Today on The Lerner Podcast, we talk with Nina Crews, illustrator of A Girl Like Me. Nina is a critically acclaimed children's book author and illustrator. She uses photographs and photocollages to create energetic stories about young children. In this book, she uses her signature style to illustrate Angela Brown's empowering poem, "A Girl Like Me". “Once I dreamed I swam / the ocean / and saw everything deep, cool / and was part of the waves. / I swam on by the people / onshore / hollering, / ‘A girl like you needs to / stay out of the water / and be dry / like everyone else.’”Empower young readers to embrace their individuality, reject societal limitations, and follow their dreams. This inspiring picture book celebrates girls of color.Nina discusses how the book came to be, her hopes for young readers to continue making the world a better place, and artists whose children's books she loves. Show notesNina's Recommended ArtistsCharles R. Smith Jr.’s My People: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/My-People/Langston-Hughes/9781416935407April Pulley Sayre: http://www.aprilsayre.com/Walter Wick: http://www.walterwick.com/Outtakes and an in-progress sketch can be viewed on the Lerner Blog. Read a transcript of the interview here. Visit Nina Crews' website. Music credits:"Farm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
In The Mistakes That Made Us, twenty brave poets share share real-life blunders they made as young people . . . and what happened next. This episode highlights a poem from Margarita Engle. Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, memoirs, and picture books, including The Surrender Tree, Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, and Dancing Hands. She served as the national Young People’s Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019. www.margaritaengle.comThe Mistakes That Made U...
In The Mistakes That Made Us, twenty brave poets share share real-life blunders they made as young people . . . and what happened next. This episode highlights a poem from Allan Wolf. Allan Wolf is the author of many picture books, poetry collections, and novels for young people. His written work combines his love of research, history, science, and poetry. Also a dynamic performance poet with nearly a thousand poems committed to memory, Allan believes in the power of poetry to educ...
In The Mistakes That Made Us, twenty brave poets share share real-life blunders they made as young people . . . and what happened next. This episode highlights a poem from Charles Waters. Charles Waters is a children's poet, actor, and co-author of Charlotte Huck Honor Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. His novel in verse, Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) was recognized as a Charlotte Huck Honor Book and a 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Awar...
In The Mistakes That Made Us, twenty brave poets share share real-life blunders they made as young people . . . and what happened next. This episode highlights a poem from Irene Latham. Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming works of poetry, fiction, and picture books. Her work includes Charlotte Huck Honor Book and ALA Notable Children's Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (co-written with Charles Waters) and the Caldecot...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming middle grade and YA fiction from Lerner Publishing Group! Make a Little Wave When shy Savannah discovers her friend's family is involved in inhumanely killing endangered sharks for profit, she forces herself out of her comfort zone to stand up for the sharks. The Rule of Three As a biracial kid in a mostly white town, Wyatt feels like an outsider everywhere except the baseball field. But when travel team tryouts get tense, mysterious wisps of smoke...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming educational books from Lerner Publishing Group! Visit lernerbooks.com to learn more. Music credits: "Farm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Join us to learn about our forthcoming children's books from Kar-Ben!Happy Purim, Grover!It's Purim! Join Grover as he bakes hamantaschen, dresses up in his Purim costumes, listens to the story of Queen Esther and makes noise with his grogger when Haman's name is said.https://lernerbooks.com/shop/isbn/9781728492841&utm_source=yt&utm_medium=linkAfikotectiveDuring the bear family's Passover seder, Grandma breaks the middle matzah and hides the afikomen. It's a good thing one little bear...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming educational books from Lerner Publishing Group! Math All Around Math is everywhere in this paired fiction/nonfiction set designed to support young readers as they learn beginning math concepts.Read for a Better World™Read about Citizenship This series combines engaging examples and SEL connections to help students understand what citizenship means and how it fits into the world around them.Read about Weather Let beginning readers lear...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming middle grade and YA fiction from Lerner Publishing Group!The Color of SoundMusical prodigy Rosie stops playing the violin, upsetting her ambitious mother but making room in her life for new experiences, including a glitch in space-time that lets her meet her mom as a twelve-year-old.https://lernerbooks.com/shop/isbn/9781728487779&utm_source=yt&utm_medium=linkCruzita and the MariacherosCruzita wants to be a pop star. She doesn't want to take maria...