Robert Topp

Robert Topp

We welcome Robert Topp, owner of The Hermitage Bookshop in Denver, Colorado, and reader-aloud extraordinaire, volunteering in the public schools for more than 28 years.
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Tracy Sue Walker

Tracy Sue Walker

This month we wel­come Tra­cy Sue Walk­er, author, pub­lic librar­i­an, and pro­fes­sion­al storyteller. She’s recent­ly been reveal­ing “the truth about” a series of mys­ti­cal crea­tures, so far includ­ing drag­ons, Big­foot, and uni­corns, for Scholas­tic Book Clubs. Tra­cy describes her­self this way, “A booklover, day­dream­er, and goof­ball, I’m pret­ty qui­et unless I’m telling a sto­ry, then I’m pret­ty loud.”
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Candice Ransom

Candice Ransom

One green thing I wish every­one would do:  Give up plas­tic bags. It’s hard, I know, to remem­ber to car­ry a bag into a store. I wish we could give up oth­er forms of plas­tic, like the blis­ter packs encas­ing every­thing from Bar­bie dolls to Bic pens. Back in the days of five and ten stores, it was so nice to sim­ply pick an item out of a bin or off a shelf, pay for it, and not wres­tle with tin snips to get it open.
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Caren Stelson

Caren Stelson

Caren Stel­son The book I wish every­one would read: I love Make Way for Duck­lings writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Robert McCloskey, and I wish every par­ent and child would read this age­less pic­ture book togeth­er. Why do I love Make Way for Duck­lings? Let me start with the fact that my fam­i­ly is from Boston and Make Way for Duck­lings takes place in the city of Boston. In
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Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lesa Cline-Ransome

Author Lesa Cline-Ran­some is known for her pic­ture book biogra­phies of poets, anti-slav­ery cru­saders, musi­cians, ath­letes, and math­e­mati­cians. Her nov­el Find­ing Langston received a Scott O’Dell His­tor­i­cal Fic­tion Award and a Coret­ta Scott King Author Hon­or. We impa­tient­ly wait­ed for the com­pan­ion nov­el, Leav­ing Lymon, which was pub­lished in ear­ly 2020. Lesa is a won­der­ful sto­ry­teller and a stel­lar non­fic­tion researcher and author.… more
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Jen Bryant

Jen Bryant

Author and poet Jen Bryant is known for her pic­ture book biogra­phies of artists, poets, word­mon­gers, com­posers, and play­wrights. Her verse and prose nov­els are well-researched, often focused on an his­toric event like the Scopes tri­al or the Lind­bergh kid­nap­ping tri­al or Cap­tain Kid­d’s buried trea­sure in New Jer­sey. Always focused on her next book, we’re thank­ful Jen took time from her sched­ule to answer our Skin­ny Dip questions. … more
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Catherine Friend

Catherine Friend

We wel­come author Cather­ine Friend to our Skin­ny Dip col­umn this month. You may know her for her pic­ture books The Per­fect Nest and My Head is Full of Col­ors, or her chap­ter book Barn Boot Blues. You may have thought about becom­ing a farmer after read­ing Hit by a FarmSheep­ish, and The Com­pas­sion­ate Car­ni­vore.… more
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Susan Fletcher

Susan Fletcher

Sto­ry­teller adept Susan Fletcher’s mind has giv­en us The Drag­on Chron­i­cles, Alpha­bet of Dreams, the star­tling Fal­con in the Glass, and most recent­ly Jour­ney of the Pale Bear. As you’ll read below, she has trav­eled to amaz­ing loca­tions and had envi­able expe­ri­ences as she researched her nov­els. Susan taught at the Ver­mont Col­lege of Fine Arts’ Mas­ter of Fine Arts in Writ­ing for Chil­dren and Young Adults pro­gram but now she lives full-time in Texas.… more
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Caroline B. Cooney

Caroline B. Cooney

To begin our year of Skinny Dippin' for 2020, and in the coldest month of the year (brrrrr), we interviewed Caroline B. Cooney, the author of so many beloved books.
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Cheryl Minnema

Cheryl Minnema

This month we welcome author Cheryl Minnema to our Skinny Dip tradition, learning more about this Ojibwe author who has published two picture books, Hungry Johnny and Johnny's Pheasant.
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Brian P. Cleary

Skinny Dip with Brian P. Cleary

We're pleased to welcome author and poet Brian P. Cleary for a Skinny Dip this month. His books have made kids guffaw and chortle, all while learning parts of grammar or math! Impossible, you say? Not for Brian, whose brain just works this way.
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Skinny Dip with Marsha Wilson Chall

