News & Reviews

I'm excited to be invited to be a speaker as part of the Americian Institute of Architects (AIA) sponsored Architecture Week for students! 🎉 Teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, anyone interested in architecture, design and new ideas can sign up now to get a FREE zoom link to join me: https://www.aia.org/community/events/architecture-week-202 ! I'll be giving away signed books too! My two presentations: Tuesday April 14th from 1 - 1:30 PM EST for storytime and Q & A of THE

I was pleased to be interviewed for AIArchitect magazine regarding two of my picture book biographies: THE GLASS PYRAMID: A Story of the Louvre Museum and Architect I.M Pei and MAYA LIN: Artist Architect of Light and Lines.Thank you to architect Lori Apfel Cardeli for such a terrific article, "How authors shape early design literacy" (part of a three part series). Here's a taste: "The emphasis on perseverance is echoed in Jeanne Walker Harvey’s work. In The Glass Pyramid, Ha

Calkins Creek (Astra Books for Young Readers) (pub. 10.14.2025) 48 pages Ages 7 -10 A uthor: Erin Frankel    Illustrator: Jasu Hu C haracter: Mary Oliver O verview : " Young Mary Oliver was enthralled by nature. In the forest, she wondered about the birds and the lilies and the water in the stream—about all the things that cannot speak yet somehow spoke to Mary. She wondered, too, about poetry, about how words pieced together filled her with light and how some poems felt like

A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP Margaret Quinlin Books ( Peachtree) pub. 2.10.2026 48 pages Ages 6 - 9 A uthor: Patricia Newman    Illustrator: Isabelle Follath C haracter: Beatrice Harrison O verview : "' On May 19, 1924, a duet between a young cellist and a male nightingale was broadcast across the British Commonwealth as far away as Canada, India, and Australia to over one million listeners. It was an unprecedented collective experience made possible by the invention

A True Story of the Black Woman Battalion of World War II A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP Harper (HarperCollins) (pub. 10.7.2025) 40 pages Ages 4 - 8 A uthor: Tonya Abari    Illustrator: Lance Evans C haracters: The Black Woman Battalion of WWII O verview : " In 1944, the United States was facing a unique wartime crisis—too much mail! Millions of letters and packages, stacked from floor to ceiling, sat unsent in cold, dark warehouses, with no one to sort through the bac

Toni Morrison's Life in Stories A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP Little, Brown Books for Readers (pub. 1.7.2025) 48 pages Ages 4 - 8 A uthor: Andrea Davis Pinkney    Illustrator: Daniel Minter C haracter: Toni Morrison O verview : " From imaginative child to visionary storyteller, Toni Morrison was a fiercely inspiring writer that helped change the world. This poetic picture book is part love letter and part biography, praising the power of this Nobel Prize winner. With i

Barbara Hillary, the First Black Woman to Reach the North and South Poles A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP Atheneum Books (Simon & Schuster) pub. 10.21.2025 40 pages Ages 4 - 8 A uthor: Deborah Blumenthal    Illustrator: Anastasia Magloire Williams C haracter: Barbara Hillary O verview : " As a young girl, Barbara Hillary imagined a life of adventure. Despite facing hardships in her childhood and illness as an adult, she never gave up on her dream: to travel the world and

The Promise of the Packhorse Librarians A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP Union Square Kids pub. 8.12.2025 48 pages Ages 4 - 8 A uthor: Lauren H. Kerstein    Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander C haracters: Kentucky Packhorse Librarians O verview : "Following the Great Depression, literacy rates in the country had dwindled, and education and opportunities were harder to come by, especially in areas like rural Appalachia. But still, there was a dream: a vision of a nation in whi

How Ursula Marvin Mapped Moon Rocks and Meteorites A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP A Paula Wiseman Book (Simon & Schuster) pub. 10.14.2025 64 pages Ages 4 - 8 A uthor: Sandra Neil Wallace    Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter C haracter: Ursula Marvin O verview : " While attending college in the early 1940s, Ursula Marvin fell in love with geology, but when she asked her male professor about making the field her major, he tried to stop her, saying it would be a better use of

Nan Songer and Her Arachnid WWII Army A TRUE TALE WITH A C HERRY O N  T OP Calkins Creek (Astra Books for Young Readers) pub. 5.10.2025 48 pages Ages 4 - 8 A uthor: Penny Parker Klostermann    Illustrator: Anne Lambelet C haracter: Nan Songer O verview : "' Venomous spiders, delicate silk, and science experiments filled Nan Songer’s days and nights—her home in California overflowed with many-legged critters. With inspiration from a friend, Nan began to study how spider silk c