Blog Posts

News regarding This Is a Book of Shapes and peanut butter!

11/13/2020

Mother Mag's 50+ Gift Guide for Babies and Toddlers included a few book and Shapes was one of them. Looking at all the little toys and clothes reminded me how sweet those first few years are. Somehow, it is easy to forget the lack of sleep, etc!

Shapes was also on the Let's Talk Picture Books blog as one of their Crushes of the Week. It is nice to be crushed!

In the last post I mentioned my forthcoming chat with Nanny Miss Monique - it was a lot of fun! Check it out on Instagram @nannymissmonique.

In other good news, I have found a way to easily mix natural peanut butter. I really like the kind of peanut butter that is just ground peanuts and salt, but the one downside to this kind of peanut butter is that the oil rises to the top of the jar, so you have to mix it before you can use it and that is really messy. But if you turn the jar upside down on the shelf, gravity does the mixing for you, without the mess! Yes!

Event, List, Review

10/28/2020

As you can see from the poster, I'll be having a chat with Nanny Miss Monique on October 29th at 1PM CST on Instagram Live @nannymissmonique. Nanny Miss Monique is a great resource for inclusive picture books, plus she is a lot of fun. I look forward to our chat!

It was exciting to see This Is a Book of Shapes appear on the 2020 Holiday 20 recommended book list from Publishers Weekly's ShelfTalker blog. You can read the article here. It is a fun read!

It was also exciting to see a nice review of the book appear on the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (a children's book illustration blog). I have enjoyed and respected that blog for as long as I have been making picture books, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Shapes appear there. You can read the post here.

Upcoming Events and News for This Is a Book of Shapes

10/2/2020

On Saturday, 10 at 11AM, I'll be doing a Facebook Live event with good old Schuler Books. I'll read This Is a Book of Shapes and who knows what else! We'll have fun!

On Wednesday, October 21 at 11AM, I'll be doing a Facebook Live event with the fabulous Nicola's Books. Similar antics as above.

It was great to see This Is a Book of Shapes listed on ReadBrightly.com's Best Children's Books of September 2020!

The turtles on this post are courtesy of the coloring page I made for Shapes. You can download it from the coloring pages page or right here.

from the coloring page

here is how I colored it in

This Is a Book of Shapes is out today!

9/8/2020

This Is a Book of Shapes hits the shelves today! You can find it at your favorite independent bookstore or at an online retailer like Indiebound, Barnes and Noble, Target, or Amazon.

This Is a Book of Shapes is an Amazon Best Book of September

9/1/2020

emu from the This Is a Book of Shapes coloring page

my colored-in emu from the coloring page

It is really sweet to have a book in the Baby - Age 2 category. Those are the readers who don't just flip through a book, but really take their time with a book - they really chew on it! It is also really sweet to see This Is a Book of Shapes listed on Amazon as a Best Book of September in that category!

And here is what the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books said about This Is a Book of Shapes:
Concept books come with expectations, and everybody knows them. Mastering basic shapes is a key element for preschool readiness, and everybody knows that. Kraegel breaks, most delightfully, from the program, throwing his audience off balance with one change-up and then another, until this rudimentary lesson is so swamped with giggles that tykes might forget they’re learning.

The emus with the triangles is from the coloring page that you can download here.

The New England Book Show and a New Coloring Page

7/17/2020

This is the rhino from the coloring page

Wild Honey from the Moon received an Honorable Mention at the New England Book Show! At the NEBS, the Bookbuilders of Boston select titles for their design, quality of materials, and workmanship. Kudos to Pam Consolazio, the designer of Wild Honey from the Moon (and most other books of mine) and the rest of the production team at Candlewick for crafting such great books and being so great to work with!

I have just put up a new coloring page. The black and white rhino is how he appears on the coloring sheet and the colored-in rhino is how it appears in This is a Book of Shapes (coming September 8, 2020). Download it and many other coloring pages here.

and this is how I colored it in.

KidLit4BlackLivesRally and One More "Best of" List

6/25/2020

Below is the recording of the KidLit4BlackLivesRally that took place on June 4, hosted by the Brown Bookshelf. Lots of different children's book authors share their thoughts on where we are on race in the USA and how we can move forward. I found it very useful in guiding my own thinking. The rally starts at around 10 minutes into the video.

On a separate note, Wild Honey from the Moon was listed on the Bank Street Best Children's Books of 2020 and given an outstanding merit designation in the 5-8 year old category.

Wild Honey from the Moon Gets a Gold

6/11/2020

Wild Honey from the Moon received a gold award from the Parent's Choice Foundation!

Black Lives Matter, Black Kids Matter

6/8/2020

The AADL Short Story Award Ceremony (from home)

4/18/2020

Here is my talk for the Ann Arbor District Library's short story contest award ceremony. I was really looking forward to meeting all the young writers (3rd - 5th graders) but we were not able to all be together, of course. Instead the AADL recorded the ceremony remotely, including my talk about my creative process. I was able to sit in my studio and show every step, something I can't do as well in front of a group of people. Congratulations to all the participants and to the winners!

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