One of my all-time favorite books is Up North at the Cab­in. There is some­thing quin­tes­sen­tial about the cab­in expe­ri­ence for many peo­ple who live in the Upper Mid­west. This book, by our Skin­ny Dip­pin’ author Mar­sha Wil­son Chall, has engaged read­ers and lis­ten­ers for 27 years! Mar­sha has cre­at­ed many pic­ture books that show­case her sto­ry­telling tal­ents, includ­ing Bona­parte, One Pup’s Up, and The Secret Life of Fig­gy Mus­tar­do.… more
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Kenneth Kraegel

Skinny Dip with Kenneth Kraegel

We’re pleased to wel­come author and illus­tra­tor Ken­neth Kraegel for a Skin­ny Dip this month. His newest book, Wild Hon­ey from the Moon, is due to be pub­lished on Novem­ber 5, 2019. School Library Con­nec­tion said, “The rich and lus­cious illus­tra­tions are what make this book so spe­cial; read­ers will want to exam­ine every detail on every page.… more
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Sarah Sullivan

Skinny Dip with Sarah Sullivan

Bookol­o­gy is delight­ed to wel­come author Sarah Sul­li­van for an Octo­ber Skin­ny Dip. Look for Sarah’s A Day for Skat­ing, illus­trat­ed by Made­line Valen­tine (Can­dlewick Press, avail­able Novem­ber 5th), a love­ly book to read out loud before you go skat­ing or to explain what skat­ing is. Sarah’s pic­ture book Pass­ing the Music Down is a much-praised sto­ry about old-time fid­dlers inspired by the lives of renowned fid­dlers Melvin Wine and Jake Krack.… more
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Carla Killough McClafferty

Skinny Dip with Carla McClafferty

We’re pleased to wel­come author Car­la Kil­lough McClaf­fer­ty to our Skin­ny Dip col­umn. She is known for her fine and care­ful­ly researched non­fic­tion books, such as The Many Faces of George Wash­ing­ton: Remak­ing a Pres­i­den­tial Icon; Some­thing Out of Noth­ing: Marie Curie and Radi­um; Fourth Down and Inch­es: Con­cus­sions and Foot­bal­l’s Make-or-Break Moment and her most recent Buried Lives: The Enslaved Peo­ple of George Wash­ing­ton’s Mount Ver­non.… more
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Padma Venkatraman

Skinny Dip with Padma Venkatraman

We’re pleased to wel­come author Pad­ma Venka­tra­man, whose every nov­el I have found delight­ful. Her per­spec­tives as a world cit­i­zen and an oceanog­ra­ph­er and a per­son who cares fer­vent­ly about chil­dren’s well-being give a pow­er­ful depth to her writ­ing. We asked Pad­ma to answer the Skin­ny Dip ques­tions that appealed to her: How many bookcases do you have in your house?more
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Skinny Dip with Nicola Davies

We’re pleased to wel­come author Nico­la Davies to our Skin­ny Dip col­umn. She writes such fine books about our nat­ur­al world. Her most recent book, The Day War Came (Can­dlewick Press), relates the sto­ry of a refugee child who real­izes that war fol­lows her in the closed doors and turned backs. It is through the kind­ness of oth­er chil­dren that she finds hope.… more
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Kara LaReau

Skinny Dip with Kara LaReau

We’re pleased to con­nect you with author (and edi­tor) Kara LaReau, whose two book series, The Infa­mous Rat­sos and The Unin­ten­tion­al Adven­tures of the Bland Sis­ters, are tick­ling read­ers’ fun­ny­bones and stir­ring their sense of adven­ture. She was an edi­tor for ten years, edit­ing some of our most-loved books such as Because of Winn-Dix­ie and the Mer­cy Wat­son series.… more
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C.M. Surrisi

Skinny Dip with C.M. Surrisi

Have you read the Quin­nie Boyd mid­dle-grade mys­ter­ies? The May­pop Kid­nap­ping, Vam­pires on the Run, and A Side of Sab­o­tage? I dis­cov­ered them this spring and I stayed up sev­er­al nights to read them. The author of those books, C.M. Sur­risi, is just as inter­est­ing as you’d think the writer who dreamed up Quin­nie, her friends, and her vil­lage in Maine would be.… more
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Skinny Dip with Phuoc Thi Minh Tran

