From “The Simpsons” house genius John Swartzwelder, interviewed in The New Yorker by Mike Sacks

Travis Jonker has built The Ultimate Caldecott Database. Yes, it includes the Medal and Honor winners since 1938, but it’s also a searchable resource with: Illustrator demographics, Artistic mediums, Publisher information, Page/word counts, and more.
100scopenotes.com/2026/04/16/t...

We have now held our first two Hangouts, both of which were fun for us and informative for those attending, and there is still room to sign up for the third and beyond...

@eileenwrobinson.bsky.social @hunderdown.bsky.social and I are answering revision questions in our KBR+ FB Group. Take a look! #kidlit #YAlit

Over on our KBR+ FB group we're answering revision questions about speech tags, proofreading, and more! Take a look! #kidlit #YAlit www.facebook.com/groups/kidsb...

Revision taught me something drafting never could: I’m allowed to change my mind!

#writing #writingcommunity #amwriting #writerslife

I have long said that children’s books should be more friend than mentor. This essay is spot on.

“Adults are often looking for something worthy. Children are looking for something alive.”

“They want the thrilling little power of knowing what is about to happen and being right.”

Yes! ❤️ #kidlit

Canadian author-illustrator Jon Klassen has been named the laureate of the 2026 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world's largest prize for children's and young adult literature! #BCBF

Did you know that Kids Book Revisions Plus has a Facebook Group? We're currently discussing our first Hangout, and some questions that people asked about revision.

You can see (and join, if you want) the Group here:

www.facebook.com/groups/kidsb...

Post by @literaticat 💬 0  🔁 0  ❤️ 0 · Hi Jenn! I know you don’t rep adult, but can you share an agent perspective on the difference between regular romantasy vs cozy romantasy? Is there a “must have” difference” or any…

Ask the Agent Question of the Day:
What’s the difference between Romantasy and COZY Romantasy and YA Romantasy (etc etc)

My answer:

www.tumblr.com/literaticat/...

Scam attacks on Book Authors – now with AI Look what I've got in my inbox! A warning to fellow authors (with examples). Spoilers: I'm exactly the right person to write this.

This is a good, close look at the details of several very prevalent AI-driven writing scams (including contacts on Facebook, which is a major offender) and ways to unmask them feliciasalber.substack.com/p/scam-attac...

Character Names
Consider these points when choosing your character names.
#kidlitlinkoftheday #kidlit #writing #writingtips

www.writersdigest.com/write-better...

World-building will always be my First Love of Writing but Revision comes at a close second.

Drafting is a necessary seesaw between despair and delight

The Weekly 411 (4/10/26) A one-stop place for all your kid lit information needs.

Our weekly big list of kid lit links I up (April 10): kidlit411.com/2026/04/the-... Inside: How to Talk about Your Writing, What's Happening in Publishing, Key Publishing Paths, more. Thanks Julianna D'Angelo for the illustration, ABRAMS & @jlockettauthor1.bsky.social for the giveaways.

This will certainly be worthwhile.

This will certainly be worthwhile.

Those of you who may have joined us in our first @kbrplus.bsky.social hangout about revision, what did you think? @hunderdown.bsky.social @eileenwrobinson.bsky.social and @drydenbks.bsky.social had a great time; we hope you did too! #kidlit #YAlit

Not to worry, Sarah! Please feel free to register for the current Hangout series and join us for any or all of the next five Hangouts! Info here: kidsbookrevisions.com/workshops.htm

Those of you who may have joined us in our first @kbrplus.bsky.social hangout about revision, what did you think? @hunderdown.bsky.social @eileenwrobinson.bsky.social and @drydenbks.bsky.social had a great time; we hope you did too! #kidlit #YAlit

This concept of "backstitching" is fantastic!

This is a helpful resource for anyone revising their work!

Give yourself room to play and mull and discover. Get hyper-focused. Get bored. Get aggravated. Get curious. You only get better by digging in and doing. Creativity is messy, but in the mess, you find the best treasures of all.

This advice pairs nicely with "character interview" tools that reveal specifics about a character, moving away from a generic "anyone" to a specific "someone"

When you over-explain in your novel, you risk bogging down scenes, slowing the pacing of the whole story, and even losing readers altogether. But sometimes you need to explain things! Here's how to find a balance when you are writing your manuscript.

I have been on a "does it need to be a dialogue tag?" tear of late, so here's an incredible resource to think about the clauses that, if they're doing their job right, you don't really want to think about much at all.

This is often mind blowing to students when I am teaching & suggest "just backstitch it." This is part of the "Writing IS revision" concept. Backstitch. Layer that in. It might look like you had it in there all along, but that's just revision doing its thing.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 115:
People are all individuals, their personalities shaped by their culture, experience, parenting, education, gender, physiology and many other factors. The same goes for characters in books: they work best as people, not types.

This is exactly it--not only in journalism, but in #kidlit and #yalit writing, writing books for adults, all creative writing. And in illustration, design... all creative effort. You can't jump over the process to the result!

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 999:
Don't be in too much of a hurry to be published. Give yourself time to adjust and grow. In publishing, you have as long as you like to write your first book, but a year to write your second...

Obviously, we're a little biased, but we think diving even more deeply into books and reading, spending time off your screen, slowing down in general is a good response to how overwhelming every goddamn day seems to be. So here's another micro-course on close reading to help you do that...