When I met with my publisher, Angus Yuen-Killick at Red Comet Press, we kicked around ideas to promote all the Red Comet Press authors in the Boston area, who are also friends of mine. It seemed too ambitious to set up Storytimes or Author Visits. Angus suggested that we contact bookstores in advance to see…
To fold an origami crane, you will need a square piece of paper. It does not have to be origami paper. Here are the instructions via a diagram from the U.S. Park Service, though personally, I find the diagrams to be confusing: This is an activity for Barbed Wire Between Us. …
Marilyn Singer invented the reverso poetry form with her seminal picture book, Mirror Mirror. In this Read Brightly article, Marilyn Singer describes her new poetry form. Here are some excerpts: A reverso is a poem with two halves. In a reverso, the second half reverses the lines from the first half, with changes only in…
I’m thrilled to celebrate the book birthday of Barbed Wire Between Us today! It’s the story of my heart. I wanted to tell the story of a Japanese grandmother standing outside the Kids in Cages ever since I saw haunting images in the media during Trump’s first administration. My early attempts were dark and definitely…
My author copies just arrived! I can’t wait to show you! Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación, and published by Red Comet Press This is the story of my heart. The manuscript that I struggled with for years, which was, at first, much too dark to be a children’s…
I am so excited to introduce Barbed Wire Between Us, the story of my heart. I think that I have worked on this picture book idea forever … or at least for 7 years. It all came together during the pandemic when I watched a Zoom event featuring picture book storytime at a Long Beach,…
I am thrilled to announce a new picture book! Violeta Encarnación will illustrate Barbed Wire Between Us. I’m so lucky that this story speaks to her! This is the picture book of my heart. I have been working on this for more than 5 years, trying to figure out how to structure the story. I am…