How to use this Page

One of the goals of my blog is to review and recommend books, artwork and artists from around the globe. I am delighted to have my first Indonesian illustrator on Miss Marple’s Musings today. [JM] Illustrator or author/illustrator? If the latter, … Continue reading →

I have know Santi for a while online through our wonderful 12×12 community and I was very fortunate to meet him finally at the fabulous 12×12 5th anniversary party in New York last month. We bonded over literary cocktails, as … Continue reading →

I encountered Rahele’s work through this year’s Tomie de Paola SCBW illustrator competition where the prompt was: to illustrate a moment from a passage from Philip Pullman’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood” from FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM (Viking, … Continue reading →

Jonathan Bean has a knack of writing picture books with families I want to belong to and characters I want to be. Such levels of identification are rare for me with picture books compared to MG and YA novels. I … Continue reading →

It was my friend, Emma Dryden, who first got me interested in Katherine, Apifera and her art when she published The MisfIts of Love in 2013. I have been following The Head Troll, Rosie and Ernest, two pigs, the arrival … Continue reading →

I have been following Jen for quite a while now on social media and as I am a huge Darwin fan, I wanted to highlight her on my blog before her next picture book comes out! [JM] Illustrator or author/illustrator? If … Continue reading →

What do you do when you are at a posh reception at the French embassy to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of one of the top French Children’s publishing houses, ”Ecole des Loisirs, and you spot one of your favorite author/illustrators … Continue reading →

I am committed to being open with my readers so let me just say that I picked up a copy of Miss Maple’s Seeds in 2012 solely because of the title! I was so glad I did. It is a … Continue reading →

 I read MAX AND MARLA a few weeks ago after a friend reviewed it, and I immediately reached out to Alexandra for an interview. I think you’ll see why! It is also always a pleasure to have a fellow European on the … Continue reading →

I am changing up my Wednesday series just a little today to join in Debbie Diesen and Dan Hannah’s blog & book tour of THE NOT VERY MERRY POUT-POUT FISH, the latest hardcover children’s picture book from The New York … Continue reading →

Linda Boyden was the second (and since there have been many more) person that I had gotten to know in the online kid lit community who invited me to stay before meeting me. It was in October of 2012 and … Continue reading →

I came to Amy’s art through a recommendation, which isn’t rare for me as friends know of my love for picture book illustration despite ‘only’ being a writer. My friend, Emma Dryden suggested I check out Amy’s work earlier in … Continue reading →

I invited Lisa onto Miss Marple’s Musings because I fell in love with her art for her latest collaboration—MUMMY CAT, written by Marcus Ewert! As a feline-fanatic, I this memorable story within a story set in Ancient Egypt is one … Continue reading →

I ‘met’ Joy a couple of years ago through her FB page Got Story and love her contributions to the kid lit community. She has been curating a fabulous exhibition in Southern California and it is open for another ten … Continue reading →

I met Amber in Brooklyn during my first semester at Stony Brook. We lived in the same neighborhood and would bump into each other in the street. We were able to meet up with other kidlit friends to talk biz, … Continue reading →

I am not wanting to brag here, but when you live in New York you bump into amazing writers and artists all the time (and I am grateful for every day here), so to be honest I am not sure … Continue reading →

Dear blog followers, I promised you that I was going to try and expand my interviews beyond the North American borders, so today we are back in the UK with one of their finest picture book illustrators, Sam Zuppardi (well, … Continue reading →

I was reading Matthew’s latest book, WISH, a few weeks back and remembering how much I had also loved his mini technology-bash in  HELLO! HELLO! and it dawned on me I should invite him on the blog. It is such … Continue reading →

I have interviewed several winners and runners-up of the SCBWI winter conference portfolio competition and it is my pleasure to welcome this year’s winner to the blog today, MIKA SONG. Congratulations on your win! And we have promised each other to … Continue reading →

One of the thrills of being part of the children’s literature community is reading a book and then reaching out to the author and/or illustrator and actually entering into dialogue and quite often friendship with them. Even well known busy … Continue reading →

While I haven’t managed to attend the SCBWI winter conference the past few years I have schmoozed and managed to be invited to several gatherings/parties. It was at one of these I first had the pleasure of meeting Moira. Aside … Continue reading →

I promised you more Europeans so here is another fellow-Brit, Emma Yarlett. I think when you see ORION AND THE DARK, you will realize why I shot off an email immediately to Emma to see if she would be up … Continue reading →

The first book in Mike’s series, Little Elliot, Big City, debuted on August 26th, 2014 and was the winner of the 2015 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor. I had briefly met Mike a year ago in one of those … Continue reading →

If you don’t know that I am a huge feline fanatic, you haven’t been following me for long. I fell in love with Valeri’s art when I read and reviewed CATS ARE CATS last November. And I am seeking to … Continue reading →

I reviewed Benji’s picture book, STORM WHALE, back in November and it had a very large number of page views, so I thought, I should interview him. We have had very few Brits in this series and really needs to … Continue reading →