JUVENILE NONFICTION / Language Arts / Composition & Creative Writing
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How to Make a Picture Book
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Everyone has a story to tell—and now you can learn how to tell it in your own picture book, using this helpful, humor-filled guide from an award-winning creator.
Have you ever wanted to create your own story—and capture it for posterity? Elys Dolan brings her comic touch to the process by portraying her narrator-self as a friendly worm (it’s quicker to draw than a person!). How do you come up with something to write about? Build and flesh out your story? Use color and space effectively? From combining two favorite things to form a story idea to “interviewing” your characters to physically putting a book together, the author walks readers through some surprisingly comprehensive beginners’ techniques that may have something to offer even seasoned storytellers. This witty, fun, conversational, step-by-step guide—part picture book, part activity book—is packed with prompts, exercises, tips, and jokes. So find your inspiration, grab your pens and pencils, and get making!
Something About the Sky
Price: $19.99
Pub Date: March 12, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Cut-paper wizard Nikki McClure is a brilliant steward for the words of a pioneering environmentalist in this wondrous ode to clouds—and the scientific “language of the sky.”
Rachel Carson once wrote, “It is not half so important to know as to feel.” What do we know about clouds? There are three basic types: stratus, cumulus, and cirrus. Some are fleecy and fair-weathered while others portend storms. But clouds are more than pretty or ominous backdrops. They’re the vehicle of water between sea and land, land and sea, in a cycle without end or beginning. They are the writing of the wind on the sky, a language all their own. An illustrator note explains the origins of Rachel Carson’s shimmering essay—previously unpublished in its entirety—and the process of adapting it to picture book format, as well as how the author of Silent Spring forever changed the way we think about science and progress. Bringing the soft edges of clouds and the natural world to vivid life with a new, more fluid approach to her signature cut-paper technique, Nikki McClure inspires true emotional engagement with the world we all share. An antidote to “get your head out of the clouds,” this art-meets-science tribute to curiosity and wonder is a gift for daydreamers and nature lovers of all ages.
Out of Wonder: Celebrating Poets and Poetry
Price: $9.99
Pub Date: December 7, 2021
Format: Paperback
“A culturally rich collection of poetic tributes that extends the legacies of poets from around the globe. . . . A magnificent exploration of the poetic imagination.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Newbery Award–winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. In this Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes, winner of a Caldecott Honor and a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, complete the celebration and invite the reader to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.
Alphamaniacs
Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word
Price: $19.99
Pub Date: April 14, 2020
Format: Hardcover
Are you a word person? A curiosity seeker? An explorer? Take a look at these twenty-six extraordinary individuals for whom love of language is an extreme sport.
Step right up and read the genuine stories of writers so intoxicated by the shapes and sound of language that they collected, dissected, and constructed verbal wonders of the most extraordinary kind. Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote his memoirs by blinking his left eyelid, unable to move the rest of his body. Frederic Cassidy was obsessed with the language of place, and after posing hundreds of questions to folks all over the United States, amassed (among other things) 176 words for dust bunnies. Georges Perec wrote a novel without using the letter e (so well that at least one reviewer didn’t notice its absence), then followed with a novella in which e was the only vowel. A love letter to all those who love words, language, writing, writers, and stories, Alphamaniacs is a stunningly illustrated collection of mini-biographies about the most daring and peculiar of writers and their audacious, courageous, temerarious way with words.
Flights of Fancy
Creative Inspiration from Ten Award-Winning Authors and Illustrators
Price: $19.99
Pub Date: April 9, 2019
Format: Hardcover
In a beautiful anthology, ten children’s book greats share stories, poems, pictures, tips, and prompts meant to inspire young readers to create works of their own.
Have you ever sparked the start of a story by playing a game of What if? Is there any value to all that doodling you do? What does being “a sponge” have to do with facing down a blank page? Did you know that pictures can sometimes inspire stories, rather than the other way around? From Quentin Blake’s drawings of fantastical vehicles to Michael Rosen’s inside look at his poetry, from Anthony Browne’s shape game (no need to be an artist to play) to Lauren Child’s look at her creative process, this anthology — whose contributors were all British Children’s Laureates — aims to encourage budding writers and artists to let their imaginations soar. The final spread is a collection of prompts from all the contributors, passing the creative torch to the next generation.