We are pleased to Skin­ny Dip with Phuoc Thi Minh Tran this week. As a librar­i­an, author, sto­ry­teller, and moth­er, she adds her per­spec­tive to the rich­ly tex­tured quilt of books for children. What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever read a book? In the hospital, I read my newly released book My First Book of Vietnamese Words : An ABC Rhyming Book of Language and Culture to my 94-year-old father-in-law as a bedtime story.… more
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Becky Kruger

Skinny Dip with Becky Kruger

We are so for­tu­nate to have ded­i­cat­ed and inspir­ing librar­i­an edu­ca­tors work­ing with chil­dren in many schools through­out our land. Becky Kruger not only serves as the librar­i­an at Ray Miller Ele­men­tary School in Mis­souri but she also helps orga­nize the annu­al Tru­man State Uni­ver­si­ty Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Festival. Which book you read as a child has most influenced your life?more
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Pat Schmatz

Skinny Dip with Pat Schmatz

Pat Schmatz is the smart, well-read, insight­ful, and tal­ent­ed author of books such as Lizard Radio, Mouse­traps, Blue­fish, and her most recent The Key to Every­thing. She occa­sion­al­ly teach­es writ­ing, espe­cial­ly to mid­dle school and high school stu­dents. If you have a chance, attend one of her classes. What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever read a book? more
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Skinny Dip with Kathleen Baxter

Kath­leen Bax­ter, a librar­i­an for more than 30 years, a nation­al­ly-known book­talk­er, a co-author of the won­der­ful Gotcha! resource books, is best known as the woman who has worked tire­less­ly to keep Maud Hart Lovelace’s books in print, there­by intro­duc­ing new gen­er­a­tions of read­ers to the Bet­sy-Tacy books and the oth­er cher­ished nov­els set in Deep Val­ley. Her most recent book, My Bet­sy-Tacy Mir­a­cle: a Lit­er­ary Pil­grim­age to Deep Val­ley, shares the charm­ing, true sto­ry of Kath­leen’s meet­ing and cor­re­spon­dence with the author Maud Hart Lovelace. … more
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Jerdine Nolen

Skinny Dip with Jerdine Nolen

Jer­dine Nolen is the ver­sa­tile author of pic­ture books, chap­ter books, and nov­els, includ­ing her most recent books, the Brad­ford Street Bud­dies series and Cal­i­co Girl. We enjoy hav­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn more about this writer and educator. What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever read a book?  The weirdest place I have ever read a book is in a closet.… more
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Lester Laminack

Skinny Dip with Lester Laminack

Lester Lam­i­nack is sought after as a speak­er in school dis­tricts all over the coun­try. A retired pro­fes­sor, active­ly involved in lit­er­a­cy on many lev­els, he’s thought­ful, artic­u­late, and has a sparkling sense of humor.  We’re pleased that this very busy author and speak­er took time to share his thoughts with Bookol­o­gy’s read­ers this month. What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever read a book? more
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Laura Purdie Salas

Skinny Dip with Laura Purdie Salas

Lau­ra Pur­die Salas is a poet, a researcher, and a pop­u­lar vis­it­ing author in ele­men­tary and mid­dle schools. Sev­er­al of her books have turned heads and stirred up a buzz, includ­ing Water Can Be … and If You Were the Moon. She has pub­lished many books about writ­ing for chil­dren and fre­quent­ly speaks at con­fer­ences. We’re pleased that this very busy author is spend­ing some time with Bookol­o­gy this month.… more
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Lisa Bullard. Photo by Katherine Warde

Skinny Dip with Lisa Bullard

Lisa Bullard is a well-respect­ed writ­ing teacher in Min­neso­ta and beyond, hav­ing shared her wis­dom and her sense of humor about writ­ing with class­rooms full of adults and chil­dren (usu­al­ly not at the same time). She has two books on writ­ing, one for adults (Get Start­ed in Writ­ing for Chil­dren) and one for chil­dren (You Can Write a Sto­ry!more
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Brenda Sederberg

Skinny Dip with Brenda Sederberg

Brenda Sederberg is the current facilitator of the Chapter & Verse Book Club in Duluth, Minnesota. She's an enthusiastic reader and wonderfully avid about sharing the books she reads. A retired teacher, she continues to inspire learning wherever she goes.
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DeDe Small

Skinny Dip with DeDe Small

DeDe Small shares her enthu­si­asm about books, read­ing, and lit­er­a­cy with her stu­dents at Drake Uni­ver­si­ty in Des Moines, Iowa. We invit­ed DeDe to Skin­ny Dip with us, our first inter­view in the New Year. When did you first start reading books? I don’t actually remember learning to read but I do always remember having books. I even came up with my own cataloging system in the later elementary grades.… more
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Kelly Starling Lyons

