Other Writing

Book Chapters

Containing forty-eight chapters, The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks is the ultimate guide to picture books. It contains a detailed introduction, surveying the history and development of the field and emphasizing the international and cultural diversity of picture books. Divided into five key parts, this volume covers:

• Concepts and topics – from hybridity and ideology to metafiction and emotions;
• Genres – from baby books through to picturebooks for adults;
• Interfaces – the relations to other forms such as comics and visual media;
• Domains and theoretical approaches, including developmental psychology and cognitive studies;
• Adaptations.

With groundbreaking contributions from leading and emerging scholars alike, this comprehensive volume is one of the first to focus solely on picturebook research. Its interdisciplinary approach makes it key for both scholars and students of literature, as well as education and media

“Picturebook Layout” is the chapter I contributed the Routledge Companion to Picturebooks, edited by Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, and now available for purchase.

A Family of Readers: The Book Lover’s Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Candlewick 2011), edited by Roger Sutton and Martha Parravano of the Horn Book. This definitive resource for parents interested in enriching the reading lives of their children includes my essay “Reading about Families in My Family.”

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Contributor to EmbraceRace 

“EmbraceRace is an emerging, multiracial, online community of parents, teachers, and other caring adults striving to engage race in a healthy, constructive and courageous way as we nurture the children in our care.”

I was a Staff Blogger with EmbraceRace during their inaugural year, and I continue to support their good work however I can.

• Reflecting Our Children in Their Full Humanity co-authored with Traci Sorell as part of the first edition of EmbraceRace’s Reflections on Children’s Racial Learning. Our piece can be found on pages 24-25. (February 2, 2023)
• “Loving Book Conversations” I wrote this post about children’s books as conversation starters, not an end unto themselves, on Loving Day 2021, the 54th anniversary of the Loving v. The State of Virginia case. (June 15, 2021)
• “20 Picture Books for 2020: Readings to Embrace Race, Provide Solace, and Do Good” I co-wrote this annotated list with Autumn Allen, and Dr. Krista Aronson and the Diverse BookFinder team  “to help engage the broad range of emotions and needs of diverse children in our multiracial society” amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the simultaneous wave of racialized violence. (June 19, 2020)
• “Selected Books and Other Resources about Adoption, Foster Care, and Family Diversity” I created this list for the Embrace Race site’s group of resources on transracial adoption. (December 1, 2019)
• “10 Tips for Reading Picture Books with Children through a Race-Conscious Lens” (December  29, 2017) I wrote this tip sheet to accompany the Embrace Race Community Conversations webinar I co-led with Hannah Gómez on December 19, 2017. Find the video and transcript here.
• “Wanting to Give the World to My Children (Or, How It Felt to Send My Black Son and Daughter Abroad This Summer)” (September 6, 2017)
• “(Almost) The Only Brown People at the Reunion: Raising Children of Color in a Predominantly White Extended Family” (July 30, 2017)
• “The Gifts of a Not-So-White Christmas” (December 20, 2016)
• “Living with This” (November 11, 2016)
• “I’ve Never Had a White Baby Before…” (October 4, 2106)
• “Reading Mike Jung’s Unidentified Suburban Object Part II: In which an alien inspires reflections on transracial adoption” (August 19, 2016)
• Reading Mike Jung’s Unidentified Suburban Object with My Kids Part I: In which we talk about confronting “weird questions” (or racial microagressions) with a little help from…an alien (July 26, 2016)
• Real Sisters and Brothers (June 17, 2016)
• My Responses and Yours to “The Tiresome Question I’m Often Asked About My Brown Kids: “Where Are They From?” (May 26, 2016)

Reposted by The New York Observer (June 1, 2016)

• The Tiresome Question I’m Often Asked About My Brown Kids: “Where Are They From?” (April 29, 2016)

                    Reposted by The Huffington Post (May 2, 2016)

                    Reposted by The New York Observer (May 4, 2016)

                    Reposted by Imperfect Life (May 27, 2016)

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Guest Reviewer and Contributor to the Horn Book

Follow these links for a chronology of the pieces I’ve written for the Horn Book, some of which appeared in print, while others were online content:

