A Gastronomy of the Eye

Lucy Knisley’s Relish: My Life in the Kitchen is a graphic memoir brimming with what she calls “taste memories,” conjured up through an inseparable blend of food and the recollections of the stories its flavors and textures bring to life. Her ode to food, family and the connections intertwining the two is told with an infectious enthusiasm. Autobiographical and loosely chronological, Relish traces her culinary roots growing up with a chef mother and a gourmet father.

As a writer, illustrator and comic artist, Knisley was quite aware while working on Relish that her book was “different from what was ...

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Awaiting the Longed-For Word of Freedom

“This book is my sort of making amends…for the flippancy of my youth,” says author Tonya Bolden. Bolden, who has written numerous award-winning books for young readers, came of age after the 60s, when Lincoln “was being dethroned as the great emancipator.” In her work over the years, though, the author kept encountering the fact that “people like Frederick Douglass greatly respected the Emancipation Proclamation….And it started to dawn on me that if people like Douglass respected this document, who am I to dismiss it?

Her new book, Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty, makes it ...

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Traveling to the Inventive Land of 'Hokey Pokey'

“In a sense, Hokey Pokey began with my longtime desire to write a science fiction book,” says Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli. The author, who has an abiding interest in astronomy and nuclear physics, says he’d been making notes on an idea for weeks, trying to “scratch this science fiction itch,” but kept getting bogged down. Then one day, he says, “I found myself just veering to the left and writing pretty much the words that you see now on the first page.”

Though this “practically unconscious muse-donated first page” surprised him, looking back, Spinelli suspects he was already at ...

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“Do You Remember?”: A Victim Confronts His Bullies

For years, Eric Kahn Gale wanted to write about his own painful experience of being bullied as a child, but he could never envision a way to make the material engaging. One day, walking around Los Angeles listening to This American Life, he heard a two-minute episode on the cruelty of children. “This little kid was telling the interviewer about how his bully had a book that taught him how to be mean to people. It blew my mind!” It was clear to Gale that the adults on the show assumed the book was all in the child’s imagination ...

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Rebecca Rule: 'There's No Messing Around'

Rebecca Rule comes from “a long line of New Hampshire Yankees” and has spent much of her life collecting and telling stories from her home state and the wider New England region. Best known for her live humorous presentations, she’s recently realized a longtime ambition to write for children with her book The Iciest, Diciest, Scariest Sled Ride Ever! illustrated by Jennifer Thermes. Here, Rule discusses their collaboration and the pleasure of writing her first children’s book.

As a storyteller, can you talk about the relationship between telling and writing your tales?

I'm very interested in Yankee ...

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A Step-by-Step Guide Out of the Forest

Prize winning mystery author and tough-love expert and motivational speaker Paula Renaye launched her own publishing company (DIOMO for Did It On My Own publishing) back when self-publishing was still relatively unknown. Kirkus recently gave her newest book Living the Life You Love a starred review, calling it a “hard-hitting yet realistic program for self-improvement.” Paula talks with us here about her various journeys, from self publishing to self-discovery.

Can you tell me about your path to self-publishing?

In 1999, after spending a couple of years querying agents and publishers, I was finally just waiting for my contract to come ...

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Science + Poetry = Stardust

Elin Kelsey is an award-winning author and an international leader in the field of environmental science and education. Her new book, You Are Stardust, offers readers engaging scientific insights that Kirkus said will spark “adult and child conversations about our place in the universe.”

We recently had a chance to catch up with Kelsey, and she shared her thoughts on the pleasures and inspiration of writing for children.

See all the picture books that made our list of the  Best Children's Books of 2012.

I confess that I never saw my sneezing, breathing family as pollinators before! How did ...

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Mother-Daughter Duo Explores Life Among Today's 20-Somethings

When journalist Robin Marantz Henig wrote a piece “What Is It About 20-Somethings?” for the New York Times Magazine in 2010, she hit a cultural nerve: The article went viral, ultimately becoming the most-emailed story of the year. Her sense that there was more to this story led her to collaborate with her own journalist daughter Samantha Henig (web editor for the New York Times Magazine) on  Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?  which Kirkus named one of Fall's 30 most anticipated non-fiction books. 

Check out our recent interview with Aman Sethi on life and death in Dehli ...

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Writing Pirates with Cassandra Rose Clarke

Kirkus called Cassandra Rose Clarke’s debut fantasy novel The Assassin’s Curse a “ripsnorting series opener,” with a sequel, The Pirate’s Wish, already in the works. The story features the likable and colorful Ananna, a “kick-ass pirate heroine” who’s fleeing an arranged marriage, with the help of some beginner’s magic.

Here, Clarke discusses the pleasures of pirates, her writing process and inventing believable-sounding curses.

Find more science fiction and fantasy with tough teen heroines.

Why pirates? Did you have sailing or treasure-hunting fantasies as a child?

I’ve always been interested in piracy and the history ...

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Bigfoot Boy: The Origin Story

Canadian comic-book writer and graphic novelist J. Torres won the Shuster Award for Outstanding Writer for his work on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Love as a Foreign Language and Teen Titans Go. Here, he discusses his new graphic novel series, Bigfoot Boy, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks. The first book, Into the Woods, introduces Rufus, a boy who discovers a totem that can transform him into a Sasquatch, and earned a starred review in Kirkus.

Find more graphic novels for middle-graders.

