Navigating Nonfiction - Melissa Stewart

Melissa Stewart has written more than 200 science books for children! Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and garnered such awards as the Sibert Honor, AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books, eighteen NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students, two Green Earth Book Awards, and four ALA Notables. She co-wrote 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books as well as maintains the award-winning blog Celebrate Nonfiction.

Melissa helps explain the popularity and impact of different types of kids' nonfiction titles in today's publishing market. Changes in the economy at macro and micro levels as well as state standard educational requirements have had a massive impact on shaping not only what types of nonfiction books are getting published but what is even considered an 'informational' text today. 

When looking at sales only from typical bookstore outlets or a bestseller list like the NYT provides, kids' nonfiction is massively underrepresented compared to the sales nonfiction titles get in school/library and bookfair markets.

Libraries (especially school libraries) are the places kids can go to pick out the books they actually want to read and Melissa advises watching those shelves to understand what is to come in the nonfiction market by what is being checked out today. 

Melissa walked us through the five types of nonfiction with example titles and then shared how a librarian tracked their checkout rates by type from 2024–2025: 

Melissa Stewart's 5 Kinds of Nonfiction

Active (skills and learning oriented how-tos like cooking or craft books)

Browsable (DK titles, short bits of descriptive text with lavish amounts of visuals) 

Traditional (surveys and overviews of topics, usually longer texts with imagery)

Narrative (storytelling, narrative writing style that is ideal for biographies or historical events. (Melissa brings up how narrative nonfiction has evolved over the last few decades and recommends reading the NCTE's 2023 position statement concerning it here.))

Expository Literature (niche and highly specialized topics, innovative formats that impact text structure and imagery) 

Gamification within the reading journey is one example of an innovative format in expository nonfiction, Melissa uses BUTT OR FACE by Kari Lavelle as a great title to study on what is currently selling in kids' nonfiction and as a mentor text (now a series) for gamified, expository nonfiction.

Melissa came up with these categories and has excellent resources on her site, including learning more about these five types, that would help anyone improve their understanding of how to make great nonfiction for kids. 

Creating Memorable Characters That Stand Out on the Page

Sharon G. Flake is an award-winning author of over 1.8 million copies of her books sold globally.  Her work is taught in elementary schools , middle to high schools, as well as at college.  Most known for her classic novel The Skin I'm In, Flake has authored fifteen books including novels, picture books, short story collections and more.  

 Sharon loves young people, young readers. She feels she died and went to heaven to get to be able to write for younger people and be in their presence. She tries to crate work that is worthy their attention. We often think about what editors/agents/reviewers think of their work, but we should keep the young people, our readers top of mind.  

Some tips for creating memorable characters:

1. Let your character show you the way. 

Get out of the characters way and let them lead the way.

First sentences do a lot of heavy listed. The first line of THE SKIN I’M IN, “The first time I seen her, I got a bad feeling inside.”

You want to create characters that have texture. 

Sharon often doesn’t know who’s going to show up. She’s good at saying to the characters that do show up, “I’m going to let you lead the parade.” She says, “It’s not really my story. It’s my character’s story.”

You might wonder how that come out? Sharon says, your character knows you. They know what you value. They know what you like. They know what’s important to you. 

Sharon ask the room: How do your values show up on the pages of your book? 

2. Learn to erase yourself from your story. 

Sharon doesn’t want the author Sharon Flake to show up on the page. She wants it to be the kid, the character. 

Keep checking yourself: Would a kid this age say this? 

3. Give your characters a nearly impossible test.

4. Learn to slip into somebody else skin.

Industry Panel: The AI Debate — Kait Feldmann

Kait Feldmann is a children’s book agent at kt literary representing illustrators. She previously worked as an editor at HarperCollins and Scholastic. Kait is passionate about championing books by, about, and for BIPOC. In 2020 she received the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award. 

Moderator Martha Brockenbrough asks the panel if they are receiving AI generated submissions and if so, how are those handled?

KAIT: Most agencies and editors are now including official stances and clauses about not using AI.

Kait has started seeing more submissions with AI, and while some state their AI usage outright, Kait can still recognize AI-generated ones—most obviously from writers who think they need to include art to submit a picturebook manuscript. Kait reiterates that is NOT part of the submitting author's job. It's happened enough that Kait now has a form rejection for these AI submissions. While Kait is all for technology taking over dishes, laundry, and taxes she still prefers humans writing and making art.

KAIT: I don't want AI to touch any part of your creative process. 

The panel talks about how any content inputted into an AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT is no longer work under your copyright and is also used as training material by that LLM. Kait reminds us AI is technically a plagiarizing tool that has been scraping from published creators who have not been paid, credited, or given consent. 

She encourages people who want to use AI to write or illustrate to ask themselves why they don't feel like they are capable of creating it themselves? Kait says it's okay to not know answers and struggle with your creating, the real writing is in the revising. 