Skinny Dip with Kelly Starling Lyons

You may know Kel­ly Star­ling Lyons for One Mil­lion Men and Me or Tea Cakes for Tosh or Ellen’s Broom, mem­o­rable pic­ture books, but we’re cel­e­brat­ing her new chap­ter books star­ring Jada Jones! Thanks, Kel­ly, for tak­ing a Skin­ny Dip with us in December. Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? That’s a tough question.… more
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Sarah Aronson

Skinny Dip with Sarah Aronson

Sarah Aron­son’s most recent books, The Worst Fairy God­moth­er Ever (The Wish List #1, Beach Lane Books) and Keep Calm and Sparkle On! (The Wish List #2) are at once light­heart­ed and seri­ous — sto­ries that are fun to read and encour­age work­ing for caus­es that mat­ter to the world. Sarah is wide­ly known in the chil­dren’s book writ­ing com­mu­ni­ty as an enthu­si­as­tic and effec­tive writ­ing instruc­tor.… more
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Mira Bartók

Skinny Dip with Mira Bartók

Mira Bartók, author and illus­tra­tor, recent­ly ush­ered The Won­der­ling into the world and it is already on sev­er­al best of 2017 book lists. Con­grat­u­la­tions, Mira, and thanks for shar­ing your respons­es with our readers. When did you first start reading books? Age 4. All-time favorite book? The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Favorite breakfast or lunch as a kid?more
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Susan Yutzey

Skinny Dip with Susan Yutzey

Susan Yutzey worked as an Ohio school librar­i­an for many years, serv­ing in local, state, and nation­al lead­er­ship posi­tions. Now retired, she con­tin­ues to be a tire­less advo­cate for school libraries and librarians. Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? Ms. D’Angelo was my seventh grade teacher. I was a new student at Edith A.… more
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Skinny Dip with Anne Broyles

Author Anne Broyles is a world trav­el­er, explor­er, and social jus­tice advo­cate who writes books about his­tor­i­cal jour­neys, fam­i­ly tra­di­tions, and the immi­grant experience.  Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? My fifth grade teacher at Schumaker Elementary School, Mr. George Willems, encouraged me to think of myself as a writer through our weekly writing assignments.… more
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Patti Lapp

Skinny Dip with Patti Lapp

A ded­i­cat­ed edu­ca­tor in Penn­syl­va­nia, we invit­ed Pat­ti Lapp to answer our twen­ty Skin­ny Dip questions.  Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? Mr. Jor­dan was my favorite teacher who taught 7th grade. He was fun­ny and straight­for­ward; all of us stu­dents respect­ed him, and he cer­tain­ly kept every­one in line. I attend­ed a Catholic school, and he was unique in that setting.… more
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Stephanie Calmenson

Skinny Dip with Stephanie Calmenson

Author of the beloved Din­ner at the Pan­da PalaceStephanie Cal­men­son has shared her love of lit­er­a­ture with ear­ly child­hood and ele­men­tary read­ers by chan­nel­ing her enthu­si­asm for their expe­ri­ences into her books.  Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? I loved my kinder­garten teacher, Ms. Cogan, who taught with warmth and joy.… more
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Margarita Engle

Skinny Dip with Margarita Engle

Our cur­rent Young Peo­ple’s Poet Lau­re­ate, Mar­gari­ta Engle has writ­ten about the land, the life, and the heroes of Cuba, along with verse nov­els, pic­ture books, and biogra­phies of heroes the world over.  What is your favorite daydream? I love to dream of instant trav­el, like the “beam me up” gad­get in old Star Trek episodes. There are so many places I want to see, and so many peo­ple I want to vis­it more often, espe­cial­ly rel­a­tives in Los Ange­les, San Fran­cis­co, Mia­mi, and Cuba.… more
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Geoff Herbach

Skinny Dip with Geoff Herbach

Cre­ative with many endeav­ors, includ­ing writ­ing, teach­ing col­lege stu­dents, the­ater, and being a dad, Geoff Herbach is stretch­ing his wings from YA fic­tion to pic­ture books! Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? I loved Mrs. Fatzinger in 5th grade. She read books out loud to us every day right after lunch and it was fan­tas­tic.… more
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Joyce Sidman

Skinny Dip with Joyce Sidman

From the first time, many years ago, that I heard Joyce Sid­man read aloud from her poet­ry, when Eure­ka! Poems about Inven­tors was about to be released, I knew this woman car­ried mag­ic in her soul. Work­ing mag­ic with words, writ­ing about sci­ence and our very human emo­tions … Joyce has become a favorite author for many readers. Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why?more
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Lee Bennett Hopkins

