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Kit Pearson is a much-loved Canadian children’s author. Her award-winning novels include The Guests of War series (The Sky is Falling, Looking at the Moon and The Lights Go On Again), Awake and Dreaming (winner of the Governor General’s Award) and the just published Be My Love (companion to The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth). Also recently published The Magic Boat, a picture book she wrote with partner Katherine Farris. The Magic Boat is a lovely story about shyness, friendship and imagination. Marmalade Books was pleased to feature it in our February 2019 Picture Book Box. Kit and...

Ann Featherstone is the senior editor at Canadian publisher Pajama Press. She also happens to be my sister. And as her sister, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to feature her wonderful new book, A World of Kindness in our October Picture Book Box as well as interview her for our blog. MARMALADE BOOKS (MB): We both got our start in the children’s book business working at Munro’s Books, one of the leading independent bookstores in Canada. How did you transition to being a children’s book editor?

Acclaimed paper artist Elly MacKay is the author/illustrator of our feature book this month, Red Sky at Night. Her previous books have included If You Hold a Seed, Shadow Chasers and Waltz of the Snowflakes. Elly studied print making and illustration at art school. Her technique for creating her illustrations is quite detailed. First she inks her characters and the backgrounds on Yupo paper. Then cuts out the layers and sets them up in her miniature theatre. She lights the scenes and takes multiple photographs, altering the lenses, light and filters to create atmosphere. Elly takes her inspiration from Victoria...

Minh Le is the author of our feature book this month Drawn Together, an amazing look at the barriers that many children (and adults too!) face with relatives from different cultures who speak a different language. Minh drew on his own experience with his grandparents who were from Vietnam, where his parents immigrated from. Minh was born in the US and grew up in Connecticut. If anyone knows about picture books, it’s Minh. Not only has he written about children’s books for many publications, he writes his own blog, Bottom Shelf Books. Currently, he is serving as a judge for...