• “Calling Caldecott: Patchwork by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Corinna Luyken” (posted January 9, 2023)
• “Calling Caldecott: This Story Is Not About a Kitten by Randall de Séve, illustrated by Carson Ellis” (posted November 10, 2022)
• “Cover Reveal for Book Bonding: Building Connections Through Family Reading” I’m grateful to the Horn Book for hosting this cover reveal post with art by Mia Saine (November 2, 2022)
• Treasuring When “Nothing Happens”, Family Reading blog (posted June 29, 2021)
• “Calling Caldecott: The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl” (posted December 11, 2020)
• “Calling Caldecott: A Girl Like Me by Angela Johnson, illustrated by Nina Crews” (posted September 30, 2020)
• “Drawing Comfort from Shared Reading” (posted September 1, 2020)
• “Calling Caldecott: The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, illustrated by Carson Ellis” (posted December 19, 2019)
• “Calling Caldecott: Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell, illustrated by Corinna Luyken” (posted November 29, 2018)
• “Calling Caldecott: Drawn Together by Minh Lê and Dan Santat” (posted October 31, 2018)
• “Crossing Bridges, Turning Pages” (posted June 20, 2018)
• “Calling Caldecott: The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken,” (posted October 10, 2017)
• “Seeing the Grey: Reading Molly Bang’s The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher with Children” (posted on the BGHB at 50 microsite, August 15, 2017)
• A New Place You’ll Go: Opening Day at the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum (posted on the Family Reading blog, June 14, 2017)
• Auggie and Her, Jess’s Dad and Me (posted on the Family Reading blog, December 19, 2016)
• Becoming a “Better Witness for What’s Beautiful”: Reading Last Stop on Market Street with Children” (Online post, July 1, 2016)
• “Calling Caldecott: Waiting by Kevin Henkes,” (posted December 2015)
• “Children, Children What Do You See?” was the title for an excerpt from Reading Picture Books with Children, including an introduction from Martha Parravano (November/December 2015)
•  #WeGotDiverseAwardBooks: Reflections on Awards and Allies (July/August 2015)
• In Defense of Gentle Men (online post, February 18, 2015)
• Words for Flora’s Mother (and Other Imperfect Parents) (May/June 2014)
• Faith in Reading (November/December 2013)
• 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Books in My Home(January/February 2013)
• O Christmas Books! (Nov./Dec 2011) Reposted with commentary from Kitty Flynn on the Family Reading Blog 12/5/2016
• Dave the Potter and Stevie the Reader (July/August 2011)
• Coming Home to Books (May/June 2011)
• The Boy Ramona (May/June 2010)
• Home Security (January/February 2010)
• Reading about Families in My Family (May/June 2008)

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Reviewer and Guest Contributor at Kirkus Reviews 

• My essay “Teaching and Writing for Inclusive Excellence” was included in the special Diversity Issue, published on August 1, 2017, which introduced the Kirkus Collections initiative. My piece was the lead feature posted on Kirkus‘s site on October 10, 2017.
• Reviews at Kirkus are unsigned, but I contribute about 100 reviews of picture books and early readers each year.

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Selected Publications and Interviews with Other Journals, Newspapers, and Sites:

Résonance, a publication of the Franco American Programs of the University of Maine

• Book review of Joan DeJean’s Mutinous Women: How French Convicts Became Founding Mothers of the Gulf Coast, published in Vol. 5, August 2023
• Book review of Meg Muckenhoupt’s The Truth about Baked Beans: An Edible History of New England, published in Vol. 4, April 2022

Le Forum, a publication of the Franco American Centre, UMaine-Orono

• Autumn/Automne 2022 “Lives Stitched Together by Choices and Chance: Making Strange and Wondrous Connections Through Family History Work,” by Megan St. Marie in Le Forum, a publication of the Franco American Centre, UMaine-Orono, pp. 10-11.

• Autumn/Automne 2022 “Guiding Writers in Reflecting on Good Times and Bad,” by Megan St. Marie in Le Forum, a publication of the Franco American Centre, UMaine-Orono, pp. 12-13, 15.

• “Evangeline and Anne, L’Acadie and Me”, published in the Winter/Hiver 2022 edition, pp 31–32

Charlesbridge Children’s Book Blog

• The Whole Book Approach Goes Online: Tips to Enrich Storytimes During Periods of Emergency Remote Learning, posted August 4, 2020
• Happy Birthday Dear Book! Reading Picture Books with Children One Year Later, posted November 3, 2016
• Notes from the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi, posted April 29, 2016

 

“The Whole Book Approach Meets Critical Literacy” on the Diverse BookFinder blog. (posted July 13, 2020)

“Important Books for Inclusive Values” on the HarperStacks Blog’s #PrideOnEveryPage Campaign

Thanks to Katie Dutton, School & Library Marketing Associate at HarperStacks for inviting me to contribute this post inspired by my work on the OurShelves Curation Team. (posted June 20, 2020)

The Beginning of Your Life Book Club

• Listen to podcast episode #5 “Storytime,” featuring excerpts from an interview I did with host, Emily Akins. (posted December 3, 2018)
• Read a transcript of podcast episode #5 “Storytime.”

