Today we are all blessed with TWO (2!!) new books from the incredible @mobrowne !!
These luminous, poetic picture books celebrate the boundless beauty, strength, and joy of Black boyhood and Black girlhood with lyrical language, vibrant illustrations by @sawyercloud01 , and deep cultural pride.
Pick up a copy of one (or both!) wherever you get your books!
Wishing a happiest pub date to @esmeshapiro and to RUTHIE!! 🐶❤️🎉
Ruthie is a prince (a dog) who has it all: a bone, a fish, and a piece of cake he’s been saving for three years. He lives in a castle (a house), is beloved by his queen (his owner), and enjoys beauty-naps, butterberry pancakes and staying squeaky clean with a daily bubble bath. But still, Ruthie longs to explore beyond the castle walls.
When a chance to escape presents itself, Ruthie soon finds exploring isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He is cold, hungry and worst of all: STINKY! Ruthie’s royal subjects (forest animals) do their best to help, but nothing is as perfect as it was in his castle and, worst of all, he misses his queen. Will Ruthie ever be able to find his way home? And will he be able to make some friends along the way?
In this delightful companion book to Ooko that stands all on its own, Esmé Shapiro tells Ruthie’s side of this topsy-turvy story — and a hilarious, heartfelt tale about breaking free of and longing for home.
Pick up a copy today!!
We’re so thrilled that this gorgeous illustrated edition of @maryoliverofficial ’s poem GOLDFINCHES, from Caldecott Honoree @melissasweetillustrator , is out today!
It may be a bit dreary outside, but this beautiful book will definitely brighten your day! The interior is just as stunning as the cover - pick up a copy today!
We’ve been eagerly awaiting the day that this one hits shelves - which is today!! 🎉
WHERE THE GIRLS WERE by @k8shots is an electrifying historical novel about coming of age in tumultuous 1960s San Francisco, wherein a pregnant teenager reckons with womanhood and agency after being sent to a home for unwed mothers.
This book is a timely unearthing of a little-known moment in American history, when the sexual revolution and feminist movement collided with the limits of reproductive rights—and society’s expectations of women.
Pick up a copy today!
We are so thrilled that WHY FLY by @carolinembpaul is now out in the world!
Flying has long represented the beautiful, high-stakes human drive to invent, to explore, to experience. Caroline Paul has known this since becoming a pilot at twenty years old. Now she’s in her fifties, and her long-term marriage is dissolving beneath her. She begins to fly a gyrocopter. Isn’t it easier to learn a landing than a human heart?
As Paul examines the descent of love through the ascent of flight, she turns her eye to the history, the physics, and the deep impact of flying on others. From the brave Night Witches who flew biplanes against the Nazis, to the ultralight pilots who believe they can save endangered birds by becoming one of the flock, to the many people afraid to step onto a passenger plane, WHY FLY examines the ways flight, like love, confounds and yet transforms us. Often we soar. But we also crash land. Still, we want to fly. Why?
Pick up a copy today! ❤️✈️🎉
It’s launch day for Why Fly, and I couldn’t be happier to finally take to the skies today. There’s a whole ground crew necessary to get a behemoth like a book into the air and for that I am eternally grateful for everyone at @sheedylit and @bloomsburybooksus . Also, much love goes out to those close to me who always support this crazy endeavor, as well as my long suffering first readers @sheflexxer and @bonnietsui8 and @thealexandrapaul . Also shout out to all the writers at @thewritersgrotto . Mostly though, @wendymac generously accepted my version of our story: Wendy, as always, thanks for you. ❤️ Launch day is always nerve wracking but let me tell you that, finally, the winds are calm, the air is warm, and the view is great from here. #womeninaviation #flygirl #aviationbooks
We are incredibly saddened to share the news of Hudson Talbott’s passing. Hudson was an incredibly talented writer and illustrator, and a close friend to all at Sheedy Lit. He will be deeply missed.
His full obituary can be found on Publisher’s Weekly, at the link in our bio. Hudson’s final book, The Next Shiny Object, will publish in August.
We’re so excited to kick off the year with two incredible picture books!
JUST RIGHT is @torreymaldonado ’s heartwarming picture book debut! Illustrated by @teresamtzjun , this book celebrates loving caregivers and highlights the powerful impact they can have on the life of a child.
NO WAY, WASH DAY by @adriennethurman with illustrations by @kaylanijuanita is an exuberant picture book about a little girl trying to outmaneuver her mama to avoid wash day for her hair—and all the laughs and love her antics inspire.
Pick up either (or both!) of these wherever you get your books! 📚
this Sunday, I’m leading a conversation.
folks always ask “how you can do poems in various spaces?”
this is an afternoon about community vs network, innovation vs virality, and the power of the pivot.
Sign ups at @blueflowerarts
Out now from @esmeshapiro and @katefinneywrites is DON’T EAT ME: The Almost True Story of Belladonna!
Everyone in the forest knows about Belladonna—that tall, beautiful plant whose berries are so delicious that they’re forever being gobbled up. Day after day, poor Belladonna is nibbled at until there’s almost nothing left of her. But unlike the animals who can leap, climb, or fly away, Belladonna, being a plant, is firmly rooted in place. So what’s a plant to do to survive?
This is the story of how Belladonna learns to harness her own chemical powers to protect herself and her descendants… and how she learns from a great cast of plant and animal characters—culminating in a dandy pheasant—that no one ever survives alone.
This one-of-a-kind picture book is gorgeously illustrated by Esmé Shapiro with wit and humor, and has an astonishingly epic framing that carries Belladonna across eons into her final, powerful form!
Pick up a copy from wherever you get your books today! 🌷🌷🌷
We are so thrilled to finally get to announce this book — written by the brilliant Dias family and illustrated by @isleniamil — forthcoming from @scholastic in Summer 2026! Summer can’t come soon enough!
