From The Mixed Up Files

In today’s Author Spotlight, Jo Hackl chats with Alexandra Diaz, the award winning author of multiple books, including The Only Road (Pura Belpré Honor and Américas Award), The Crossroads (New Mexico’s Great Read at the National Book Festival), Santiago’s Road Home (ALA Notable Children’s Books), and Farewell Cuba, mi isla (recipient of two starred reviews), all of which she translated into Spanish with her mother. Her current book, Camp Big Top, was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard. An overactive imagination had her making up stories at an early age and led to...

Kwame Alexander, author of popular books such as Acoustic Rooster, The Crossover, The Door of No Return, and Caldecott Medal-winning The Undefeated will partner with Sourcebooks to launch Kwame Alexander Books in spring 2027. The imprint, with the goal to “[champion] bold authors across generations,” will publish children’s books from picture books through YA, as well as adult titles. The imprint will also have to-be-announced initiatives to help discover and support new writers....

We have some ravenous readers in my house. My oldest can blaze through a few middle grade books in a single week. Sometimes it feels like my wife and I can barely keep up, and reloading his Kindle with picks from our local library is a nightly ritual. Of course...

In November of 2007, we had a terrible ice storm in my small town. Trees and power lines were decimated. We even lost our basketball goal in the driveway when a large oak limb dropped on top of it. We were without power for a week after our house was...

In today’s Author Spotlight, Jo Hackl chats with Alexandra Diaz, the award winning author of multiple books, including The Only Road (Pura Belpré Honor and Américas Award), The Crossroads (New Mexico’s Great Read at the National Book Festival), Santiago’s Road Home (ALA Notable Children’s Books), and Farewell Cuba, mi isla...

In today’s Author Spotlight, Jo Hackl chats with Alexandra Diaz, the award winning author of multiple books, including The Only Road (Pura Belpré Honor and Américas Award), The Crossroads (New Mexico’s Great Read at the National Book Festival), Santiago’s Road Home (ALA Notable Children’s Books), and Farewell Cuba, mi isla...

July’s New Releases happen to include several spooky, creepy tales to read around a summer campfire. None with fireworks, but lots of stories to keep you up at night. All the more reason to read with a friend. So choose a book, keep your nightlight on, and have a joyful...

A question I hear often from kid readers is “How can you write for us when you’re an adult?” There’s a lot of reasons why this question pops up, but one of the biggest is the fact that adults simply aren’t kids. In their minds, we don’t look like them,...