My proposal for the back cover of "Thirty Minutes Over Oregon"

By my request, the back covers of both Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman had only one line:

I wanted to keep that going with Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story.

Though in this case my proposal was two lines, it had a similar effect:

In 1941, the surprise Japanese attack on Hawaii brought America into World War II. 

In 1942, the Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita brought World War II into America.

But I was vetoed:

art by Melissa Iwai

I love the image and it is a mysterious contrast to the war scene of the cover (which stokes curiosity), but I still visit the alternate universe where my suggestion came to pass.

Stories of Hope: Kidlit Against Book Bans

Last year, I created a show called Stories of Hope: Kidlit for Ukraine and produced it with KidLit TV. It was an unprecedented and emotional benefit starring 28 kidlit authors that raised $15,000 (in a week!) for the children of Ukraine.

In August 2023, while speaking at elementary schools in Forsyth County, GA, administrators asked me to leave out the word “gay” from my presentations or leave. I left. This made national news including the New York Times, Newsweek (I wrote this one), Los Angeles Times, AP, and more.

I had already been intending to do a benefit to fight back against book bans and censorship, but this fast-tracked it. 

On 8/24/23, I asked Julie Gribble of KidLit TV, my partner for #KidlitForUkraine, if she was up for this spiritual sequel, including the tight deadline—aiming for Banned Book Weeks (first week of October). She said yes immediately. 

We chose PEN America as the organization to which we’d donate 100% of proceeds.

I tapped Lauren Castillo to design the luminescent logo (her graciousness also glowed!). It is the colorful image within this graphic:

I set out to follow the template of the first show but with an all-new group of 30 children’s authors and allies. Over the next couple of weeks, I lined up a cast that includes the following:

• the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
• a Newbery winner
• two Newbery honorees
• numerous other award winners
• a 30 Rock star

#KidlitAgainstBookBans stars the following:

Anika Aldamuy Denise

Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lisa Fipps

Daniel Handler

Kimberly Latrice Jones

Erin Entrada Kelly

Hena Khan

Adib Khorram

Jo Knowles

Gail Carson Levine

Alex London

Andrea Loney

Jessica Love

Yuyi Morales

Maulik Pancholy

Andrea Davis Pinkney

Toby Price (MI assistant principal fired for reading I Need a New Butt! to 2nd graders)

NoNieqa Ramos

Raul the Third

Jewell Parker Rhodes

Katie Rinderle (GA teacher fired for reading My Shadow Is Purple to 5th graders)

Alex Sanchez

Eliot Schrefer

Jon Scieszka

Laurel Snyder

Christina Soontornvat

Don Tate

Mychal Threets (CA supervising librarian and influencer)

Andrea Wang

Paul O. Zelinsky

Unlike the Ukraine benefit, this got no coverage in kidlit press.

The $4,000 we raised fell short of my goal to match the $15,000 for Ukraine, but I’m happy we were able to contribute something to the ongoing campaign.

I think it was easier to raise money for Ukraine at least in part because we announced that benefit soon after the war started, and it was not just any war—it was the first war in Europe in our lifetime. It was raw, scary, and making headlines daily. (So is book banning, but as we know, many don’t see fighting it as a priority...)

Among the ways I tried to boost the total:

• emailed the 300+ who donated to the Ukraine effort
• asked author/illustrator friends to hand out flyers promoting the benefit at the heavily attended Chappaqua Book Festival on 9/30/23
• because Star Trek actor George Takei posted about my Georgia fracas to his 1.4 million Instagram followers, I asked if he would spread word (if even 1% of his followers contributed, it would add 14,000 donors!)
• asked PEN if they’d ask big names who have supported them if they would plug it on social media 

Unfortunately, I thought of the Chappaqua idea the night before the book fest and the Takei/PEN ideas the day before the show premiered…in other words, too late. 

I hit other roadblocks—KidLit TV backed out a little over a week before the world premiere (so I switched from live streaming to posting the benefit as a video to be removed immediately after), the donation link on the platform I chose to host the fundraiser (Facebook) didn’t work for some people—but in the end, the show went on.

Thank you again to all who donated, spread word, helped behind the scenes, and, of course, told a story of hope.