#KidLitWomen*

• Listen to my essay on the #KidLitWomen podcast at this link: “Of Kitchen Tables, Stovetops, and Scales: The Stories We Tell Ourselves about Our Writing Lives” (Audio Posted 8/13/2018)
• Here’s a link to the PDF  for “Of Kitchen Tables Stovetops and Scales” (posted on 3/30/18)
• Then listen to my interview with author Grace Lin here (Audio posted 8/15/18)

• I also posted The Diversity Audit as a Tool for Accountability and Inclusivity for #KidLitWomen* on 3/27/18

Shelf Awareness

• “A Different Approach to Story Time” from the A Reader’s Life column, posted on February 27, 2018

Multicultural Children’s Book Day Blog

• Eight Picture Books with Diverse Family Constellations posted on January 18, 2018

Reading While White

• “Spotlight on #OwnVoices: Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins and Bryan Collier,” posted September 25, 2017.
• “Alongside, Not Despite: Talking about Race and Settler Colonialism in a Children’s Literature Graduate Course” posted April 27, 2017

Hilltown Families Supporting Education through Community Engagement in Western Massachusetts

• “Children, Children, What Do You See?” A Whole Book Approach to Reading Picture Books with Children posted December 12, 2016

Children & Libraries

The journal of the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC)

• Gutter Talk and More: Picturebook Paratexts, Illustration, and Design at Storytime in the Winter 2010 edition, adapted from my June 2010 ALSC preconference keynote speech
• InFORMed Reading: Evaluating and Using Picture Books, Beginning Reader Books and Illustrated Books in the Winter 2006 edition

The Public Humanist, an online blog journal of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

• “A Feast for the Eyes and Food for the Soul: Visiting The Carle with My Daughters” posted September 23, 2010
• “Choosing Heartbreak over Heartshrink: Reading History with Children” posted February 8, 2010
• “’I Am Your Child—So Read with Me!’ Family Reading in an Era of Early Childhood Development Public Education Efforts” posted October 19, 2009 This piece was also picked up by The Boston Herald in their monthly Massachusetts Reads and Succeeds page, 11/19/2009.
• “Of Brown Bears and Mice and Picture Books: Reading Words and Pictures with Children” posted September 18, 2008

The Children’s Literature Association Quarterly

• Review of The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats Introduction and Annotations by Philip Nel in the ChLAQ Summer 2008 Vol. 33 #2.
• Review of The British Council/British Library’s publication Magic Pencil: Contemporary Children’s Book Illustration in ChLAQ summer 2004 edition.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette

• Response to Nature’s Classroom Underground Railroad Exercise Dec 2006 The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, MA.

The Five Owls

• Books to Make Children’s Eyes Dance Across the Pages: Music and Children’s Literature (with an annotated bibliography), Vol. 18 Issue 3, 2005 edition of The Five Owls.
• Review of Song of the Water Boatman in Vol. 18 Issue 4 of The Five Owls.
• Review of Steve Jenkins’ Actual Size online Vol. 18 issue 3 edition of The Five Owls.
• Review of Alison’s Jay’s ABC: A Child’s First Alphabet in Spring 2004 The Five Owls.
• Review of Kaethe Zemach’s Just Enough and Not Too Much online Vol. 18 Issue 2 edition of The Five Owls.

Riverbank Review

• “Slow Down and Look: Educational Programming at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art” co-authored with Rosemary Agoglia in online Fall 2003 Riverbank Review.

CREArTA (Journal of the Centre for Research and Education in the Arts, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)

• Paint that Funky Music White Boy:Chris Raschka’s Charlie Parker Played Be Bop, The Genie in the Jar, Mysterious Thelonious, and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps in Vol. 3 No. 2 Southern Summer 2002/2003 edition of CREArTA.
  • I presented the same paper  about Chris Raschka’s jazz picture books at the June 2003 conference of the Children’s Literature Association in El Paso, Texas.
  • I also presented this paper at the fall meeting of the Pioneer Valley Reading Council on November 6, 2003.

Bookbird Magazine

• Demystification and Wonder: Women and Pregnancy in the Picture Book Illustrations of Julie Vivas Oct./Nov. 2001 edition of Bookbird