Q&A with Diana Paola Navarro Gómez

  

 

 

 

Diana Paola Navarro Gómez is the author of the bilingual children's picture book Danny sabe Leer/Danny Can Read. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Danny sabe leer/Danny Can Read?

 

A: This answer will probably sound cliché, but I truly believe inspiration comes from the most unexpected places. I’ve always loved writing, but I never imagined I would become a children’s book author— that is, until I had my kids.

 

There were moments when we were going through situations at home and I struggled to find the right words to explain things that felt too complex for them, especially feelings.

 

Danny Can Read is based on a true story from my own family. My son learned to read before his sister—who happens to be his twin. The special attention he received for that achievement unintentionally caused her frustration and jealousy because she began comparing herself to him.

 

I found myself wondering: how could I explain to her that she would eventually learn too? And how could I validate her feelings without sounding dismissive or judgmental?

 

Writing Danny Can Read allowed me to explore exactly that.

 

Q: What do you think Carmen Blanco’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: Carmen’s illustrations complement the story beautifully.

 

This book was written with read-aloud moments in mind, and the illustrations communicate a powerful non-verbal language that captivates children, especially those who are not reading yet.

 

Sometimes it’s easier for children to identify emotions by looking at the expressions on the dinosaurs’ faces. The illustrations help bring those feelings to life.

 

Q: The book is available in a bilingual edition--how did that come about?

 

A: The story appears in English and Spanish side by side.

 

Being bilingual has always been an important part of my life. I attended an American school in Colombia and also lived in the United States for three years.

 

I wanted the book to serve families who live between languages or cultures, as well as children who are learning to read in a second language. With the text side by side, kids and parents can naturally compare both versions and reinforce reading comprehension.

 

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the story?

 

A: I hope children understand that it’s okay to feel all the feelings.

 

We live in an extremely hyper-connected world where social media and technology often place us in constant comparison with others.

 

Comparison isn’t necessarily bad, as long as we can celebrate what others do well while also learning to look inward and recognize what each of us is good at, or what we can work on to improve.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently working with my editor on the second book in the Danny and Lily series.

 

Like the first book, it’s inspired by real conversations and situations with my kids. Each new story explores different emotions and experiences that children navigate as they grow.

 

In this next book, we explore what happens when a child feels a sense of absence they don’t fully understand. Lily begins to feel like something is missing, and through her journey she learns how to name that feeling and understand that emotions like nostalgia or sadness are also a natural part of love and memory.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: One of my favorite parts of this journey has been hearing from readers.

 

If any Danny and Lily fans would like to follow along, they can find me on Instagram, where I share updates about new books and little glimpses of our real-life adventures that inspire these stories.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Diana Paola Navarro Gómez. Enter this giveaway for a chance to win one of three signed paperback copies of Danny sabe leer / Danny can read! One grand prize winner will also receive a 36-piece puzzle inspired by the book along with their signed copy. Giveaway ends April 20, 2026 at 11:30 PM Mountain Time. 

Q&A with Michelle Orrelle

  

 

 

Michelle Orrelle is the author of the new children's board book Todah: I Am Grateful. (Todah means "thank you" in Hebrew.) She grew up in Australia and lives in Israel. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Todah: I Am Grateful?

 

A: Thank you so much for interviewing me, Deborah. I follow your blog and admire so many of the authors here.

 

Todah, I Am Grateful is the first board book I have written.

 

As board books are for the very youngest children (1-4 years old), this made me think about the beginning of life and carefully consider what special message I wanted to share with a person so new in the world.

 

It had to be something simple and important, and, if I never got another book published, it would be the one idea worth sharing as my legacy.

 

Being Jewish, I thought about the prayer Modeh Ani, which is said each morning upon waking and expresses gratitude for the gift of being alive another day and the opportunities that brings.

 

Todah, I Am Grateful highlights some of the many blessings we have in life - our bodies, the people who care for us, and the world around us.  It reminds children and their readers to be grateful for all the seeming little things that we mustn’t take for granted.

 

Q: What do you think Ailie Busby’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: Ailie brought each line to life with charming, colorful illustrations that encourage children to lean in and explore what is happening on the page. From the little girl sniffing the rose on the cover, to the cute birds, cats, and dogs that appear, it is all so engaging.