A graphic novel—to my mind—seems like it would be a very picture-first process. How do ...

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The Happiness Project, Take Two

In her No. 1 New York Times bestseller, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin offered readers provocative insights into happiness gathered from her own yearlong “test drives” of research on the subject. The author even maintained a blog that chronicled her journey and gave tips on living a more blissful life.

For her follow-up, Happier at Home, we talked to Rubin about her “narrower and deeper” exploration into making her pad more a place of Zen. Here, she tells us about making the most of the foundation for all happiness—the home.

You say that this book isn’t a self-help ...

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Karina Wolf: Embracing Insomnia

Karina Wolf is a writer interested in a variety of media. She’s written about food, fashion, film and art; scouted and developed scripts for feature films; and worked as a writer-producer of documentaries for several national museums. 

Here, Wolf discusses her first children’s book, The Insomniacs, which arose from her own struggles with sleeplessness. She also describes her happy collaboration with the book’s illustrators, the Brothers Hilt.

Find more picture books about children and families at night.

You work in TV and film production. Yet here you are, with your first children’s book. Can you tell ...

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‘It's Raining, It's Pouring’ with Christine Davenier

Paris-born artist Christine Davenier has illustrated many well-loved children’s books, including the bestselling Very Fairy Princess books, written by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2001, The First Thing My Mama Told Me, written by Susan Marie Swanson.

Here, Davenier discusses how her illustrations for It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, based on the beloved Peter, Paul and Mary song, invited her to recall rainy days from her own cozy past with family.

Find more nursery-rhyme collections to share.

Tell me the story behind the pictures you’ve ...

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Dinotrux Return!

Award-winning children's author and illustrator Chris Gall says he’s been drawing pictures and writing stories for as long as he can remember. In addition to his widely published commercial illustrations, he authored and illustrated the enthusiastically received Dinotrux, which introduced the prehistoric metal monsters that now return in Revenge of the Dinotrux.

Here Gall talks about the latest antics of his cranky creations.

Find more muscular picture books for boys.

Tell me about the inspiration for Revenge of the Dinotrux? Had you planned to do a sequel, or was it a “back by popular demand” thing?

I had ...

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Making 'Pancakes' with Tyler Florence

Celebrity chef and Food Network star Tyler Florence had already written a number of books for adults before he decided to create what we called “a children’s ode to the know-where-your-food-comes-from movement.” Tyler Makes Pancakes! features young chef Tyler and his dog Tofu, who invite youngsters to learn more about the ingredients of a tasty homemade breakfast.

Find more picture books about food and cooking.

What prompted you to write a children’s book? 

We are huge readers in our house. There are shelves of children's books in every room, so I feel like I did a lot ...

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The Honest Truth About Motherhood in ‘Making Babies’

Admirers of Anne Enright, who earned international attention when she won the Man Booker Prize in 2007 for The Gathering, will enjoy her nonfiction insights on parenting in Making Babies. Here, the author offers her thoughts on her sometimes rueful and raw report on everything, including pregnancy, childbirth and breast milk.

Read more new and notable nonfiction this April.

Your first chapter begins with this: “Speech is a selfish act, and mothers should probably remain silent,” recounting how one of these essays appeared in the Guardian, provoking a “ferocious” response.  Did knowing you might hit nerves affect your writing project ...

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Daydreaming Skies with Audrey Wood

Prize-winning author and illustrator Audrey Wood has created many children’s books, including beloved favorites such as The Napping House (illustrated by her husband Don Wood) and Silly Sally (self-illustrated).

Here she talks about how observing the skies above her Hawaiian home inspired her new picture book Blue Sky, which we said captures the “stratosphere in its ever-shifting splendor.”

Find more picture books that celebrate the sky.

Tell me about this book’s shape—it’s taller and thinner than most picture books. It makes me think of a window.

Yes, I wanted it to be long and tall—to ...

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Captivating Children with Science

Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld was a children’s book editor for over 10 years before deciding to write her own books presenting “science for kids in creative ways that captivate and challenge them.” Her latest, Secrets of the Garden, features an inquisitive young character, Alice, who invites young children to look closely along with her at the complex web of nature.

Find more books that will get children out and about in nature.

Did anything in particular inspire you to write this book?

Oh gosh, yes, I grew up on a farm in upstate New York, and some of my best ...

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From Home-Schooled to High School

Canadian comics artist and writer Faith Erin Hicks’ graphic novel, Friends With Boys, features a young heroine who, like Hicks, has three brothers and must negotiate the tricky transition from being a home schooler to a high schooler. Here, Hicks explains a little about her longstanding interest in cartooning, her drafting process and why there’s a ghost in her story.

Find more books about home-schooled kids.

How and when did you start cartooning?

I’ve always liked drawing, though I did not show promise at an early age. I started making comics in 1999 when I was in college ...

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‘Top Chef’s’ Gail Simmons on Life as a Professional Eater

Culinary expert, food critic, Top Chef judge and special projects director at Food & Wine magazine, Gail Simmons describes how her life is connected by a deep appreciation for food in her new memoir, Talking with My Mouth Full: My Life As a Professional Eater.

Check out more recently published books on food and cooking.

Why this book now?

When I first started thinking about a book, I didn’t know…maybe I’d write a cookbook? But then I asked myself, do I really have 100 recipes in me that have never been done before, that the world really needs ...

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