Picture Book Summit Podcast

One of the big advantages of attending a conference—online or in-person—is the opportunity to submit to Featured Agents and Editors. Many agents and editors are open to submissions from conference attendees, even when they aren't open to general submissions. Simply by making the effort to attend a conference, you demonstrate to agents and editors that you are committed to refining your craft.

This episode also includes:

• Tips for making a good first impression.
• What to include in your query letters.
• How to research agents and editors to target your submissions.
• Why you should have 3-4 polished manuscripts ready to go.
• What to put in your bio paragraph if you don't have any published work.
• Why you need comp titles and how to choose them.
• Bonus: A Fun Writing Exercise!

There's still time to get a Summit + Submissions Ticket to Picture Book Summit 2025 and take advantage of our SEVEN manuscript submission opportunities. Go to www.picturebooksummit.com.

Every year, we host what we like to call a "mini" Summit. It's a short webinar to give writers a taste of what we offer at our full-day event.

In this episode, we share a past Mini Summit all about creating Game Changing ideas. Our goal is to spark your imagination and creativity by showing just a few ways other picture book creators have turned ideas on their heads.

Get ready to be inspired by the Picture Book Summit Founders and be sure to find out about our latest event by going to picturebooksummit.com.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Follow That Frog by Philip Stead and Matthew Cordell
• There Are No Ants in This Book by Rosemary Mosco and Anna Pirolli
• Who Hops? by Katie Davis
• One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller by Kate Read
• Waiting in the Wings by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, and E.G. Keller
• Tumblebaby by Adam Rex
• The Story of the Saxophone by Lesa Cline Ransome and James E. Ransome
• School's First Day of School by Adam Rex
• XO, Exoplanet by Deborah Underwood and Jorge Lacera
• A River of Dust by Jilane Hoffman and Eugenia Mello
• Vlad the Fabulous Vampire by Flavia Z. Drago
• The Bees of Notre Dame by Meghan P. Browne and E.B. Goodale
• Mole is Not Alone by Maya Tatsukawa
• Snail in Space by Rachel Bright and Nadia Shireen
• There was a Party for Langston by Jason Reynolds and the Pumphrey Brothers
• Mel Fell by Corey Tabor
• Ursula Upside Down by Corey R. Tabor
• Big by Vashti Harrison
• Days Like This by Oriane Smith and Alice Gravier
• Mr. S by Monica Arnaldo
• Spencer's New Pet by Jessie Sima

More and more picture books include backmatter these days—including fiction picture books. In today's Roundtable discussion, Julie Hedlund and the team share many different ways to include backmatter with your manuscript, including dos and don'ts of creating additional content.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The First Notes by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, and Chiara Fedele
• Tricky Chopsticks by Sylvia Chen and Fanny Liem
• Reindeer Remainders by Katey Howes and Marie Hermansson
• Over, Bear! Under, Where? by Julie Hedlund and Michael Slack
• Grand Canyon by Jason Chin
• Hurricane by Jason Chin
• If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall
• To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights by Angela Dalton and Lauren Semmer
• Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane by Kirsten W. Larson and Tracy Subisak
• Shell Song by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson
• Springtime Storks by Carol Munro and Chelsea O'Byrne
• Unspeakable by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper
• The Bees of Notre Dame by Meghan P. Browne and E. B. Goodale
• Waiting in the Wings by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, and EG Keller
• The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, and Christine Davenier

Webinars on Backmatter:

• Backmatter: Form and Function with M.O. Yuksel
• Backmatter Matters with Heidi E.Y. Stemple

The amazing and talented Caldecott Medal Winner Vashti Harrison is one of our Superstar Speakers for 2025. Vashti won the Caldecott Medal in 2024 for her beautiful picture book BIG. Shortly after that win, the PBSummit Team discussed the brilliance of this book in our Caldecott video series. We bring that discussion to our podcast today to help you get to know Vashti Harrison and her wonderful book.

Be sure to grab your ticket to our online Picture Book Summit 2025 on October 4, 2025, at picturebooksummit.com. Get Early Bird pricing through August 28, 2025. So go get your ticket now.

Enjoy this insightful discussion of BIG, written and illustrated by Vashti Harrison. Emma Walton Hamilton leads our discussion with insight from Julie Hedlund and Katie Davis.

