Irena's Jars of Secrets is a picture book biography of Irena Sendler, a Catholic social worker in Poland during World War II who rescued hundreds of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto. In this BookTalk, author Marcia...

It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw is the picture book biography of self-taught (outsider) artist Bill Traylor, a former slave who at the age of eighty-five began to draw pictures based on his memori...

"My father was a storyteller," says writer Patricia Smith, "a real Delta sage who interpreted everyday events with humor, drama, pathos, and a simple lyricism that ...

How does an Alabama sharecropper’s son grow up to help change his world? For John Lewis the journey began as a boy experiencing the injustice of segregation and the inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After finishing high schoo...

Your book, Journey Home, is your first U.S. picture book as collaborating illustrators. Please explain your process of working together.

Dom Lee: First, we discuss our ideas and references....

Killer of Enemies takes readers to the post-apocalyptic Southwest, where seventeen-year-old Apache hunter Lozen hunts monsters to ensure her family's survival. In this BookTalk, award-winning author and stor...

"In the process of writing the writer lives with his or her characters, whether real or fictional," says author/illustrator Lynne Barasch. "Peg Leg Bates was my companion during the four months I spent writing Knoc...

Even as a young boy in eleventh-century China, Su Shih was clearly special. After finding a rare inkstone, he began to write stories and verses expressing his love of the natural world. His words flowed effortlessly. His brush danced...

 
Author, Michelle Lord (left) and Illustrator, Felicia Hoshino

It's 1906 and the court dancers at the Royal Palace in Cambodia are abuzz with news of a trip to France for the Colonial Exhibition. Little Sap, a poor co...

On a Maine summer day in 1884, twelve-year old Penobscot Indian Louis Sockalexis first fell in love with baseball. As he grew up, Louis honed his skills and dreamed of one day joining a major league team. Louis encourtered opposition at every t...

Love Twelve Miles Long is the story of a young Frederick Douglass and his mother, Harriet Bailey, who walked twelve miles to visit her son. In this BookTalk, author Glenda Armand discusses the bond between a mother and her c...

Lynn Rubright has been a professional storyteller for more than forty years.  “I first discovered that I was a storyteller when I had my boys, Dan and Ted,” says the author.  “I’d tell them stories like 

Turning eight is GREAT, and Marisol McDonald wants to plan a party that will be fabulous, marvelous, and divine! Marisol McDonald and the Clash Bash/Marisol McDonald y la fiesta sin igual takes readers on a whirlwind trip a...

With more than fifteen children's books under his belt, W. Nikola-Lisa always has a story to tell children. The author says his ideas for stories come from many different places. "One source of ideas is my past, my days as a...

illustrator of No Mush Today
Interview conducted by Lori Calabrese of Lori Calabrese Writes!

Nicole Tadgell has illus...