What Would You Put in a Bowl Full of Peace?

By Carol Hinz, Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books

August 9, 2020, marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. It also marks the 75th anniversary of the extraordinary survival of Sachiko Yasui—a six-year-old girl who was nine hundred meters (about half a mile) from the hypocenter in Nagasaki when the bomb exploded. Sachiko experienced great hardship and loss, and she grew up to become a peace advocate. Caren Stelson has told Sachiko’s story for middle grade readers in the award-winning Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story. And today we’re releasing A Bowl Full of Peace: A True Story, in which Caren tells Sachiko’s story in picture book form. Illustrated by Japanese artist Akira Kusaka, the book has already received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and the Horn Book Magazine. Today, Caren shares her thoughts about how Sachiko’s story is relevant as students begin returning to school (in whatever form it may take) in the midst of a global pandemic. Read More

K-3 Book Design: Deceptively Easy?

by Danielle Carnito, Trade Art Director

In our Millbrook imprint, we recently started publishing highly visual expository nonfiction specifically geared toward young readers in grades K-3. Anytime we start a new type of book, working through the design aspects to figure out what we really need to communicate visually is always a fun exercise.

by Alison Lorenz, Assistant Product Planning Editor

The weather is getting warmer and everything is about to be green—or, in the case of our friends on Sesame Street, go green.

by Carol Hinz, Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books

In fall 2019, we released A Map into the World by Kao Kalia Yang. In this heartfelt picture book, Kalia and illustrator Seo Kim tell the story of a young Hmong girl who experiences the cycle of the seasons as well as the cycle of life, welcoming twin baby brothers along with watching her across-the-street neighbor Bob grieve the death of his wife, Ruth. The character of Bob was based on Kalia’s real-life neighbor Bob, an unassuming man in his early 90s who certainly never imagined he’d one day be in the pages of a children’s book.

It is with much sadness I share the following remembrance, in which Kao Kalia Yang says a final goodbye to Bob.

by Amy Fitzgerald, Editorial Director, Carolrhoda Books

I still see it all the time:

What an unlikeable protagonist.

The main character is so selfish.

This girl makes terrible decisions!

I’ve invented these particular statements, but they’re composites of opinions I frequently come across in discussions about books. I find them particularly amusing when they’re applied to middle-grade and YA novels.