Maribel's Year Cover Reveal

I’m so, SO excited to share the cover of my next picture book, MARIBEL’S YEAR, out on May 9, 2023, from HarperCollins. 🥳 I can’t wait for you to meet Maribel and her beautiful world so extraordinarily illustrated by Filipina Canadian illustrator Sarah Gonzales.  Her art is brilliant and poetic and incomprehensibly beautiful.  Her color work is sublime and is like nothing I’ve ever seen before (and I’ve read thousands of picture books in my lifetime).  Be prepared to be blown away (in the best way possible)! 😳😄

📮Preorders really do matter and make a huge difference!  Thank you so much to everyone for your support of my books and other diverse books.  Stay tuned in the coming months for sneak peeks of the interior art here! 👀 Also, please feel free to share this post far and wide. ❤️📚

MARIBEL’S YEAR is a celebration of the special connection between father and daughter that knows no bounds.  This evocative, lyrical picture book from author Michelle Sterling and artist Sarah Gonzales recounts the year a little girl and her mother spend in America while waiting for her father to join them from the Philippines. ❄️🌱☀️🍂

New country, new school, new friends.

A lot can happen in a single year. But one thing’s for certain: Maribel won’t forget her papa, even when he’s eight-thousand miles away in the Philippines.

After all, Papa is all around. He is the memory of feeding koi fish in their pond every morning. He is the constellation map as Maribel dreams of showing him her new world. He is the packages and letters sent back and forth.

He is everywhere except the place he’s wanted the most. But the bond between Maribel and Papa transcends oceans. So as the snow melts and turns to rain, as flowers blossom and welcome sun-kissed days, and as the leaves start to change and snow begins to fall once more, can Maribel wait just a little bit longer?

MARIBEL’S YEAR publishes on May 9, 2023, and is available for preorder now!

Pumpkin Island

We’re sharing Pumpkin Island again because it’s one of our absolute favorites to read during the month of October. 🎃

A perfect storm brings a proliferation of pumpkins to the small, unassuming town of Elkader, Iowa.  Pumpkins work their way into daily life and the people do fun (and sometimes dangerous) things with them.  But how will things return to normal with pumpkins continuing to pop up everywhere and make inroads into every aspect of life in Elkader?  After all, one can only have so much pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice in one’s coffee.  Thank goodness Halloween is coming up.  But what is to be done after that?  Is there life after pumpkins?  A fantastically amusing tale for this season and beyond from the incomparable Arthur Geisert.

Pumpkin Island was written and illustrated by Arthur Geisert and published by Enchanted Lion Books.

KidLit in a Nutshell

🎉 Special announcement!

I’m starting an email newsletter called Kidlit in a Nutshell. ✉️ And it’ll be free!  In it, I’ll be cutting a long story short and bringing you a curated list of what’s new and extraordinary in children’s picture books each month.  I decided to start a newsletter since life is so busy and we all miss out on seeing posts regularly.  Basically, the books I share on Instagram and on this blog (plus a few select others) will be wrapped up in a nice, shiny email and sent to your inbox once a month so you can take it to the library, bookstore or online ordering session. 📚

I’ll also include a couple of surprises and tidbits here and there, like my current favorite cookbooks that I’m devouring cover to cover, favorite book lists covering different topics, and a handful of exceptional children’s books publishing next season that I can’t wait to read.  Plus occasional news about my forthcoming books, and maybe even a sneak peek or two of the art.  In a nutshell, a little (but a lot!).  If you’re interested, look for the gray box on the right side of this page and enter your email there. 📬

Ghost Pies Inspired by How to Make Friends with a Ghost

We’re resharing these ghost pies we made a few years ago inspired by Rebecca Green’s How to Make Friends with a Ghost.  They were very easy to make.  All you need is:

🌷 A tulip-shaped cookie cutter

🥧 Frozen pie crust

🍎 Apple cider jam (or another fall flavor)

🧁 Glaze (1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tbsp milk + 1 tbsp maple syrup whisked together)

🖌 Wilton’s Foodwriter Edible Color Markers

If you haven’t made hand pies before, check out Hello Wonderful’s recipe for Easy Mini Jam Heart Hand Pies.

Happy baking! 👻🥧🍁

A Story Is to Share: How Ruth Krauss Found Another Way to Tell a Tale

Carter Higgins’ newest book is a thoughtful tribute to beloved children’s author Ruth Krauss.  Ruth’s listening ear, observant eye and boundless sense of wonder and playfulness made her a remarkable storyteller.  Isabelle Arsenault’s art charmingly captures Ruth’s energy and circuitous creative journey.  Thank you, Carter, for sharing the beauty of Ruth’s life with us, and the magic and light that sprung forth from her perseverance.  You three are an inspiration to writers everywhere!

A Story Is to Share: How Ruth Krauss Found Another Way to Tell a Tale was written by Carter Higgins, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers.  One of our favorite books this year!  It’ll be out on October 11.