This AM, I had a totally delightful school visit with 3rd graders in Chester, NY who won the visit from our Publishing for Minnesota auction. I got to read Zombie & Brain Are Friends, talk a bit about revisions, and book talk some of my favorite books.
Best part was bragging on my friends who produce such beautiful, hilarious, and stunning books and having a student ask, "How do you know so many authors?"
It's all about community.
#BeAnAmbassador
Thoughts about community have been occupying 94.7% of my brain for the past few days, and I was reflecting on the people who gave me a hand up, opened their DMs to me for questions and advice, became friends with me online even when I was just a fangirl of their work and had nothing of my own to prove myself to them.
Turns out, those people didn't need me to prove myself to them. They were just generous souls who were happy to engage in discussions, advice, and community building.
I look at those names now: all women. And I wasn't just fangirling the women in the kidlit industry, I was definitely fangirling the men (the usual suspects, of course) but none of them -- not a single one of them -- offered the same kind of community that these women did.
Even when I met some of them IRL, as a published (several times over) author in the presence of other published authors, they looked past me, through me, to the men standing behind or around me. They are not my community.
But is because of the women -- or in spite of those men -- that I offer a hand up, an ear for AMAs, manuscript critiques, support, and cheerleading to others coming up in the industry. That community is so much more important to me than that provided by the current AYPL and it will continue to be so.
I'm sad not to include @csoontornvat 's A WISH IN THE DARK here (I loaned it to a teacher for a class read) but she is definitely in this community stack for me.
Today we’re bringing you some carefully vetted recommendations from our beloved pets. There’s so much you can gain from books, like valuable insight from Omar El Akkad or hard-won lessons like not eating bees. We hope you find something new to read thanks to Fred, Book the cat, Calliope, Butters McGee, and Gracie.
Never fear for there are quite a lot of pets amongst the 10 of us, so there will be some more pet recs in the future!
#bookrecs #cats_of_instagram #dogsofinstagram
🐛🦋
It's Caterpillars and Butterflies week here for our Nature Study! We even have real caterpillars that we will watch change into butterflies. Fun fact, I'm terrified of caterpillars 🤣 but we're making the most of it!
Thanks to our wonderful library for having these amazing books for us to use! @cmlibrary 🩵
❔Are you scared of any bugs/critters? Do you have a favorite insect? What are you reading?
#butterfly #kidsbooks #kidsbookstagrammer #books
To read the rest of this great book by @devpetty check it out from your local library or buy it at your local bookstore!
#booksforkids #picturebooks #picturebooksofinstagram #nonprofitsofinstagram #storytime
My endpapers don’t add to the story. They ease you into it. They are mood lighting for my books.
Here are the three I’ve made so far.
1. Do You Really Know Flamingos? (Out in three weeks. Preorder now! Link in bio)
2. Tou-Can’t: A little Sister Story
3. The Bear Must Go On. By Dev Petty
Next week is Author Fest! First, third, and 5th graders in DG 58 will be receiving visits during their school day. All are welcome to join us at Anderson’s at 5:00 PM on April 24 for our book signing. ✍️📚💚
About to fly fresh (thanks Rubbermaid!) across the country to meet their creator and author @devpetty , who’ll be traveling with them to a school visits all over the country in the near future. What could go wrong, you ask?
Welp, their first school visit was with @heisereads school in the Milwaukee area, and the airline wouldn’t let me carry on the characters on the way back, so I had to check those little buddies and they ended up getting stuck at O’Hare, by themselves, for two nights. They were roughed up, but I like to think it’s because they had too much fun eating bottomless chips and salsa at the airport Chili’s while they waited.
So that could happen.
Godspeed, Petty.
