On October 8, the New York Times printed a front-page article describing the decline of picture books in favor of chapter books. My first reaction to this news was sorrow, not because yet another body-blow had been dealt to the wounded children’s book industry, but because the reason given was so short-sighted. It seems that [...]

“To be a writer you must _____” That’s how I start all my beginner classes. I write that sentence on the board and wait until somebody comes up with the missing word. (It’s “write.”) The point: You don’t get to be a writer by hoping or earning degrees or reading about writing. You have to [...]

Indian summer in Connecticut- time to close up swimming pools, juggle soccer games with football practice, clean sticks out of gutters. For a children’s book author it means time to return emails to teachers, phone calls to PTOs, time to conjure up exciting ways to captivate classrooms, cafeterias and libraries filled with energetic, yet sometimes [...]

The Greenwich Workshop Press has just released Horse, Indian, Wolf featuring the art of Judy Larson, and written by our very own Kathleen Kudlinski. The book is filled with concealed pictures in 25 of Judy Larson’s spectacular paintings about the American West (do you see the eagle on the cover?). It is accompanied by text [...]

I am an author-mother in a predicament: I need to ask my son to stop reading. That’s right, to stop reading. My son wasn’t one of those very early or very precocious readers, and there were moments when I wondered if he’d take to it at all. Well into first grade, he was happy to [...]

Today is the official release date for Come Fall. I’m very excited. The novel has gotten great reviews from Publishers Weekly (starred!) and Horn Book Magazine. I’ll be throwing a book party on August 28 at the Alphabet Garden Bookstore to celebrate its release. But today, nothing much happens. There won’t be confetti. Or a [...]