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming picture books from Lerner Publishing Group!Best Believe Rhythmic verse presents three sisters who moved from Puerto Rico to New York City as children and grew up to be pioneering activists in their Bronx community, focusing on schools, libraries, and the arts. https://lernerbooks.com/shop/isbn/9781728460444&utm_source=yt&utm_medium=linkThe Rock in My Throat In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a Hmong...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming graphic novels from Lerner Publishing Group!Super Potato and the Return of ZortZort is back! When the Slug King escapes his outer-space prison, he heads to Earth with revenge in mind. Meanwhile, our hero has his hands full with Big Jaw, a metal-mouthed robber . . .https://lernerbooks.com/shop/isbn/9781728487052&utm_source=yt&utm_medium=linkThe Climate CrisisThe impacts of climate change are becoming more and more visible, transforming people's li...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming young adult nonfiction titles from Lerner Publishing Group!Technology through the AgesAncient societies developed incredible inventions and complex techniques that continue to surprise scientists and historians today. Discover how ancient innovations laid the groundwork for modern technology in this fascinating and thoroughly researched series.https://lernerbooks.com/series/pid/6800&utm_source=yt&utm_medium=linkPigeons at War Pigeons were cr...
Meet Caitlin Donohue, author of Weed: Cannabis Culture in the Americas! This inclusive and comprehensive overview of cannabis in the Western Hemisphere uses interviews with medical researchers, educators, activists, artists, business leaders, and other experts to share the history and future of cannabis with young adults. In this video, Caitlin answers her most frequently asked questions and addresses what she thinks young adults should know about this book. Weed is available now! Visit...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming young adult nonfiction titles from Lerner Publishing Group!Beyond Sex Ed: Understanding Sexually Transmitted Infections Young people account for almost half of the 26 million new sexually transmitted infections reported in the US each year. This timely and informative book outlines symptoms, treatment, and risk reduction practices for common STIs. https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/22953Reimagining Police: The Future of Public Safety Reader...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming picture books from Lerner Publishing Group!Small Shoes, Great Strides: How Three Brave Girls Opened Doors to School Equality A powerful true story about three Black girls—Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost—who courageously integrated a New Orleans school on November 14, 1960. Award-winning author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson brings this little-known event in the Civil Rights Movement to light. https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/22795Sensitiv...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming photographic nonfiction from Lerner Publishing Group!Nature's Rule Breakers: Creatures That Don't Fit In Scientists often organize animals into categories based on similar traits and behaviors. But what if an animal doesn't fit in? Author Jessica Fries-Gaither introduces eight common categories and the animals that break those rules. https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/23017Nature Is a Sculptor: Weathering and Erosion With wind and water, na...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming middle grade and YA fiction from Lerner Publishing Group!Forsooth Thirteen-year-old Calvin knows he’s destined to be a star. . . if he can just stop making embarrassing mistakes onstage, like getting stuck on a single line—‘Forsooth!’—during the school play. https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/22979A Pocketful of Stars When Safiya's mother falls into a coma, Safiya comes to terms with their complicated relationship and discovers more about h...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming children's books from Kar-Ben!Zhen Yu and the Snake A fortune teller warns a man that his daughter will be bitten by a snake on her wedding day. But fate intervenes when a stranger appears at the young bride’s door, and she performs a mitzvah. Based on the Talmudic tale of Rabbi Akiva’s daughter and a snake. https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/23094The Mexican Dreidel Danielito loves Janucá, especially playing dreidel. When his dreidel leads...
Join us to learn about our forthcoming educational books from Lerner Publishing Group! Learn about these and all new releases at lernerbooks.com. Pull Ahead Readers - Let's Look at Fall Learn all about fall in this paired fiction/nonfiction series about our most colorful season. Early Bird Stories™Early Bird Readers — YellowDiscover silly, fun, and simple stories perfect for building reading skills for guided reading levels C-F. Early Bird Readers — GreenEmergent readers a...