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It all started with a doodle! By Merrill Rainey | Nerdy Book Club
Hello all you stingers and wingers out there! I’m Merrill Rainey, the co-creator and illustrator of ON THE AIR WITH DR. DOODLEBUG. Author Susan Goodman and I are so excited to finally be able to share the cover for this book that is set to release this coming October. As you can imagine, the art…
“Unboxing Our Identities” by Steph Cherrywell | Nerdy Book Club
I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of commerce and art, the vertex where so much that I love—pop culture, genre, and kitsch—makes its home. A prime example is the merchandising-driven show, designed mainly to pitch toys to the kids watching at home. When I was young, this was the domain of the Saturday morning…
The Kids Are Alright: Writing the tough stuff for readers by Bobbie Pyron | Nerdy Book Club
Last spring, I visited with schools in Charlotte, NC. My favorite part of any school visit, is the Q&A because the kids ask so many great questions! Invariably, someone will ask, “When’s your next book coming out and what’s it about?” I was eager to talk about my soon-to-be published book, Octopus Moon. Yet, I hesitated. Was its subject too tough?…
Plants Boring? No Way! Ten Tantalizing Books Promoting Plants by Ann McCallum Staats | Nerdy Book Club
My desk faces a window looking out at an undeveloped section of parkland. In the winter I can see through the motley browns and golds to a path that winds along an embankment. In the summer, greenery fills in the empty spaces obscuring my surveillance of the trail but providing a lush backdrop for my office. I’m grateful for the view, but it used…
Live, Laugh, Grieve: Kids Need Books That Do All Three by Aubrey Hartman | Nerdy Book Club
We were standing outside my house when the sky opened—a blessed relief at the tail end of the Los Angeles wildfires. We pulled up our hoods, letting the rain shimmer over us. “They’ll be okay,” I said to my friend. “Kids are resilient.” She looked unimpressed by my dazzling use of an empty platitude. “Are they, though?” Months later, I haven’t stopped thinking about this conversation. Are kids resilient? My instinct is to shake my fist at anyone who would dare say “no.” I…
Seeing Ourselves in Ecology by Roz MacLean | Nerdy Book Club
While it is a story that explores how children relate to and see themselves in the natural world – neurodiversity and disability included – my book, Together, a Forest: Drawing Connections Between Nature’s Diversity and Our Own, is also a culmination of some of my own big life changes and shifts in perception. Like…
14 Books About Muslim Women to Read for Women’s History Month, Ramadan, & International Women’s Day by M.O. Yuksel | Nerdy Book Club
As we observe the holy month of Ramadan and celebrate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, it’s the perfect time to highlight the incredible stories of Muslim women who have defied expectations, shattered barriers, and changed the world! These trailblazers have challenged stereotypes, redefined narratives, and paved the way for future generations, embodying the strength,…
COVER REVEAL: TRIAL AND ERROR by Robin Newman | Nerdy Book Club
Nerdy Book Club Readers, I bet you’re wondering how my latest book, TRIAL AND ERROR, came about. I’m so glad you asked. Nerdy Book Club Readers always ask the best questions. As a lawyer, albeit currently retired, I’ve always wanted to write a book that would introduce kids to the kind of work lawyers do.…
Fake News and the Loch Ness Monster by Rebecca Siegel | Nerdy Book Club
It was nearly midnight in the little village on the north shore of Loch Ness, but the sun still hung stubbornly in the sky. The loch’s placid surface was a blue-grey mirror. Seagulls cawed noisily overhead, interrupting the otherwise silent night. I checked into my tiny roadside cottage, decorated in kitschy Loch Ness Monster décor,…
On Being A Horse Girl by Kaitlyn Sage Patterson | Nerdy Book Club
In my informal, lifelong study of horse girls, which is widely accepted to be a gender neutral term within the community, I have found that we horse girls are usually born, not made. I wrote Presley and the Impossible Dream for all the horse girls who, like me, weren’t born into horsey families and had…
Boredom and Idleness: Essential Elements for Creativity by Marcelo Tolentino | Nerdy Book Club
“Some time or another, we all experience that feeling that every day is the same, the same people and places, the same conversation, the same food – and wonder about what if it wasn’t?” I’ve spent nearly half my 38 years living in the house where my picture book Sunday takes place, in a small townhouse in…
Creating a Safe Harbor For Books on Climate Change by | Nerdy Book Club
The seed for Safe Harbor was planted one cold, blustery winter day when I spotted a lone seal on a beach in Rhode Island. By the time “my” seal (which was quite well as it turned out) returned to the water, my sixth novel for young people was starting to take shape. I could see…
Honoring and Spotlighting Neurodivergence in Middle Grade Lit by Kami Garcia | Nerdy Book Club
I became a writer by accident, and I owe my writing career to my students. Before I fell into writing, I spent seventeen years as an elementary school teacher and reading specialist. When I wasn’t teaching in the classroom, I led book clubs for middle school and high school students. I cowrote my first novel…