 

She made it fun to spend time with the diverse characters, reinforcing the concept, and I can imagine readers pointing out all the lovely elements and chatting with the child about each scene.

 

I also appreciate all the Jewish elements, like the Shabbat candles, Hanukkah scenes, dreidel, and the Israeli pomegranate she has included.

 

Perhaps my favourite “Easter egg,” or “Afikomen” as we call it, is that she added distinctive colored glasses frames to the grandma in the story so she resembles my mother.

Q: How did you get interested in writing books for kids?

 

A: I’ve always loved writing, but reading to my children every night when they were little reignited my love of children’s books. The simple, often profound messages were presented in such marvelous ways, and so many books kept us in stitches.

 

With a background in art and design, and experience working in animated entertainment and as a museum guide, I’ve always been drawn to storytelling in different forms. Writing children’s books gives me the opportunity to explore it further, and I never run out of ideas!

 

In recent years, I’ve been able to focus more seriously on writing for children, and it has been an absolute joy—not just the writing itself but also being part of such a warm and inspiring community.

 

I’ve met incredible mentors, teachers, and fellow writers, and made wonderful friends through my critique groups. It has been an amazing journey so far.

 

Q: What do you hope kids (and adults) take away from the book?

 

A: The first takeaway is the simple joy of sitting together and reading a book, which I have always found to be an absolute pleasure.

 

The second takeaway is to introduce the concept of gratitude to a child and to remind the reader to take a moment to consider all the simple, wonderful blessings we have in life that we often take for granted. Feeling grateful for what we have helps us feel happier and more content. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: We are just wrapping up the final art for my picture book Habima Magic, a time-travel story set at the Habima Theatre in the heart of Tel Aviv and based on my family history. It will be released by Kar-Ben in Spring 2027.

 

I am also working on multiple picture books, as well as a middle-grade novel. You can keep up to date by visiting my website: www.michelleorrelle.com

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Please read widely and share books about many different cultures with your children. I encourage you to read Jewish and Israeli books so that the windows and mirrors can do their job of bringing people closer together through a deeper understanding of one another.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

March 30

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
March 30, 1820: Anna Sewell born.

Q&A with Laura Bonazzoli

  

Photo by Amy Wilton Photography

 

 

Laura Bonazzoli is the author of the new novel Our Share of Morning. She also has written the novel-in-stories Consecration Pond. She lives in Maine.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Our Share of Morning, and how did you create your characters Violet and Glory?

 

A: I wanted to explore two themes: abiding sibling love, and the task of creating a meaningful life.

 

As we all know, sibling relationships are complex. There can be rivalry, envy, resentments, and even estrangement, but sibling relationships can also be the longest-lasting relationships of our lives: from early childhood until our death, some of us are lucky enough to maintain extremely close sibling bonds.

 

In the summer of 2016, I drove from Maine to Massachusetts to visit my aunt. Although more than two years had passed since my mother’s death, I was struck by the freshness of my aunt’s grief.

 

As I sat in her kitchen, she told me the familiar story of how their mother, my maternal grandmother, had been admitted to a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1932, when my mother was 3 years old and my aunt was 5. “When she went away,” my aunt told me, “I knew I had to take care of your mother. It was up to me. And I felt that way all my life.”

 

That conversation so impressed me that the day I got home from that visit, I opened my laptop and began to write the first chapter of Our Share of Morning, a story of two sisters: Violet, who tries to take care of her younger sister, Glory, after their mother, in 1933, is admitted to a TB sanatorium.

 

I should also explain that, years before I started writing the novel, I’d lost a brother and then a sister to cancer, and shortly after I started writing it, I lost another brother to cancer.

 

As I worked on Our Share of Morning, I began to realize that these experiences were an even greater impetus for my exploration of sibling love than the relationship between my aunt and mother.

 

I also said that I wanted to explore our search for meaning. Specifically, I kept asking myself how we go about creating a meaningful life despite the fact that so many factors influencing our lives are beyond our control.

 

Like my siblings’ cancers, certainly, but any serious disease, as well as war, natural disasters, an oppressive government, a parent’s addiction or abuse, random chance—so many things.

