New Books in Children's Literature

In this, our second interview, I talk to Melissa Stoller about her new book Hazel and Mabel: Two Hearts Apart, Anita Bagdi (Illustrator), published by Gnome Road (2025). It's a story of two friends who were inseparable until one moved away. They keep their friendship alive through letters, but when they meet again, their interests have changed and they have trouble finding an eventual away to rekindle their friendship. Most of us adults (me included) have experienced this occurrence, but picture books about the topic are rare. After all, how do you explain it to a five year old? Melissa does a terrific job. We talk about the ups and downs of her career, and where ideas for stories seem to come out of nowhere, or everywhere.
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In this, our second interview with children's author Cindy Williams Schrauben, we celebrate her new book, Hank's Change of Heart (The Little Press, 2025) Hardcover, illustrations by Sasha Richards, published by The Little Press just last month (Nov. 2025). We talk about the difficulties in traditional publishing, both for those aspiring to be published, and those already published. We discuss the role of the message in the story, the joy of writing, and the pain of rejection, and the importance of obsessive perseverence in getting traditionally published.
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A wonderful interview with children's author, poet and teacher of everything lyrical and rhyming, Renée LaTulippe, to celebrate her brand new book, Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics!, illustrated by Chuck Gonzales, just published (Charlesbridge Moves, 2025). In this, our second interview, we discuss the theatrical aspects of children's books and the role of lyrical and rhyming words in creating moving read-aloud stories.
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I have never spoken to anyone like Jennifer Conrad who teaches literature to her senior high school students through picture book appreciation. In our interview, we discuss how her unique program evolved, and how her students develop and deepen their love for this genre through interaction with young children.
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Ziggy Hanaor is the director of Cicada Books, a boutique children’s publishing company. She has also written nine books including Fly Flies, Alex and Alex and The Pocket Chaotic, which have won awards and have been translated into over 20 languages. In our conversation we celebrate her new book about the history of the universe and us, entitled, Life (As We Know It) (Cicada, 2025, Cristóbal Schmal (Illustrator), and talk about her careers in publishing and writing.
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