Skinny Dip with Lee Bennett Hopkins

You can­not be a part of the chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture com­mu­ni­ty with­out know­ing his name. Lee Ben­nett Hop­kins has been writ­ing for chil­dren and adults since 1968. His Books Are by Peo­ple (1969) had a pro­found effect on me. With his antholo­gies, he has kept our eyes focused on poet­ry, know­ing how much chil­dren love the images and emo­tions evoked by well-cho­sen words.… more
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Cathy Camper

Skinny Dip with Cathy Camper

Are you fans of the Lowrid­ers graph­ic nov­els? We are! And we can’t wait for the next one. The author who thinks up those great sto­ries is Cathy Camper. We invit­ed her to Skin­ny Dip with the Bookol­o­gist … and she said yes! When we asked her point­ed ques­tions, here’s what she had to say. Favorite breakfast or lunch as a kid?more
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Suzanne Costner

Skinny Dip with Suzanne Costner

We’re thrilled to Skin­ny Dip with out­stand­ing edu­ca­tor Suzanne Cost­ner, Thanks to Suzanne for answer our ques­tions dur­ing her very busy end-of-the-school-year hours. Who was your favorite teacher in grades K-7 and why? My favorite teacher was Mrs. Hill in 4th grade. She read to us every day after lunch: Stuart Little, Where the Red Fern Grows, James and the Giant Peach.… more
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Aimee Bissonette

Skinny Dip with Aimée Bissonette

We’re thrilled to Skin­ny Dip with Aimée Bis­sonette, who is the author of two acclaimed pic­ture books so far, North Woods Girl (Min­neso­ta His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety Press) and Miss Col­fax’s Light (Sleep­ing Bear Press). Thanks to Aor tak­ing time away from writ­ing and work to answer Bookol­o­gy’s ques­tions! When did you first start reading books? My best friend, Lyn, taught me to read when I was 5 years old.… more
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Susan Latta

Skinny Dip with Susan Latta

This week we’re all set to Skin­ny Dip with Susan Lat­ta, who is cel­e­brat­ing the pub­li­ca­tion of her first trade book on Sep­tem­ber 1st, Bold Women of Med­i­cine: 21 Sto­ries of Astound­ing Dis­cov­er­ies, Dar­ing Surg­eries, and Heal­ing Break­throughs (Chica­go Review Press). With his­tor­i­cal to con­tem­po­rary biogra­phies of women who have found cures, advanced med­i­cine, and tend­ed to the sick with com­pas­sion, Susan has writ­ten an inspir­ing book that teen read­ers will find fas­ci­nat­ing.… more
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Loni Niles

Skinny Dip with Loni Niles

We inter­viewed Loni Niles, K‑12 media spe­cial­ist in the Wade­na-Deer Creek pub­lic schools in west cen­tral Min­neso­ta. She shared her thoughts about books and life. What is your favorite late-night snack? I love popcorn and can eat it any time during the day, even for breakfast! Favorite city to visit? Chicago. Even though we moved from there when I was just a baby, I still take some pride that I was born there! … more
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Mike Wohnoutka

Skinny Dip with Mike Wohnoutka

We inter­viewed Mike Wohnout­ka, chil­dren’s book illus­tra­tor, wide­ly known for his books Dad’s First Day, Moo!, and Lit­tle Pup­py and the Big Green Mon­ster. (Mike’s last name is pro­nounced wuh-noot-kuh.) Which book do you find yourself recommending passionately? Picture books in general. I often hear parents say their children are too old for picture books.… more
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April Whatley Bedford

Skinny Dip with April Whatley Bedford

We inter­viewed April What­ley Bed­ford, life­long read­er, cur­rent­ly the Dean of the School of Edu­ca­tion at Brook­lyn College. Which celebrity, living or not, do you wish would invite you to a coffee shop? Can I choose two? I would love to have coffee with Michelle and Barack Obama, either together or individually. I’m sure I’m not alone in this answer, but there are no two people I admire more in the world, and I also believe we would laugh a lot during our conversations.… more
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Skinny Dip with Linda Sue Park

We inter­viewed Lin­da Sue Park, vet­er­an author and New­bery medal­ist, whose books have inspired chil­dren in many ways, appeal­ing to a wide range of read­ers with books like A Sin­gle Shard, The Mul­ber­ry Project, Keep­ing Score, Yaks Yak, and A Long Walk to Water. Which celebrity, living or not, do you wish would invite you to a coffee shop?… more
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