2017 has been a rough year for many. But in trying times, you can always turn to picture books for inspiration! To that end, Kirkus has composed a list of the Best Picture Books of 2017 to Give Readers Strength. Two of the books on that list, Stolen Words and Lucía the Luchadora, were illustrated by our artists.

Stolen Words, written by Melanie Florence and illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard, is the story of a little girl and her Cree grandfather, who lost his ancestral language in the Canadian residential school system. Kirkus calls this story “Unforgettable.” Stolen Words is available for purchase here.

Lucía the Luchadora, written by Cynthia Leonor Garza and illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez, follows a little girl who is inspired by her family tradition of luchadoras to become a hero on the playground.  Kirkus calls it, “A KA-POW kind of wonderful.” Lucía the Luchadora is available here.

Kirkus’s full list of inspiring picture books from 2017 can be found on their site here.

Don’t Call Me Grandma, written by New Mexico native Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by Liz Zunon, has won a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award! The New Mexico-Arizona Book Award is run by the New Mexico Book Co-op, an organization that seeks to promote local writing from New Mexico, Arizona, and the American South West.

Don’t Call Me Grandma is the story of a young girl’s complex relationship with her prickly and glamorous grandmother. It won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in the category of Parenting/Family Issues Book, sponsored by the New Mexico Book Co-op. Congratulations, Liz and Vaunda!

The full list of winners of the 2017 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award can be found here. Don’t Call Me Grandma is available for purchase here.

The Great Dictionary Caper has been raking in the starred reviews, and it hasn’t even come out yet! The latest review, from Booklist, is the third starred review for the upcoming picture book. Written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Eric Comstock, this humorous picture book tells the story of what happens when the words escape from the dictionary.

Booklist calls The Great Dictionary Caper, “Delightful,” and praises both the humor and the educational worth of the story. They write, “It’s all fun and word games, but in the process, readers will also get a tidy lesson in linguistic concepts.” They also praise the elaborate page spreads which visually depict the textual word play, which are “enhanced by Comstock’s energetic, retro-flair illustrations, which fill the pages with cavorting words and creative details.” In all, Booklist concludes, “In approach and format, this is both entertaining and educational—likely to hold and pique kids’ interest in the topic and provide a fun learning supplement.”

The Great Dictionary Caper will be coming out January 2018 and is available for pre-order here.

Martha and the Slave Catchers, written by Harriet Hyman Alonso and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, is now available for purchase! This high-suspense adventure set shortly after the Fugitive Slave Act follows a young girl, Martha, who sets out to rescue her younger brother through the Underground Railroad. Martha has already been greeted with high praise from reviewers.

“Alonso pens an informative, easy-to-follow adventure story that nevertheless tackles the persistent issues arising from antebellum America, including race and skin color, situational ethics and their devastating consequences, and allyship and using privilege for justice. A tense adventure about interracial adoption that gets to the heart of what’s most important: love.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Alonso and Zunon have both done a masterful job bringing America’s pre-Civil War years to the page. Readers will sit in suspense as Martha risks her life in the Underground Railroad network. . . Fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Seeds of America” series will want to pick this up.” – School Library Journal

“The fast-paced plot, filled with twists and surprises, will engage readers and spark discussion of these important issues. Alonso breathes life into the sights, sounds, and emotions of travel on the Underground Railroad.” – Elisa Carbone, author of Stealing Freedom

Martha and the Slave Catchers is available for purchase here.

The 49th NAACP Image Awards are coming soon. The NAACP Image Award is an awards ceremony to honor the work of artists of color in genres spanning cinema, music, and literature, held each year on MLK’s birthday. This year, two books illustrated by Painted Words’s artists have been nominated!

In the “Outstanding Literary Work – Children” category is The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights Activist, written by Cynthia Levinson and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton. In the “Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens” is Clayton Byrd Goes Underground written by Rita Williams-Garcia and illustrated by Frank Morrison. Congratulations!

The full list of nominees for the NAACP Image Award is available here. The Youngest Marcher can be purchased here and Clayton Byrd Goes Underground is available for purchase here.