Tim Bush, artist/kind soul, RIP

In 2011, in trying to convince editors that a widely rejected nonfiction picture book manuscript I wrote was marketable, I called upon both kids and professional illustrators to read it and then create a mock cover for what would become Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story. 

One of the seven generous artists who agreed to do this was Timothy Bush, whom I had met in person only once or twice. 

His contribution was striking, and one that kids routinely single out. (Every summer I teach creative writing camps, tell the story/backstory, and show the mock covers.)

I recently learned that Tim passed away. He and I had not been in touch in years. 

I was always be grateful to Tim for taking time to create a work of art for no pay and for me, a person he barely knew.

New decade, new author headshot

The day after I said goodbye to my forties, I embraced my new decade by getting my first new author headshot since 2015. 

Actually, I’ve used multiple photos across the internet, and while I do like “matching” the profile pic vibe with the platform (e.g. formal portrait for LinkedIn, picturesque travel shot for Instagram, playful pose for Facebook, etc.), I also see the value of a consistency in presence.

Here are the photos I am replacing (taken in the Washington DC area unless otherwise noted):

Facebook

(Milwaukee, WI)

Twitter

Instagram

(Machu Picchu, Peru)

LinkedIn

Viber

(Taj Mahal, India)

Upwork

TeachingBooks

(Washington State)

The “main” author photo, which I used for sites including Google and Amazon

The new author photo

Thank you again to Karen London for my previous author photo, and National Geographic shutterbug Rebecca Hale for my new one (and for your graciousness in trying various locales).

#KidlitForUkraine benefit raised nearly $15,000 for children

At 7 pm EST on 3/22/22, from multiple continents, for an hour and ten minutes, 28 award-winning and otherwise notable authors of books for young people each told a short story of hope as part of a virtual benefit to raise money for young people of Ukraine. 

#KidlitForUkraine: Stories of Hope took place less than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine—an event over 20 days in the making!

The cost of admission to this unprecedented fundraiser was whatever amount a person wished to donate. Every dollar helps!

Number of tickets sold: 356.

Total raised as of showtime: $14,524. 

This will be distributed by Save the Children. 

You can still donate. (As of 4/24/22, this post-show effort raised $1,270 more.)

Thank you yet again to the brave participants (special bow/hug to the Ukrainian authors), the generous donors, the countless social media supporters, and KidLit TV for making it possible. Another special bow/hug to Julie Gribble and Rocco Staino for saying yes to my proposal—and the unforgiving time crunch that went with it.

The cast (in order of appearance):

1. Adrianna Bamber | Адріянна Бамбер
2. Neal Shusterman
3. Carmen Agra Deedy
4. Kathi Appelt
5. Dan Gutman
6. Dan Stewart, Head of News, Save the Children UK
7. Donna Barba Higuera
8. Rita Williams-Garcia
9. Jarrett Lerner
10. Victoria Amelina | Вікторія Амеліна (6/27/23 killed in Ukraine)
11. Jason Chin
12. Katherine Marsh
13. Peter Reynolds
14. Samantha Berger
15. Padma Venkatraman
16. Nick Bruel
17. K.A. Holt
18. Richard Michelson
19. Charles R. Smith Jr.
20. Tara Lazar
21. Minh Lê
22. Roxie Munro
23. Duncan Tonatiuh
24. Nikki Grimes
25. Jack Gantos
26. Jane Breskin Zalben
27. Kate Messner
28. Marc Tyler Nobleman
29. Olha Kupriyan | Ольга Купріян

Bold names were not announced in advance (i.e. surprise guests).

Special thanks:

• Steven Colucci
• Oksana Ziobro at Old Lion Publishing House in Ukraine
• Sarah McLoughlin at Save the Children
• Courtney Nields at Save the Children
• Mike Curato (who designed the lovely logo)
• Dr. Oleh Kotsyuba at the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University
• Lidia Wolanskyj (translator)
• Allyson Hickey at booked 
• Uliana Hlynchak at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation
• Lisa DiSarro
• Samantha Berger
• Aurielle Kuehl

Coverage:

• School Library Journal
• Publishers Weekly
• Horn Book

мир для України.