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

John Coy and Natalie Capannelli’s new picture book, If We Were Gone: Imagining the World without People, is not your average picture book. In a review, Publishers Weekly called it a “disturbingly beautiful dystopian meditation.” When John, Natalie, art director Danielle Carnito, and I were working on the book, we certainly didn’t imagine that it would be released just as a global pandemic was spreading. The book’s launch party, which was scheduled for this past Saturday, was canceled, and our foremost concern is that everyone do what they need to do to take care of themselves–and to help those who need it.

If you’re curious about how If We Were Gone came to be and what sort of reactions students have had at school visits, author John Coy shares the story here. Read More