The New York Public Library recently released a selection of their favorite kids books of the year. They call every book on this list “outstanding.” Five of the books included on their extensive list were written or illustrated by one of Painted Words’s authors or artists!

• If You Were the Moon by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrated by Jaime Kim
• Noah Webster’s Fighting Words by Tracy Nelson Maurer and illustrated by Mircea Catusanu
• Olga and the Smelly Thing from Nowhere by Elise Gravel
• One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance written by Nikki Grimes with illustrations contributed by Shadra Strickland, Frank Morrison, and Liz Zunon
• Thunder Underground by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Josée Masse

Congratulations to all our talented artists! Check out the full list of the NYPL’s recommended books here.

Publishers Weekly shared a starred review of upcoming memoir March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine. Written by Melba Pattillo Beals and illustrated by Frank Morrison, March Forward is Beals’s powerful memoir of her childhood and her experiences being one of the Little Rock Nine who integrated Arkansas schools in the Civil Rights Era. Publishers Weekly praised the “visceral and vital” writing and unflinching depiction of traumatic, racial violence that Beals witnessed and experienced. They call it, “A no-holds-barred reflection of the physical and psychological toll that prejudice, discrimination, and hate take on a young life.”

Publishers Weekly’s full starred review is available here. March Forward, Girl is coming out January 2018 and can be pre-ordered here.

The moon, the constant companion of the night sky, is full of wonder for children and adults alike. The New York Times recently shared a review of several newly released children’s books with the theme of the mysterious moon. Included on this list was La La La: A Story of Hope, written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Jaime Kim.

The Times immediately remarked on the “endearing” protagonist of the picture book and her “elastic expressions.” They also praised the unique, almost wordless narration, filled with the song of the protagonist to the moon. They had high praise for Jaime’s illustrations, writing, “Kim…has created sumptuous images, especially several pages awash in deep, rich purples, that suggest an expansive dreamscape where anything is possible. At the same time, DiCamillo’s barely-there text gives the art space to breathe, leaving room for children to fill in the silences with their own boundless imaginations.”

The New York Times’s full review is available here. La La La: A Story of Hope can be purchased online here.

Booklist recently shared an article interviewing author and editor Melissa Stewart on the importance of expository nonfiction. Stewart discussed what she felt made a good work of expository literature, how it differs from fiction or from narrative nonfiction, and why this underappreciated genre is so valuable for children. She also shared some children’s literature that she thinks are great examples of expository literature – including Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci, written and illustrated by Gene Barretta.

Neo Leo was included as a great example of the compare and contrast format. Booklist wrote, “Colorful cartoon watercolors, clear and concise text, and an ingenious format that reinforces the compare-and-contrast text structure highlight how the ideas recorded in da Vinci’s notebooks foreshadowed…modern inventions.”

The full article from Booklist is available on their website here. Neo Leo is available for purchase here.

Coming out January 2018, Let the Children March is already bringing in positive reviews. Written by Monica Clark-Robinson and illustrated by Frank Morrison, this inspiring picture book tells the story of the Children’s Crusades. In 1960s Birmingham, hundreds of children and adolescents marched in protest of segregation. Many were harassed, water hosed, and even arrested. The Horn Book Magazine and the School Library Journal (SLJ) both positively reviewed Let the Children March, and the SLJ awarded it a starred review!

The Horn Book Magazine praised “the strong, poetic text” and the unflinching depiction of the brutality the young protesters faced. They also praised Frank’s illustrations, writing that Frank’s “remarkable oil paintings…[are] a vibrant representation of the determination and courage of the civil rights movement.” The Horn Book Magazine’s full review is available in their November/December issue.

The School Library Journal wrote a starred review of Let the Children March. The SLJ appreciated the text’s ability to provoke important conversations in the modern day about racism and civil rights. They also had nothing but good to say about Frank’s art, writing, “The experiences of segregation are sensitively depicted by Morrison…The defiance, determination, and passion comes through clearly on the faces of the figures.” In conclusion, they wrote that Let the Children March is, “A highly readable historical account which deserves a place on picture book and nonfiction shelves alike.” The full review from the SLJ is available in their November issue.

Let the Children March can be pre-ordered online here. It’s coming out January 2018.