Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 20, 2025

 This former elementary teacher from Los Angeles now lives in Plainfield, MA. A mom of three, she has written over 70 children's books. Her best known are part of a series, begun in 2008, about a small, colorful vehicle. Over 20 million of these books have sold, and they include some in Spanish, such as El Camionsito Azul. The author is Alice Schertle, and her series began with The Little Blue Truck.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 13, 2025

 The librarian at The U.S. Library of Congress was recently fired. The reason?  "There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children." However, the Library of Congress is NOT A LENDING LIBRARY. It is a RESEARCH LIBRARY and only members of Congress may check out books. The librarian, Carla Hayden, posed no threat to children.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 6, 2025

 One of the books I've read to children most often through the years has only 34 words and was a Caldecott honor book for illustration. The author/illustrator, born in Pennsylvania in 1959, graduated with a BA in biology from St. Olaf College and planned to become a doctor, but realized his passion was for art and children's books. He moved to New York City where he still lives with his wife and son. He plays the viola and the concertina and enjoys yoga and knitting. This is Chris Raschka, author of Yo! Yes?

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for April 29, 2025

 This Swiss author, born in 1827, began writing at the age of 43. She was critisized for using religion in her novel to resign the poorer characters to their impoverished fate, but she also created a fearless young character who faced an enormous change in her life with cheerfulness, curiosity, and a love of nature. The author is Johanna Spyri and her first novel was Heidi, published in German in 1880 and translated into English in 1884.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for April 22, 2025

 It's often thought that rhyming picture book manuscripts are tough to sell because they can be difficult to translate for foreign markets. But this New Jersey author/illustrator has had great success with her rhyming stories about a South American mammal. Before she sold her first book in 2005 and went on to become a New York Times best-selling author, she worked as a rural mail carrier, a waitress, and a teacher at a boarding school for dyslexic boys. She said she wanted her books to let kids know "People love you and they will help you." This is Anna Dewdney, who died at age 50 from a brain tumor. Here series began with Llama Llama Red Pajama and continued with many llama books.

After 27 years of submissions....

 ...a publisher asked me for more books! Well, the head of the publishing company asked if I'd consider writing a series of Nighty Night books, to follow up my Nighty Night, Dinos which comes out next March. Hmmmm, let me s YES!! YES!! He gave me 8 possible topics, and I sent him Nighty Night, Trucks and Nighty Night, Puppies and we'll see how they go over at the marketing meeting in May. And here I was scared to open his email because I was sure it was going to tell me that tarrifs made it too expensive to print my dino book. But NO! What a terrific surprise.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for April 1, 2025

 This French author/illustrator wrote only one book for children, published in 1943, which has become a classic, translated into more than 50 languages.  He worked in a factory, and as a mechanic, and as a pilot delivering mail from France to Africa. His book reaches children and adults on different levels. After the book came out, he served in World War II as a pilot, and was reported as "Missing in Action." Debris from the wreckage was found off the coast of Marseille in 2000, but his body was never found. This was Antoine de St. Exupery and his book is The Little Prince.