Dear friends:

OMG did you hear about Kamala Harris making the government buy copies of her children’s book Superheroes Are Everywhere to put into the hands of every young terrorist at the border? April fool! We didn’t review the book, but SLJ gave it a so-so review if you’re thinking about getting a copy for the little terrorists in your own life. The last picture book by a political figure I remember kinda liking was Sandra Day O’Connor’s account of growing up on a ranch, but in general I’m not a fan of children’s books by amateurs. As Marjorie Ingall taught me to say, fight me.

Happy Día! El día de los niños is a holiday celebrated in Mexico, and it sounds like my mother was right when she said (as I’m sure yours did too) “Children’s Day? Every day is Children’s Day!” because there does not seem to be any U.S. national recognition of such a holiday. God bless Pat Mora, then, for seizing on April 30th as a children’s book day for everybody by founding El día de los niños / El día de los libros. Check out my creative neighborhood librarians’ (and Friends of the Horn Book) plans. And next week is Children’s Book Week, so keep the reading going.

I have a short essay about Richard Peck in the new (and gorgeous) A de Grummond Primer: Highlights of the Children’s Literature Collection; edited by Carolyn J. Brown, Ellen Hunter Ruffin, and Eric L. Tribunella; published by the University Press of Mississippi. I’ve twice had the pleasure of delivering the Ezra Jack Keats Lecture at the University of Southern Mississippi’s annual Fay. B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival and do those people know how to put on a party. I still remember my first taste of king cake (and bourbon), courtesy of legendary storyteller Coleen Salley. USM’s de Grummond collection is an embarrassment of children’s-book riches, and this book lets everybody visit. BYOKC + B.

Love,

Roger

P.S. Just because I’m still loving the Aeneid and I like to leave you with a song.