With contributions by:
Malorie Blackman
Quentin Blake
Anthony Browne
Lauren Child
Julia Donaldson
Anne Fine
Michael Morpurgo
Chris Riddell
Michael Rosen
Jacqueline Wilson
What Is Poetry?
The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: January 8, 2019
Format: Paperback
Celebrated poet and critic Michael Rosen takes readers on a whirlwind tour exploring what poems are, what they can do, and the joys of reading and writing them.
For thousands of years, people have been writing poetry. But what is poetry? Award-winning wordsmith Michael Rosen has spent decades thinking about that question, and in this helpful guide he shares his insights with humor, knowledge, and appreciation — appreciation for poetry and appreciation for twenty-first-century children embarking on their own poetic journeys. Young readers are invited to join him on a welcoming exploration of the British poetic canon, replete with personal insights into what the renowned poet thinks about as he writes and advice on writing their own poetry. When he’s finished, readers will be able to say with confidence: this is poetry. Included in this accessible handbook are writing tips, analyses of classic poems, and an appendix of poets and useful websites.
Jabberwalking
Price: $14.99
Pub Date: March 13, 2018
Format: Paperback
Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Mexican-American Poet Laureate in the USA, is sharing secrets: how to turn your wonder at the world around you into weird, wild, incandescent poetry.
Can you walk and talk at the same time? How about Jabberwalk? Can you write and draw and walk and journal all at the same time? If not, you’re in luck: exuberant, blue-cheesy cilantro man Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States, is here to teach you everything he knows about being a real-life, bonified, Jabberwalking poet! Jabberwalkers write and speak for themselves and others no matter where their feet may take them — to Jabberwalk is to be a poet on the move. And there’s no stopping once you’re a Jabberwalker, writing fast, fast, fast, scribble-poem-burbles-on-the-run. Scribble what you see! Scribble what you hear! It’s all out there — vámonos!
Journeys: Young Readers’ Letters to Authors Who Changed Their Lives
Price: $12.00
Pub Date: August 1, 2017
Format: Paperback
Books can change lives — and here are more than fifty powerful letters from young readers to authors revealing some of the ways that is true.
Annie Schnitzer tells Elie Wiesel, “Reading your story allowed me to connect with my own history,” explaining how reading his memoir deepened her understanding of her grandparents’ plight during the Holocaust. After reading The House on Mango Street, Julia Mueller writes to Sandra Cisneros, “You didn’t tell me how to pull myself back together; you just showed me that I could. I was tired of trying to be somebody else’s definition of beautiful, and you told me that was okay.” Culled from the Letters About Literature contest of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, the fifty-two letters in this collection — written by students in grades four through twelve — reveal how deeply books and poetry affect the lives of readers. Offering letters that are as profound as they are personal and as moving as they are enlightening, this collection, which also features artwork by some of the contest entrants, provides a glimpse into young people’s lives and their connections — both expected and unexpected — to the written word.
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
Price: $18.99
Pub Date: March 14, 2017
Format: Hardcover
The 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner
A Newbery Medalist and a Caldecott Honoree’s New York Times best-selling ode to poets who have sparked a sense of wonder.
Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Newbery Award–winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. Stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes, winner of a Caldecott Honor and a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, complete the celebration and invite the reader to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.
When I Was Your Age, Volume Two
Original Stories About Growing Up
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: August 4, 2015
Format: E-Book
"Ehrlich offers more of a good thing in this second volume of memoirs of adolescence by renowned, contemporary YA authors." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Tell me a story of when you were little," children everywhere love to ask. In this acclaimed collection, ten award-winning, well-known writers comply by reaching across their own childhoods to those of their readers. Whether telling of growing up in Japan or upstate New York or the California coast, recalling The Great Depression or World War II or the 1950s, describing children’s victories or heartaches, the writers of these stories make it clear that despite the difference between one childhood and another, all children share a complex humanity and a deep capacity for joy.

