I’m Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster, joined by Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, avid climber and outdoorsperson, and podcaster!

Brenna and I have embarked on this kidlit journey together this year, having become critique partners early in the year, only to find that our powers combined could make captain planet. Maybe not, but at least our powers combined can make a pretty good podcast.

OUR guest for this conversation is author-illustrator Fred Koehler, responsible for a whole bunch of books you can find on his Goodreads page, among them Super Jumbo, How to Cheer Up Dad, and Garbage Island – which is getting a sequel in short order! Fred is also the mastermind behind Ready Chapter 1, a resource hub to help creators next-level their work on the path to being professional storytellers. The thing that drew Brenna and I to Fred, however, is an initiative he’s managing through the end of this month called Quinn’s Monsters, in partnership with the Make A Wish Foundation and a slew of super talented kidlit authors and illustrators.

Quinn is a four-year-old in Florida whose wish is to have spooky stories feature her. And monsters! And so Fred’s put out a call to authors, illustrators, and author-illustrator combos to submit 50-100 word stories – with accompanying illustrations – about monsters that interact and go on adventures with Quinn.

Quinn's Monsters, and by proxy Fred Koehler, is excepting submissions for her picture book project through October 25th, 2021 - find all guidelines (and the other amazing contributors to the project) at ilikefred.com/quinn.

Find us on Twitter and the whole episode archive at verse.show, and as always, let us know what you think via a rate, review, or comment!