorations

We know that, for a ton of reasons, a lot of folks don't have as much to spend as they'd like this holiday season. Sooooooo, here's a thread of things you can do that will support your local indie bookstore or other business WITHOUT spending any more than you intended...

I'm so grateful to everyone organizing the resistance— and who made this effort to make it extra-official. 💚

""A lot of people who ban 'Flamer' don't talk about how the book is about suicidal ideation and prevention," Curato said. "That's why I made this book, because I know that there are kids out there right now who are going through exactly what I went through in 1995.""

Is it too soon to be thinking about World Read Aloud Day? Not if you look forward to it as much as I do! Heads up to educators who would like to have a free, 15-20 minute virtual author visit with me on Wednesday, 2/4/26—a link to sign-ups will be in my next newsletter ↓

"It was never the content that was meant to be “safe.” It was always the relationships... Real safety isn’t created by restricting content or limiting the topics we are permitted to raise. Safety is created by establishing caring relationships and a sense of community..." ❤️

Every November, these make me happy. And the bees too (can you see them?). #gardening #bloomscrolling #asters

Oh hi, Emma! One of the best pb editors in kidlit (think we can lure her to Bluesky, @armyvet5.bsky.social @mrschureads.bsky.social?). 🥰

"I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the communist-party. I oppose every form of dictatorship. right or left, because they ultimately destroy the nation in which they operate. They do so by robbing the people of their right to think and create." —from the family archive, 1954

“It turns out [duh] that when kids aren’t allowed to doom scroll, take rude pictures of each other or rot their brains on TikTok during lunch hour or in study hall, they get bored enough to go to the library and check out books.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/o...

And what do we call a collection of book-banners... A suppression? A repression? Suggestions...?

"We Take Clouds for Granted" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, of @cloudappsoc.bsky.social. "...These ever-shifting sculptures of vapor and light are among nature’s least appreciated marvels..." We all need "to look up — and take notice." @nytimes.com

We’re in the business of keeping independent bookstores in business 🤍📚

Fun fact I learned this weekend is that every state has a state insect, and that CT’s is the praying mantis—which is cool and I hope means that sap-sucking parasites are generally unwelcome here.

Honored to rep CT at this year's Nat'l Book Festival along with Leila Philip. With mixed feelings about going to DC right now, I look forward to being with good book people! Will you be one of them? (I hope so, but completely respect anyone who's felt the need to pull out or boycott 😳)

New-to-me #bookscam. What the $%@# is a "visibility snapshot" & why would I need this gobbledygook generated from my publisher's description of a book I wrote myself from my own actual brain & hand? This from an address that doesn't even pretend to be a real business... 🙄 Someone save us all.

"...It is about whether we protect our collective capacity to imagine. When governments control imagination, they control possibility. Once that is lost, democracy has already surrendered more than it realizes."

"...having a child qualifies you to write a children’s book the same way that using a toilet qualifies you to be a plumber..." 😆 @newyorker.com #AuthorSky #booksky #kidlit www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

What Margie said. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite humans, @mrschureads.bsky.social.

Is running with a five-year-old's brilliant idea considered stealing? Asking for a grandma. ;) #amwriting #writingcommunity #writesky

Thank you, and back at you, @jesskeatingbooks.bsky.social!

Envy, greed, lust, pride, sloth... plus doggedly pursued vengeance sprinkled with false piety, or "virtue" that merely abets vice— Cousin Bette, by Balzac... bookshop.org/p/books/cous... #booksky

Thank you, John!! I was thinking of you when I wrote my author’s note, “do you ever make art to share your heart… ?” 💕 @penguinschoollib.bsky.social

In spite of everything, I keep on reading this book I wrote in 2016, about a tiny character who makes a big difference... 🍃🪱🌱 #CarlAndTheMeaningOfLife #kidsbooks #summerstorytime @penguinschoollib.bsky.social

Also, just reminding you that they also sell eBooks, and that we do not have to use "Kindle" as a common noun.

This book... feels like the perfect thing to be reading right now. It certainly puts life into perspective.

Take a break and look at this video exploring details in the region of space containing the Trifid nebula and the Lagoon nebula. #wowscience nsf.widencollective.com/portals/qx86...

Just let a protest be your umbrella... #nokings

Call me old fashioned. #gardening #deutzia #polygonatum

Today’s book purchases, from ‪@possible-futures.bsky.social‬, by @mikecurato.bsky.social @federicoerebia.bsky.social— #Pride2025 #PrideMonth #Kidlit #booksky

CT is a small state, but a win is a win! We now urge Gov. Lamont to sign SB1271 into law— @ctcasl.bsky.social @agwilliamtong.bsky.social @authorsabb.bsky.social