PTO Today (“Helping Parent Leaders Make Schools Great”) interviewed me recently about my own reading and writing as well as about how parents can support their kids’ growth in those areas. When asked what advice I would give PTOs and PTAs that want to encourage kids to read and write, here’s how I answered: It’s […]

Hi, Julie — yes, please, share away! Joe and Phil are terrific people who do terrific work, and the more folks know about them, the better.

Hey Chris! It was a pleasure to share your Modern First Library video on KidLit TV. The camera work was super! Thank you to Joe. And a BIG thanks to Phil for doing a brilliant job. I’d love to share this post to shine a little light on the folks behind the scenes, too!

To commemorate Black History Month, the Texas Book Festival has posted an interview with Don Tate and me about his book Poet: The Remarkable True Story of George Moses Horton and our book The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch. Here’s a bit of what Don has to say about the stories he wants to […]

The first slide in my school-visit presentation lists a number of things I am in addition to being an author, and one of them is “son.” “Usually,” I told an audience of second- and third-graders last Friday at Holiday Heights Elementary, “you have to take my word for it.” But not that day. Friday marked […]

The research and writing efforts that Karen Blumenthal and Cynthia Levinson put into their mid-2015 nonfiction publications — Tommy: The Gun That Changed America and Watch Out for Flying Kids!: How Two Circuses, Two Countries, and Nine Kids Confront Conflict and Build Community, respectively — would have been plenty impressive on their own. But this […]

The recent KidLit TV segment on Modern First Library would not have happened without the enthusiastic support of my friends Phil Bildner and Joe McDermott. Phil’s role was obvious — he was on-camera with me and BookPeople‘s Meghan Goel. But what part did Joe play? Well, who do you think was behind the camera? That’s […]

Thank you right back! I hope your new year is off to a great start.

Hi Chris! I’m super happy that you found and enjoyed my review for The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch. :) Thanks for educating me on such a cool man. Hope you have a Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to your books in 2016!

Here’s to the end of 2015, everybody. I hope you’ve had a satisfying year, and that no matter how well things have gone, it’s wrapping up for you on a positive note. If you’re reading this, you’re one of the reasons I feel so fortunate to be doing what I do. Thank you for taking […]

The Salt Lake Tribune interviewed me a couple of weeks ago about ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America, but I’ve done more in Utah this month than just appear in print. Considering that it was dance-loving Utah brothers Willam, Harold, and Lew Christensen who made The Nutcracker into a US holiday tradition, what better time and […]

Thank you all — I really appreciate your encouragement, and your help getting the word out!

Awesome! Thank you for being inspiring!!!

Chris, this is a brilliant idea. I’m super supportive!

What a great post! Thanks for shouting out to KidLit TV! We love what you do and are looking forward to seeing your project grow! :)

…I’m a guest co-host on the latest episode of the Dear Book Nerd podcast!

What’s not to love about getting signed copies of The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch, ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America, and books by 22 other talented Texas folks — especially when those books are sold at a discount and sales benefit Texas libraries? The answer, my friends, is nothing. Hope to see you in […]

On Saturday, December 5, Jennifer and I will celebrate the release of our new holiday-themed books — her Revenge of the Angels and my ‘The Nutcracker’ Comes to America — with an open-to-the-public event at Austin’s BookPeople benefiting the store’s Giving Tree charity program. Giving Tree provides a way for BookPeople customers to provide books […]

Modern First Library — the program that BookPeople and I began last year to encourage the purchase of diverse new titles along with classic picture books — was featured this past Friday on KidLit TV, with children’s buyer Meghan Goel and me interviewed about the program by author, pal, and all-around dynamo Phil Bildner. I’m […]

When Jennifer and I celebrate our new holiday-themed books with an event at Austin’s BookPeople on December 5, we’re going to spotlight the store’s annual Giving Tree charity program. Guests buying any hardcover children’s book to donate to Giving Tree will be in the running for the giveaway of signed sets of Jennifer’s Revenge of […]

When Jennifer and I celebrate our new holiday-themed books with an event at Austin’s BookPeople on December 5, we’re going to spotlight the store’s annual Giving Tree charity program. Guests buying any hardcover children’s book to donate to Giving Tree will be in the running for the giveaway of signed sets of Jennifer’s Revenge of […]

When Jennifer and I celebrate our new holiday-themed books with an event at Austin’s BookPeople on December 5, we’re going to spotlight the store’s annual Giving Tree charity program. Guests buying any hardcover children’s book to donate to Giving Tree will be in the running for the giveaway of signed sets of Jennifer’s Revenge of […]

Thanks, Rob! Y’all will have a lot of reading to catch up on when you come home…

Whoa! Nicely done, Chris.

Now that the cover of my next book with Don Tate has been revealed, I can show it off here, too. But why stop with just that one? Through a combination of flukes, good fortune, and starting my work at 5 a.m. far more often than not, I’ve got four new picture books coming out […]