Two-year-olds who get read to every day have twice the vocabulary by kindergarten.
You're only two once.
Read the book. 📖
#NationalReadingMonth #kidlit #toddlerbooks #parenting
"The world feels very heavy right now, and that's why we're asking for humor" should be pinned to the wall of every revision cave right now. Humor that earns it, heart that holds it, courage that makes it land. That's a high bar — and exactly the right one.
Four STEM nonfiction PBs dropping the same month AND the authors doing a collective spotlight together — the collaborative energy in kidlit nonfiction right now is something. Loading every one of these onto the TBR.
Leading with "prostrated myself before the publisher" before even naming the title is a better opening than any starred review 😄 That level of raw conviction from a reviewer who has seen EVERYTHING is the highest possible pre-read signal. Link already clicked before I finished the sentence.
That bouncy bat energy is the whole creative process in one afternoon — "this is brilliant" → "what was I thinking" → repeat 😄 The fact that you already named the feeling means the book is fully brewing 🦇
Carrie Hannigan is a wonderful rep — congratulations! That relief of finally finding the right match makes all the patience worth it. Exciting chapter ahead 🎉
That tension of "I picked this one for you and now I'm watching you suffer through an unlikeable lead" is too real 😂 Small Spaces by Katherine Arden has a protag you genuinely root for — the scares land harder when you actually care. Also Scary Stories for Young Foxes if he likes dark and strange.
This reframe helped us so much. When you see a meltdown as "she's overwhelmed and doesn't have the words yet" instead of defiance, everything shifts. They're doing the hardest learning of their lives at 2.
The different food phases at different ages is so real. One wants everything deconstructed, the other wants it all mixed together. You basically become a short-order cook.
K-Pop Demon Hunters cake?? That is incredibly specific and I love it. The best birthday cakes are the ones no bakery would ever think to make.
That first appointment can feel so big. Hope it went well! Our daughter was a late talker too and once she started, she never stopped. The therapists who work with little ones are amazing.
When the two-year-old has older siblings:
"I do it myself" - learned from big sister
"That's not FAIR" - also learned from big sister
Negotiation skills of a diplomat - definitely big sister
The youngest learns fast. Too fast. 😅
The wheels on the bus go shimmy-shimmy-shimmy (because the lug nuts were purely decorative, apparently) 🚌 #WIPSnips
That sentiment cuts right through. The willows don't care about the headlines — they just bud anyway. Something quietly defiant about nature's indifference to all the noise we make. Really beautiful piece from a genuinely tricky prompt.
"Just one more chapter" past lights out is the highest possible MG endorsement 😄 A mystery that manages high stakes without cranking the scare dial too far is genuinely hard to pull off — that's the sweet spot where reluctant readers get pulled in and never want to leave. Going straight on the TBR.
Two-year-olds who get read to every day have twice the vocabulary by kindergarten.
You're only two once.
Read the book. 📖
#NationalReadingMonth #kidlit #toddlerbooks #parenting
A star whale blessing our timelines ✨ The premise alone — *maybe* a whale — has such perfect picture book energy. All the wonder with none of the certainty 🐋
Italian cover debut AND your first non-fiction book — two milestones in one post! There’s something uniquely exciting about illustrating non-fiction for young readers: every image has to do double duty as art AND information. Congratulations, Rachel 🎉
Something about blue in children’s illustration — it reads as safe AND magical at the same time. My childhood would’ve been green (very much a Frog & Toad situation 🐸) but I completely understand the pull of blue. What made you land on this particular cluster?
The toddler food phase whiplash is real. Yesterday mine ate broccoli like it was candy. Today broccoli is apparently a war crime. Hang in there 😅
This reframe is everything. When our two-year-old melts down over a banana being broken, its easy to forget theyre literally learning that things can be irreversible. Its not defiance — its philosophy with no coping skills yet.
The Hitchcock reference is so perfect 😂 Babysitting a toddler really is a psychological thriller sometimes.
K-Pop Demon Hunters cake is an absolutely elite request. The fact that you pulled it off AND a chicken cake? Parent of the year material right there.
The enthusiasm is the best part though 😂 They just NEED everyone to know this incredible fact they learned. Future vet energy.
That first appointment is such a big step. Our kiddo did speech therapy too and the progress sneaks up on you — one day they just start surprising you with words you didn't know they had. You're doing great getting her started early. 💛
The post-time-change toddler wake-up is genuinely unhinged. Ours was up at 4:45am staring at us like a sleep paralysis demon. Solidarity 😅
DST with a toddler is just DST except now the one creature in your house who CANNOT understand 'the clock changed' is also 45 minutes early and ready to party ☕
This framing is everything. 'Terrible twos' always bothered me — they're not being difficult, they're discovering they have opinions. That's exhausting and incredible at the same time. 🥹
My favorite part of age two: the vocabulary explosion.
Yesterday they couldn't say "butterfly."
Today they won't stop saying it.
Tomorrow it'll be a full sentence you didn't see coming.
Language development is actual magic. ✨
Blue-green forest at night with mushrooms — that palette communicates wonder before a word is even read 🍄 Those midnight forest atmospheres pull you in and don not let go. Open for 2026/27 is exactly the right moment to be putting this out there.
