You May Contribute A Verse

It's not every day we get to hear fresh thoughts from a literary agent/manager in her first four months of agenting. Lindsey Aduskevich joins us today for some insights on her journey to becoming a Junior Literary Manager at Martin Literary!

 

What's more important is that we have known Lindsey for six years, since one fateful Twitter (RIP) thread led to the creation of our first critique group. And look at us now!

 

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This episode’s book reviews (all author-illustrators this week!): 

 

DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE by John Hare

THE SEARCH FOR OUR COSMIC NEIGHBORS by Chloe Savage

NO MORE GNOMES by Beth Mills

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The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 

 

Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  

 

Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 

 

Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Winsome writes. Winsome reads. Winsome cares. And Winsome Bingham speaks. About her editorial voice, her lyricism, her Reycraft family, her views on humor, joy, trauma, craft, and the perfect mix of art and words.

Winsome Bingham is the author of several very acclaimed books, including Soul Food Sunday, Fish Fry Friday, The Walk, Missing Momma, The Table, Life is Beautiful, and, coming September 1, 2026, On Fridays, her latest collaboration with Jason Griffin (go listen to our conversation with him if you haven't yet!).

Today our reviews are for On Fridays, because you should go and preorder it or request it from your library immediately!

You are going to love Winsome's verse!

 

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The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 

Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  

Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 

Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

The Michaelangelo to Bob Ross to Akira Kurosawa to Jason Griffin pipeline is strong.

Master Collaborator and accomplished visual artist Jason Griffin is a Caldecott Honoree for his work with Jason Reynolds on their 2022 collaboration Ain't Burned All the Bright, their third book together (we'll talk about the others in this episode).

But his work with our friend and future guest Winsome Bingham is what brings us here today. The 2024 multicultural, multi-generational picture book collab The Table will be followed in September by the amazing, poignant, gorgeous On Fridays.

Check out our Instagram later this week (on Friday, actually) for some very cover-y things to be revealed!

Resources to consume that were discussed in this episode:

Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk featuring THE Tom Waits anecdote

Akira Kurosawa's iconic blood spray oopsie

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This episode’s book reviews: 

RAINBOW PANDA, words by Lisa Muchnik, pictures by Emilie Timmermans

ALBERTO SALAS PLAYS PAKA PAKA CON LA PAPA, words by Sara Andrea Fajardo, pictures by Juana Martinez-Neal

THE BLACK MAMBAS THE WORLD’S FIRST ALL-WOMAN ANTI-POACHING UNIT by Kelly Crull

 

The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 

 

Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  

 

Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 

 

Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Jess Yoon stands on business. And she's doing way more than sitting in her little room, typing away. She's tapping into her inner child to great effect!

She manifested a Little Golden Book into being and now her Blackpink biography is out in the world! Her picture book Jeong Is Jeong JUST released this month (February 2026), AND her junior novelization of K-Pop Demon Hunters comes out next month! 

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This episode’s book reviews: 

 

SLEEP TIGHT, DISGUSTING BLOB by Huw Aaron

SEALS ARE JERKS by Jared Chapman

 

The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 

Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  

Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 

Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Now with 100% more consternation! Or less. Not sure where we landed on consternation.

Steph Lau has gotten some good experiences over the years. Some published, some TBD. But at least we have thus far been graced with ABOMINABLE SNOW DANCER, and will be graced with MEDUSA'S PET ROCK later this year! And more to come!

Steph, you'll have to come back on so we can talk more about pancakes and pastries. 

 

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This episode’s book reviews: 

THE CAVE DOWNWIND OF THE CAFE by Mikey Please

DESERT QUEEN by Jyoti Rajan Gopal, illustrated by Svabhu Kohli

 

The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 

 

Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  

 

Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 

 

Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!