How to Make a Picture Book
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Everyone has a story to tell—and now you can learn how to tell it in your own picture book, using this helpful, humor-filled guide from an award-winning creator.
Have you ever wanted to create your own story—and capture it for posterity? Elys Dolan brings her comic touch to the process by portraying her narrator-self as a friendly worm (it’s quicker to draw than a person!). How do you come up with something to write about? Build and flesh out your story? Use color and space effectively? From combining two favorite things to form a story idea to “interviewing” your characters to physically putting a book together, the author walks readers through some surprisingly comprehensive beginners’ techniques that may have something to offer even seasoned storytellers. This witty, fun, conversational, step-by-step guide—part picture book, part activity book—is packed with prompts, exercises, tips, and jokes. So find your inspiration, grab your pens and pencils, and get making!
Something About the Sky
Price: $19.99
Pub Date: March 12, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Cut-paper wizard Nikki McClure is a brilliant steward for the words of a pioneering environmentalist in this wondrous ode to clouds—and the scientific “language of the sky.”
Rachel Carson once wrote, “It is not half so important to know as to feel.” What do we know about clouds? There are three basic types: stratus, cumulus, and cirrus. Some are fleecy and fair-weathered while others portend storms. But clouds are more than pretty or ominous backdrops. They’re the vehicle of water between sea and land, land and sea, in a cycle without end or beginning. They are the writing of the wind on the sky, a language all their own. An illustrator note explains the origins of Rachel Carson’s shimmering essay—previously unpublished in its entirety—and the process of adapting it to picture book format, as well as how the author of Silent Spring forever changed the way we think about science and progress. Bringing the soft edges of clouds and the natural world to vivid life with a new, more fluid approach to her signature cut-paper technique, Nikki McClure inspires true emotional engagement with the world we all share. An antidote to “get your head out of the clouds,” this art-meets-science tribute to curiosity and wonder is a gift for daydreamers and nature lovers of all ages.
Out of Wonder: Celebrating Poets and Poetry
Price: $9.99
Pub Date: December 7, 2021
Format: Paperback
“A culturally rich collection of poetic tributes that extends the legacies of poets from around the globe. . . . A magnificent exploration of the poetic imagination.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Newbery Award–winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. In this Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes, winner of a Caldecott Honor and a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, complete the celebration and invite the reader to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.
Alphamaniacs
Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word
Price: $19.99
Pub Date: April 14, 2020
Format: Hardcover
Are you a word person? A curiosity seeker? An explorer? Take a look at these twenty-six extraordinary individuals for whom love of language is an extreme sport.
Step right up and read the genuine stories of writers so intoxicated by the shapes and sound of language that they collected, dissected, and constructed verbal wonders of the most extraordinary kind. Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote his memoirs by blinking his left eyelid, unable to move the rest of his body. Frederic Cassidy was obsessed with the language of place, and after posing hundreds of questions to folks all over the United States, amassed (among other things) 176 words for dust bunnies. Georges Perec wrote a novel without using the letter e (so well that at least one reviewer didn’t notice its absence), then followed with a novella in which e was the only vowel. A love letter to all those who love words, language, writing, writers, and stories, Alphamaniacs is a stunningly illustrated collection of mini-biographies about the most daring and peculiar of writers and their audacious, courageous, temerarious way with words.
Flights of Fancy
Creative Inspiration from Ten Award-Winning Authors and Illustrators
Price: $19.99
Pub Date: April 9, 2019
Format: Hardcover
In a beautiful anthology, ten children’s book greats share stories, poems, pictures, tips, and prompts meant to inspire young readers to create works of their own.
Have you ever sparked the start of a story by playing a game of What if? Is there any value to all that doodling you do? What does being “a sponge” have to do with facing down a blank page? Did you know that pictures can sometimes inspire stories, rather than the other way around? From Quentin Blake’s drawings of fantastical vehicles to Michael Rosen’s inside look at his poetry, from Anthony Browne’s shape game (no need to be an artist to play) to Lauren Child’s look at her creative process, this anthology — whose contributors were all British Children’s Laureates — aims to encourage budding writers and artists to let their imaginations soar. The final spread is a collection of prompts from all the contributors, passing the creative torch to the next generation.