Nominate Your 2024 Favorites for the 14th Annual Nerdies Awards by Donalyn Miller | Nerdy Book Club
Nerdy Monster Courtesy of Tom Angleberger This year has been a challenging one for readers of all ages. Increasingly, an onslaught of book bans, scripted reading programs, budget cuts, and other restrictions seem to limit young people's access to books and deny them opportunities to connect with reading. In many schools and libraries, educators and…
Books to Tickle Your Funny Bone by Glenda Funk | Nerdy Book Club
My two-year-old grandson Ezra loves to laugh. His irresistible giggling brings joy to my heart and a wide grin to my face. Together we read and laugh and share the joy books bring. Few things please me more than humor, whether through children’s books, via smart sitcoms and movies, or through laughter that brings catharsis…
A Journey Of Words: How Reading Made Me A Writer by Suma Subramaniam | Nerdy Book Club
When I was little, my family did not travel far and wide for vacations. But my parents made every extra coin count when it came to buying books and affording the library membership. The long established British and Rotary club libraries in Bengaluru—my hometown in India—were too expensive. So my dad took me on his bicycle…
Happy Birthday, From Everyone Who Loves You and Will Love You by Rainie Oet | Nerdy Book Club
Trans and queer and nonbinary kids, little or big: this book is for you. You are never alone. Every birthday can be a celebration. Because the world wants you. Because everyone who loves you and everyone who will love you wants you to be you, to grow,…
On doing whatever you want by Peter Cheong | Nerdy Book Club
It’s ironic that I pursued a career in children’s books to get away from essay writing and public speaking, as nowadays I’m getting asked to do more and more of both. And I never would have guessed that I’d actually enjoy doing both of them. Isn’t it funny how things work out? When I first…
Power to the Parasites! by Chelsea L. Wood | Nerdy Book Club
At first glance, I might look like a typical science professor, someone who teaches classes, runs a research lab, and trains graduate students. The reality is so much weirder than that. In Power to the Parasites!, readers get a glimpse of my day-to-day job duties. I am a tour guide, introducing newcomers to the netherworld.…
The Best True Stories by David Rickert | Nerdy Book Club
One of the great joys I get when writing non-fiction books is finding a story that is so compelling I want to share it with everyone I know. And in many cases, I know it will be a great story for kids, and then I’ve struck gold. Such was the case with Checkups, Shots, and…
BEWARE THE DRAGON AND THE NOZZLEWOCK: BREAKING THE RULES OF THE COMIC FORMAT BY VIKRAM MADAN | Nerdy Book Club
BEWARE THE DRAGON AND THE NOZZLEWOCK is an unconventional book by any sense. The tagline for the book says ‘A Graphic Novel Poetry Collection Full of Surprising Characters’. Mathematically speaking, (funny poems) x (comics) x (surprising characters) = (fun)CUBED My entire childhood was spent reading comics. Even my earliest introduction to classic literature (e.g. Count…
JOYFUL SONG: A NAMING STORY by Lesléa Newman and Susan Gal – Book Review and Poem by Aliza Werner | Nerdy Book Club
Your name is a joyful song. And a song is meant to be sung. It’s first note -- wailed or cooed or sputtered Announcing: I am here. I’ve never been here before. I have never been a child or grandchild or sibling or friend before, I am brand new The world is brand new An…
The Universe in a Glass of Water by Ruth Spiro | Nerdy Book Club
One of the most important choices I make as a writer is how to approach and develop a topic or story idea. Most often, I find there are many directions I could go and it may take multipledrafts to determine the best fit. Whether I’m writing fiction or nonfiction I’m always looking for the hook – that universal emotion or experience that connects with the reader. But before I can connect…
What Inspires a Writer? by Chaz Hayden | Nerdy Book Club
Growing up, my house was filled with books. They were everywhere and especially piled up next to my mom's favorite reading chair. My mom absorbed books like she needed them to survive, much like food. Watching her read was like witnessing someone in their element, completely at peace and yet utterly engaged. It was through…
Starry-Eyed Wonder by Lynn Brunelle | Nerdy Book Club
Want to experience some fun science with the kids? Go outside and look up into the night sky and be dazzled by the stars. We are such tiny beings in this universe amidst these billions and billions of stars. Whether you live in the city, the suburbs or the country, you can see the night…
Sixteen Books That Celebrate Palestinian Voices This Banned Books Week by M.O. Yuksel | Nerdy Book Club
Soft censorship—when books quietly disappear from shelves and reading lists without any official ban-- and shadow banning—where books and their creators are deliberately suppressed-- are just as harmful as outright book bans. Instead of sparking debate or activism, soft censorship and shadow banning works in silence, keeping important books out of readers' hands. This is especially harmful for books by marginalized voices, like those from Muslim and Palestinian authors, whose…