 

In Our Share of Morning, the sisters’ lives are influenced by many factors they can’t control, including their mother’s TB, their family’s poverty, and the misogyny they encounter.

 

But a key influence—and the novel’s central mystery—is the disappearance of a young woman from their neighborhood when Violet is a toddler and Glory hasn’t even been born.

 

Until they’re adults, the sisters know nothing about either the disappearance or the effect that it has had on their family and their community. And yet it strongly influences their fate.

 

So I used this disappearance to show how the sisters create meaning despite growing up in what I came to call “a neighborhood scarred by the secret it holds.”

 

Q: I’m so sorry about the loss of your siblings… 

 

In terms of the book, how would you describe the dynamic between Violet and Glory?

 

A: Violet, who is three years older, is more practical, resourceful, even spunky than Glory. She also assumes responsibility for taking care of Glory, and in a sense postpones her own life to do so.

 

Glory is highly gifted, creative, sensitive, and fragile; however, her deep inner strength emerges when she is severely tested. She is also honest about herself and her mistakes, and admires Violet for the goodness, the unselfishness that she believes she herself lacks.

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I searched for years for a title for the book, but nothing seemed right. Then, a few months before I started submitting the manuscript, I found in a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems a brief, early poem with the opening lines: “Our share of the night to bear / Our share of morning.” I knew immediately that I wanted to use that second line for my title.

 

The pronoun Our captures the fact that the novel is narrated in first person by both sisters, taking turns. Also, the idea of having both a share of night and a share of morning reflects the story’s moments of shared darkness and light.

 

One more thing: The sisters are named for the flowers (violets and morning glories) that were in bloom when they were born. That’s why I asked my publisher for a book cover showing violets and morning glories—the flowers symbolize the sisters. The word Morning in the book title subtly links it to the morning glories.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the novel called it a “lyrical, slow-burning family saga that finds poetry in hardship and tenderness in survival.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I think the description is apt. Our Share of Morning is certainly a family saga, and this family does experience hardship. I appreciated the reviewer’s use of the words lyrical, poetry, and tenderness.

 

Glory’s dream is to become a famous poet, and many readers have remarked on the beauty of the language in her chapters. One reader even wrote me that he took photos of certain passages that he thought were outstandingly lyrical so that he could quickly return to them.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I began a new novel in January of 2024. I recently began work on the third draft.

 

I write quite slowly, though. My novel in stories, Consecration Pond, emerged over 30 years, and Our Share of Morning took eight years. So I don’t anticipate that this new work will be ready for prime time for a while.

 

It’s literary fiction—not historical—and could be quickly described as a story of the fallibility of memory and the gift of mature love.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My MFA isn’t in creative writing—I have an MFA in acting from the University of Minnesota Minneapolis/Guthrie Theatre program. My background in acting helps explain my tendency to keep revising my characters’ voices until I feel that I can actually “hear” them.

 

I’m also a poet—I’ve had more than 50 poems published in literary magazines and anthologies, and I teach a course with Maine Media Workshops called “Crafting Poetic Prose,” in which I show students how to apply poetic devices like alliteration and metaphor to prose.

 

I work part-time in a bookshop—the Owl & Turtle Bookshop Café in Camden.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Blair Northen Williamson

  

 

 

 

Blair Northen Williamson is the author of the new children's picture book The Ocean Protectors: Colors of the Coral Reef. Her other books include Island Girls.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Ocean Protectors: Colors of the Coral Reef?

 

A: I spent years working as a scuba diving instructor, so I have a deep, personal relationship with the ocean… literally! Over time, I started noticing the bleaching of reefs firsthand, and it stayed with me.

 

When there was demand for a second book in my climate fiction series, my husband was actually the one who suggested coral bleaching as the topic, and I was immediately hooked. I thought, what a powerful way for readers of all ages to visualize climate change, not through charts or headlines, but through the color of a coral reef. 

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did anything especially surprise you?

 

A: I had really meaningful conversations with the directors at Plastic Ocean Project about coral bleaching, which was invaluable. I also read widely, dug into the research, and was very intentional about making sure the backmatter was clear and accurate.

 

I'm a storyteller, not a scientist, so I wanted a team of scientists to review my backmatter and references and essentially sign off that everything was as current and accurate as possible. Resources like NOAA were incredible throughout that process.

