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!

This is the podcast You May Contribute a Verse, where we talk to kidlit creators, share their stories, and learn from their journey.

Our guest this week is picture book storyteller Maddie Frost, who is the new illustrator emeritus of this very podcast! To get a sample of her work and sensibilities, simply look at your phone or computer screen. It’s Versey the Quokka!

Do the work, put yourself out there, and good things will happen. That’s Brenna’s and my mindset and the mindset of our guest Maddie Frost, who has a bunch of work out in the world, namely for my household Wakey Birds, which is in regular bedtime rotation at the moment.

Combining Maddie’s openness to new opportunity with her hunger for the next big fun thing has led to a very productive career so far. Including a number of illustrator and author-illustrator credits to her name, she’s got four books coming out this year alone, including Capybara is Friends with Everyone, Not Yet, Yeti, Iguana Be A Dragon, and Let’s Draw Fun Animals, a how-to book that, we’ve been promised, also contains funtivities. As of episode publication, Maddie’s just done a cover reveal for this one on her Twitter, @_maddiefrost.

If you couldn’t already surmise, fun’s the name of the game today. Hope you enjoy!

Find Maddie Frost on Twitter!

Find Josh and Brenna on Twitter!