American Spirits – Daring to Write Scared by Barb Rosenstock | Nerdy Book Club
A Seance in 1887 I am a natural born skeptic. So, I wasn’t scared when I met my first psychic medium at a birthday party in 2005. I dismissed her insistence that an older man’s spirit wanted to talk with me. “His name began with ‘S’,” she said concentrating, “it sounds like ‘Sam’ but that’s…
Pathways Home by Naila Moreira | Nerdy Book Club
I'm an immigrant kid, more or less twice over. My parents emigrated from Brazil to England, bringing the culture of their country with them. There they birthed my older sister and me. We lived there until I was five, then off my family went to the United States, where we've lived ever since. By all…
The Howdunit by Loree Griffin Burns, Ph.D | Nerdy Book Club
The other night, out to dinner with a couple fiction-writer friends, I learned a new-to-me genre word: howdunit. The friend who shared the term said it describes a detective story in which the focus of the narrative is not the person who committed the crime (that would be a whodunit) but, rather, how the crime…
My Message to Students and Teachers by Rob Buyea | Nerdy Book Club
Students sometimes ask what the themes are in my book, to which I usually laugh and reply, “That sounds like a test question.” Then, turning serious, I go on to explain that I don’t think about themes when tackling a story. Rather, I find myself spending time with my characters, and wondering how they will…
On Being New Places and Trying New Things by Ruth Chan | Nerdy Book Club
If you had given 13-year-old me a choice whether to move to Hong Kong or stay in Toronto, chances are I would have said, “No way I’m going to Hong Kong! Why leave everything I know and love to start over somewhere so completely new and different?” Well, we moved anyway, and like any kind…
And the People Could Swim by Julian Randall | Nerdy Book Club
My first memory of learning about slavery is the imagined cries of a baby whipped across the face beneath a merciless sun. I am five years old, seated in my father’s lap, the pages of And The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton splayed before me. The illustrations are sepia tone, the brown hues of…
On Being a Writer by Katherine Arden | Nerdy Book Club
Ask ten writers how they pursue this ancient and often bewildering craft of ours, and you’ll get ten different answers. I recall, for example, reading an interview with Lee Child where he said that eating any bite of food during his workday entirely stops his flow of words, and so he fasts every day at…
How Picture Books Helped Me Embrace My Bilingual Identity by Hannah Chung | Nerdy Book Club
We loved covering the entire living room walls with our drawings. (left: my sister, right: me!) I spent my childhood in both the US and Korea and moved frequently. At one point, I attended three different middle schools in two countries. Adjusting to different cultures wasn’t easy. I felt happiest and safest at home, especially…
The Journey from Journalist to Children’s Author by Nathalie Alonso | Nerdy Book Club
As a journalist, I wrote many true stories long before the idea of writing nonfiction for children crossed my mind. I was a junior in college back in 2006 when I joined the editorial team at LasMayores.com, the Spanish-language website of Major League Baseball. Since then, I’ve been translating and producing articles and writing original…
The Magician Behind the Curtain by Stephanie Gibeault | Nerdy Book Club
As adult readers, we understand how books can transport us to different worlds, open our eyes to other points of view, shift our thoughts and opinions, soften our hearts, and expand our minds with new information. We can look back and reflect on how books have changed us. But as children, we don’t think about…
10 New Picture Books for the Vehicle-Obsessed Child by Carrie Finison | Nerdy Book Club
Richard Scarry’s much-beloved Cars and Trucks and Things that Go turns 50 this year. It’s been a staple of children’s bookshelves since it was published, and one thing hasn’t changed: Kids love vehicles! Beyond the classic, which was re-issued in a 50th anniversary edition in January, 2024, here’s a list of 10 great NEW vehicle…
Where My Love of Books Began by Jamel C. Campbell | Nerdy Book Club
As an author my journey started from my love of books which came from my mother reading stories to my siblings and I before bed. We had mostly Caribbean readers that my mother had from Trinidad and Tobago, church books or second-handbooks bought from library sales and gifts from church. We had toys as children but one thing my…
Kids Need Horror by Eden Royce | Nerdy Book Club
My new novel, The Creepening of Dogwood House, comes out today and I'm delighted to have been able to write a scary book for kids! Those unfamiliar with the horror genre may simply not realize how varied it is, or how nuanced it can be. I know people who claim to dislike and avoid horror, but those same…
Celebrating the Olympics with Middle Grade Sports Stories by Laura Shovan | Nerdy Book Club
The 2024 Summer Olympics kicked off on Friday. When I was growing up, my family would always gather to watch the opening ceremony together. My favorite moment was when Team USA paraded into the stadium. There was so much hope and excitement on the athletes’ faces. It was infectious, giving kid-me a boost of “work…