 

Q: What do you think Svitlana Holovchenko’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: Svitlana’s illustrations are the book. They are so whimsical and detailed, she is such a talented artist.

 

Every single illustration is a hand-painted original watercolor, and I think that's what makes this book stand out so much in the children's literature space. Not many children’s picture books have watercolor illustrations anymore, and it really makes The Ocean Protectors stand out.

 

She has this incredible ability to catch your eye and draw you in, there is so much detail, and for a book about something as visually stunning, and heartbreaking, as a coral reef, that matters enormously.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I really want readers to walk away curious! I want them to put the book down and immediately want to know more. I want kids to ask questions, raise their hands, look things up, and start thinking about the choices they make every day.

 

Coral bleaching can feel like this distant, overwhelming problem, but it doesn't have to. You are far more likely to care about and protect something you love, so I also hope this book sparks curiosity and that curiosity will in turn help readers fall in love with coral reefs and the ocean.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on edits right now on my middle grade novel, Moon Beach Rising, with my new agent Andie Smith at Creative Media Agency.

 

It has a big climate fiction hook centered around erosion on an island, so it's very much in the same spirit as my picture books, just with a longer runway to explore the story. I'm really excited about it.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I'm so excited to keep creating picture books that are fun, funny, and genuinely meaningful books that celebrate our ocean.

 

For me, spreading awareness about what's happening beneath the surface has never been about blame. It's about hope. It's about curiosity. It's about celebrating something so beautiful that it deserves to be protected.

 

Like I said before, you're so much more likely to fight for something you love, and I want every reader, no matter their age, to leave my books loving the ocean a little more than before.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

March 29

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
March 29, 1960: Jo Nesbø born.

Q&A with Dusti Bowling

  

 

 

Dusti Bowling is the author of the new middle grade novel Sir Edmund of the Wild West: Mystery in the Grand Canyon. Her other books include Holding On for Dear Life. She lives in Eagar, Arizona.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Sir Edmund of the Wild West: Mystery in the Grand Canyon?

 

A: It really started with the idea to write a story told from the perspective of a dog that could see the ghosts and monsters that people can't see.

 

The first version of this story was actually quite dark and scary and didn't really work because for some reason the dog ended up coming out British (I must've been watching a lot of British movies at the time!) and really funny.

 

My editor loved the silly British dog, though, and asked if I'd be willing to give him a new story. I decided it would be fun to explore real Western mysteries. And, of course, make the ghosts far less scary. :)

 

Q: What do you think Beth Hughes’ illustrations add to the book?

 

A: Beth did such a wonderful job bringing the characters to life. I love the silliness and humor in the illustrations like the ones for King Ruler of the Grand Canyon, the goofy Texan Chihuahua Edmund meets at the Grand Canyon. And Beth really captures the tenderness between Edmund and Willy as they begin forming their loving bond.

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I relied a lot on as much reading material as I could get my hands on for this book.

 

A lot of my research was done about service dogs and the mystery Willy and Edmund are investigating in the book--the disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde in the Grand Canyon when they attempted to run the Colorado River through the whole canyon on a wooden sweep scow ( a kind of boat).

 

I wanted to incorporate as much interesting Grand Canyon history as I could throughout the book, and the plane crash that occurred over the Grand Canyon in 1956 was especially shocking. It's still hard to believe that actually happened.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: More than anything, I want readers to have fun! I hope the silly, lovable characters make them laugh. I also hope they learn some interesting history about the Grand Canyon without realizing how much they're actually learning. I've always enjoyed learning history from novels, and I hope they feel the same.

 

Q: This is the first in a series--can you tell us what's coming next?

 

A: The next book in the series will be Mystery in Roswell. I've already started talking to kids already all over the country about these books, and it amazes me how few of them know why Roswell, New Mexico is so famous. Hint: it's aliens.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I do want readers and educators to know that these books are full of jokes and silliness, but they are truly educational as well. So much of the information in the books is based on real history. I made it my mission to find the most bizarre and exciting history I could find and to bring it to life in the most entertaining way I could. I hope everyone enjoys the stories, and learns a little bit too. :)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb