Stacks of Book Recommendations and Owning Your Author Identity with Author Ellen Leventhal

Please put your hands together for kidlit author Ellen Leventhal! Ellen is an author and educator who features other kidlit creators on her blog. She is also a delightful human! Welcome, Ellen! 💃💃💃💃 Some Highlights: Pull ideas from your experiences, even when they don’t seem important at the time they’re happening. Using stories to help children through challenging times. The joy of connecting with kids through stories.📚 Shaping your story through revision, just like you would a lump of clay. The difference between writing and getting to use your creativity. Add discovery for love of story to school curriculum.✏️ Different ways of writing in educational tests versus books versus placement exams. Learning to do it all.📄 Don’t let the joy of writing and story get away. Owning your identity as a writer. As an author.📕 Links Mentioned🔗: Ellen’s website (keep an eye out for my interview on her blog here) Ellen on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Writers in The Schools The 12x12 Picture Book Challenge Book Recommendations📚: Debbie’s Song: The Debbie Friedman Story by Ellen Leventhal, illustrated by Natalia Grebtsova on Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble A Flood of Kindness by Ellen Leventhal, illustrated by Blythe Russo Lola Can’t Leap by Ellen Leventhal, illustrated by Noelle Shava Don’t Eat the Bluebonnets by Ellen Leventhaland Ellen Rothburg, illustrated by Joel Cook They Built Me for Freedom:  The Story of Juneteenth and Houston's Emancipation Park by Tonya Duncan Ellis, illustrated by Jenin Mohammed Who’s Writing This Story? By Robin Newman, illustrated by Deborah Zemke The Incredible Shrinking Lunchroom by Michal Babay, illustrated by Paula Cohen The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal The Assignment by Liza Wiemer Better with Butter by Victoria Piontek Hidden Truths by Elly Swartz Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman Thank you so much to Ellen for coming on the show. And thank you for listening!!🎧🎧🎧💃💃💃 Stay tuned for next week’s episode with author Emily Dangremond and an extra special bonus episode with author Jena Benton!