Grab your ticket to hear Vashti Harrison at Picture Book Summit 2025 today: www.picturebooksummit.com.

Get $100 off with Early Bird pricing available through August 28, 2025.

"Oh my" is right! If you don't know the difference between homage, parody, and plagiarism, and your story references another work in some way, your book might be dead in the water before it even gets out of your inbox.

In this PBSummit Roundtable, Emma, Julie, Katie, and Kelli define homage, parody, and plagiarism and what you, as a picture book writer, need to know about these important topics, including how we've navigated these obstacles in our own work.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The First Notes: The Story of DO, RE, MI by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, and Chiara Federle
• This Old Van by Kim Norman and Carolyn Digby Conahan
• Mary Had a Little Glam by Tammi Sauer and Vanessa Brantley-Newton
• Journey Trilogy by Aaron Becker
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire
• 7 Ate 9 by Tara Lazar and Ross MacDonald
• The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

Join the conversation LIVE at Picture Book Summit 2025. Early Bird tickets available through August 28, 2025. Go to www.picturebooksummit.com to get your ticket today!

It's that time of year!

Early Bird tickets for Picture Book Summit 2025 are now available and in this episode, we share all about our 2025 Superstar Speakers! It's quite a lineup for this year's conference: Big, Bold, and Brave: Supercharge Your Picture Books!

This year's online conference takes place on October 4, 2025. Everything happens in our Zoom webinar room, so you can attend from anywhere in the world with a decent Internet connection.

We are thrilled to welcome true picture book superheroes NYT Bestselling author Susan Verde, Caldecott Winner Jason Chin, and Caldecott Winner Vashti Harrison! Listen to the episode to learn more about our speakers and their presentations.

Then go to www.picturebooksummit.com to get your ticket today!

In this episode, we're thrilled to bring you an excerpt from Nikki Grimes' presentation The Music of Language. Nikki's accolades include the Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature, the Children's Literature Legacy Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, a Sibert and a Printz Honor as well as the Coretta Scott King Book Award among others.

Nikki is here today to share how lyrical picture books can help children learn to love language and how you can be a part of building that appreciation for reading (and daydreaming). We think Nikki's poetry will inspire you too!

Check out the next Picture Book Summit at www.picturebooksummit.com!

We are especially excited about today's episode because we get to bring you a snippet of a past Summit presentation with the one and only Julie Andrews along with her daughter and our friend Emma Walton Hamilton! This duo has written over 30 books for children, including 9 New York Times Bestsellers.

Their picture books include The Very Fairy Princess, Dumpy the Dump Truck, The First Notes: The Story of Do-Re-Mi, The Enchanted Symphony, and Waiting in the Wings.

So, what started this fruitful partnership? Where do they get their ideas? What strengths do they each bring to their projects? Julie Hedlund is here to ask those questions and more.

Don't miss this delightful look behind-the-scenes with a true creative icon!

You might know about refrains in music, but they're also in picture books! The Picture Book Summit Founders get together to discuss what refrains are, define the different types of refrain, and share how to use them strategically in your own picture book writing! Spoiler alert! There are some excellent mentor texts in this episode.

*Books mentioned in this episode:

• Finding Papa by Angela Pham Krans and Thi Bui
• Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School! by Carrie Finison and Erin Kraan
• I Hate to Go to Bed! by Katie Davis
• The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton, and Christine Davenier
• The Yellow Handkerchief by Donna Barba Higuera and Cynthia Alonso
• Choosing Brave by Angela Joy and Janelle Washington
• Bug on the Rug by Sophia Gholz and Susan Bartori
• Curve & Flow: The Elegant Vision of L.A. Architect Paul R. Williams by Andrea J. Loney and Keith Mallett
• Song After Song: The Musical Life of Julie Andrews by Julie Hedlund and Ilaria Urbanati.

*Picture Book Summit may receive a small commission at no cost to you when books are purchased through the link above.

In this episode, Julie Hedlund interviews Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple. With over 400 children's books to her name, Jane shares how she chooses the words and what influences her choices. The pair touch on the impact of banned books and how their writing partnership has evolved over the years. So, what's one key to being prolific? Always be learning and growing as a writer.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Janie Writes a Play: Jane Yolen's First Great Story written by Heidi E.Y. Stemple and illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight

Check out our previous episode with Jane Yolen here: 008 - Jane Yolen