WRAD 2026

It’s that time of year - when Kate Messner announces that her next newsletter will include a list of participating authors for World Read Aloud Day. I am on Kate’s upcoming list, but if you want an early jump to sign up with me, click this link. Like previous years, I use Signup Genius to manage my schedule. This year, I am extending my day a bit later to accommodate more west coast schools.

How to Draw a Narwhal

This month’s drawing sheet is definitely not pet material, but it is part of my upcoming sea creature workshop at KidsConNE (see below). So let’s draw a Narwhal, shall we?

KidsConNE Portland

On Saturday, November 15th, I will be a featured artist at KidsConNE in Portland, Maine. The event runs from 10-4pm, and I’m teaching a Sea Creatures drawing workshop from 10:30-11:05 in the Whaleback room. I’ll have lots of my books available for purchase plus my new bug stickers. It’s always a really fun family event with tons of activities and costumed characters and guests. I’m excited to see fellow author/illustrators Jennifer E. Morris, Chuck Dillon, Mark Parisi, and Cassidy Wasserman. Many thanks to comic artist and illustrator Emily Drouin, who started and runs KidsCon New England. Hope to see you there!

Book News! (Shhhhh)

Well, I can’t officially tell you my book news. But I will say that I’ll be starting my next picture book soon and hopefully can fully announce it by December’s newsletter. Each book is special, but this one is heavily inspired by my childhood and something unique to my family. It’s a story that I had tried to write many times over many years. I finally found the right approach last summer, thanks to the encouragement of my literary agent Sean McCarthy.

Watching / Reading / Listening To

Watching: Welcome to Derry on HBO. It’s terrifying fun, exactly what you would expect from Stephen King. Great casting and production value, what you also expect from a Sunday night HBO show.

Reading: Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. I listened to this as an audiobook and Elle Fanning did a marvelous job with a really compelling main character. It had a bit of a slow start for me, but I was so glad I stuck through what seemed to be a very predictable story to something unique and unexpected.

Listening to: Creative Peptalk #529: Escape Your Creative Rut with This 5 Part Creative Hygiene Checklist. Andy J. Pizza’s podcast is a staple for creatives, and his latest episode landed right when I needed it most. I feel like Andy looks at universal issues with a different lens and is able to find a new analogy or point of view to tackle that issue. If you are struggle to get into deep creative thinking, this might be the episode for you. The link above is for the youtube podcast, here is the link for the podcast.