With contributions by:
Malorie Blackman
Quentin Blake
Anthony Browne
Lauren Child
Julia Donaldson
Anne Fine
Michael Morpurgo
Chris Riddell
Michael Rosen
Jacqueline Wilson
What Is Poetry?
The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: January 8, 2019
Format: Paperback
Celebrated poet and critic Michael Rosen takes readers on a whirlwind tour exploring what poems are, what they can do, and the joys of reading and writing them.
For thousands of years, people have been writing poetry. But what is poetry? Award-winning wordsmith Michael Rosen has spent decades thinking about that question, and in this helpful guide he shares his insights with humor, knowledge, and appreciation — appreciation for poetry and appreciation for twenty-first-century children embarking on their own poetic journeys. Young readers are invited to join him on a welcoming exploration of the British poetic canon, replete with personal insights into what the renowned poet thinks about as he writes and advice on writing their own poetry. When he’s finished, readers will be able to say with confidence: this is poetry. Included in this accessible handbook are writing tips, analyses of classic poems, and an appendix of poets and useful websites.
Jabberwalking
Price: $14.99
Pub Date: March 13, 2018
Format: Paperback
Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Mexican-American Poet Laureate in the USA, is sharing secrets: how to turn your wonder at the world around you into weird, wild, incandescent poetry.
Can you walk and talk at the same time? How about Jabberwalk? Can you write and draw and walk and journal all at the same time? If not, you’re in luck: exuberant, blue-cheesy cilantro man Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States, is here to teach you everything he knows about being a real-life, bonified, Jabberwalking poet! Jabberwalkers write and speak for themselves and others no matter where their feet may take them — to Jabberwalk is to be a poet on the move. And there’s no stopping once you’re a Jabberwalker, writing fast, fast, fast, scribble-poem-burbles-on-the-run. Scribble what you see! Scribble what you hear! It’s all out there — vámonos!
Journeys: Young Readers’ Letters to Authors Who Changed Their Lives
Price: $12.00
Pub Date: August 1, 2017
Format: Paperback
Books can change lives — and here are more than fifty powerful letters from young readers to authors revealing some of the ways that is true.
Annie Schnitzer tells Elie Wiesel, “Reading your story allowed me to connect with my own history,” explaining how reading his memoir deepened her understanding of her grandparents’ plight during the Holocaust. After reading The House on Mango Street, Julia Mueller writes to Sandra Cisneros, “You didn’t tell me how to pull myself back together; you just showed me that I could. I was tired of trying to be somebody else’s definition of beautiful, and you told me that was okay.” Culled from the Letters About Literature contest of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, the fifty-two letters in this collection — written by students in grades four through twelve — reveal how deeply books and poetry affect the lives of readers. Offering letters that are as profound as they are personal and as moving as they are enlightening, this collection, which also features artwork by some of the contest entrants, provides a glimpse into young people’s lives and their connections — both expected and unexpected — to the written word.
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
Price: $18.99
Pub Date: March 14, 2017
Format: Hardcover
The 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner
A Newbery Medalist and a Caldecott Honoree’s New York Times best-selling ode to poets who have sparked a sense of wonder.
Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Newbery Award–winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. Stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes, winner of a Caldecott Honor and a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, complete the celebration and invite the reader to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.
When I Was Your Age, Volume Two
Original Stories About Growing Up
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: August 4, 2015
Format: E-Book
"Ehrlich offers more of a good thing in this second volume of memoirs of adolescence by renowned, contemporary YA authors." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Tell me a story of when you were little," children everywhere love to ask. In this acclaimed collection, ten award-winning, well-known writers comply by reaching across their own childhoods to those of their readers. Whether telling of growing up in Japan or upstate New York or the California coast, recalling The Great Depression or World War II or the 1950s, describing children’s victories or heartaches, the writers of these stories make it clear that despite the difference between one childhood and another, all children share a complex humanity and a deep capacity for joy.