How do you tell a story about a specific cultural paradigm and make it universally accessible? Award-winning author Rukhsana Khan shows us how to do just that as she walks us through her Golden Kite award-winning book BIG RED LOLLIPOP. Don't miss the behind-the-scenes stories and intentions of this beloved picture book.

Mac Barnett shares how the layout and format of a picture book informs how the reader will engage with the story on different levels. Even the trim size of a book changes the way it’s read. 

Mac Barnett's Picture Book Manifesto: http://thepicturebook.co/

In Laura Backes’ Picture Book Summit workshop Purpose Without Preaching, she gave some tips for infusing your manuscript with a message without preaching to the reader or sounding didactic. In this episode, we share some highlights from her talk.

Today’s episode features LeUyen Pham, an author and/or illustrator of over 100 books for children including THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH, VAMPIRINA BALLERINA, A PIECE OF CAKE, and the Caldecott Honor Book BEAR CAME ALONG. In this excerpt from her Picture Book Summit presentation, she shares some of the behind-the-scenes creation of BEAR CAME ALONG as part of a broader conversation on why authors should trust their illustrator and keep art notes to a minimum.

Today we bring you beloved author-illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky. Paul received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrated retelling of RAPUNZEL, as well as Caldecott Honors for three of his books: HANSEL AND GRETEL, RUMPELSTILTSKIN, and SWAMP ANGEL. He also known for crowd-pleasing favorites such as THE WHEELS ON THE BUS and Z IS FOR MOOSE. In this portion of his presentation from Picture Book Summit, Paul talks about what people (including editors) are looking for in a picture book, what makes a picture book work, and how important structure is in a picture book and the impact it has on a book’s layout and pacing.

Find out more about this year's Picture Book Summit at picturebooksummit.com.

In this episode, we’ll hear from Alvina Ling, vice president and editor-in-chief of Little Brown Books for Young Readers. In this excerpt of Alvina’s Picture Book Summit presentation, she reveals very specific reasons why a manuscript might get acquired or rejected by Little Brown or by any publisher in general. Enjoy this peek behind the publishing curtain.

Find out more about Picture Book Summit at picturebooksummit.com.

Today we are thrilled to bring you Adam Rex. Adam Rex wrote and/or illustrated all the books you like including the New York Times best selling Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, the New York Times best selling School’s First Day of School, and also a number of titles about which the New York Times has been strangely coy. In this snippet from Adam’s Picture Book Summit presentation, he digs down deep into word choice and rules of humor in creating a funny picture book.

Find out more about this year's Picture Book Summit at picturebooksummit.com.

In today’s episode, we’ll hear an excerpt of Emma Walton Hamilton’s interview with the legendary Jane Yolen at Picture Book Summit. Jane is the award-winning author of over 365 books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott Medal-winning book OWL MOON and the bestselling series HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT? In this interview with Jane, she discusses how she manages to be so prolific (she prefers the word “versatile”) and how she finds and develops the unique voice of each of her books.

Find out more about this year's Picture Book Summit at picturebooksummit.com.

The delightful David Shannon joins us in this episode. David Shannon is a bestselling children’s author-illustrator known for perennial classics such as DUCK ON A BIKE, A BAD CASE OF STRIPES, and NO, DAVID! In this segment from David’s Picture Book Summit presentation "It's Done!", he talks about what happens when you’re done with a manuscript, how do you know it’s really done, and what are the reasons to be done. Also, what are some of the challenges you can expect to encounter on the way to getting done? Let’s find out.

Find out more about this year's Picture Book Summit at picturebooksummit.com.