Kait adds there is an additional moral dilemma to using AI: The huge environmental strain of using LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude which run on the loud, water-guzzling data centers that are being built without appropriate environmental regulations (if any) overwhelmingly in poorer regions of countries where its residents have no political standing or funding to push back or stop the construction or pollution. Kait likens it to shopping on Amazon or Shein, it's up to you how comfortable you are contributing to known causes of the global climate crisis.

Industry Panel: The AI Debate - Ginee Seo

 

Ginee Seo is VP and Editorial Director of Ten Speed Young Readers, the children's book imprint at Ten Speed/Crown. She has worked in children's book publishing for over 35 years and has held a number of positions, including Executive Publishing Director of Children’s Books at Chronicle Books; VP, Associate Publisher at Atheneum Books for Young Readers, where she also had her own eponymous imprint; and VP, Editorial Director at Harper Trophy. 

A note on this conversation, as AI is quite broad. In this conversation, the panelist are speaking to generative AI technology. Keeping in mind that generative AI has been built on copyrighted material (without compensation for that work). 

Martha asks about AI clauses in contracts.

Ginee shares that PRH doesn’t have a specific AI clause as of now, but they do already have a a clause that expresses that the work is solely created by the author. That said, they (PRH) very much believe in protecting copyright. On the copyright page of each book, there is a statement that any use of generative AI using the book is not allowed (protecting the person/people behind the book). 

She also shares that at Ten Speed, they have core principles:

• Human authorship is essential

• Originality and IP integrity is nonnegotiable

• Transparency and early communication are key

She says it all comes down to protecting you. 

Ginee wanted to be on this panel to share this message: Protect your text. Do not run your text through AI. If you do, you are giving away your material. People are not aware how invasive and intrusive AI is. 

Ginee is not seeing any request from agents or authors to not put their work through AI, but she thinks that’s likely to change

She is asked if any publishers are taking their IP work and putting it into AI to generate more work like it. Ginee hopes not, but she could see a possibility of that happening. 

On the question of using AI to research, Ginee says to consider the information are you giving it. Know it can be wrong. That it is only just a starting place.

Final advice: Ginee fears that maybe the conversation has created a bit of fear. She just wants you all, as book creators, to know: Do not make it easy for these companies to take your IP. Don't take the shortcuts. And, if you were to write something to share with publishing gatekeepers you might say, "All work done by an imperfect human." Imperfection is what makes us beautiful. It's what makes art. 

What an informative conversation about this important topic. If you want to listen, you can still register for the conference at scbwi.org and watch the replay. 

Opening Keynote: Pam Muñoz Ryan

 

Pam Muñoz Ryan has written over forty books for young people that include picture books for the very young, picture books for older readers, and the middle grade and young adult novels, Mañanaland, RIDING FREEDOM, ESPERANZA RISING, BECOMING NAOMI LEÓN, PAINT THE WIND, THE DREAMER, and the Newbery Honor book, ECHO (Feb. 2015.) 

Pam earned masters degree with the plan to teach child literature at a college. But didn’t end up doing that, instead she started writing for kids. Her first books were picture books. 

RIDING FREEDOM, her first novel, started as a picture book and her editor encouraged her to instead write it as a novel. (This is not uncommon that writers start a story as a picture book but there’s more story there to tell.)

A treat: Pam gives a peek into her working world. So much fun to see her office (all tidied up for the photo). To see her bulletin board and calendar. She also gives us a peek into some of her pages, with editorial notes handwrittn on the pages. Pam shares that her editor is often asking many questions of her and her story.

Pam will share her confessions (truths about Pam and her writing, which might not be true about you). Here is a sampling?

• As a kid, Pam didn’t know being a writer was a job you could have. She thought writers were dead.
• She was a late bloomer in the writing world.
• As a child, Pam never questioned why she didn’t see herself in books, for many reasons, including the time in which she grew (there were few choices and she didn’t know otherwise)
• Pam does wonder what it would have been like if she would have read even one book where she could see herself in its pages
• Pam has been able to live vicariously through readers who have found themselves her in her books
• Pam wishes writers would ask less about how to get published (the successes) and instead about the failures. A few things she'd share about: Setting aside a manuscript that I had over-shopped; Getting published and discovering I could still fail. Rewriting. And rewriting. And rewriting. 
• Pam shares this profession is often frustrating and test your patience. "If you’re not trying and failing, you are going nowhere."
• Pam doesn’t track drafts, or her daily word count. She can’t separate the writing from the rewriting. It’s all rewriting. Reading and rewriting and inching the story forward. “For me writing is all revision.” She says it's a very messy evolution. 
• When it comes to writers block, Pam doesn’t have time. This is a job. She says, “I go to work, whether I want to or not.”
• Pam doesn’t have a muse! 
• If there’s one thing Pam wants us all to know: Momentum is far more important than inspiration. 

Welcome Summer 2026 with Sarah Baker

Sarah Baker, Executive Director of SCBWI, leads our virtual conference welcome this morning. Sarah began her career in children’s book publishing at Penguin Young Readers Group as a designer. Her debut illustrated picture book, Becca & Bubbe's Bucket List, written by Laura Gehl came out this May.

Sarah reminds us this conference is for anyone and everyone interesting in making books for kids and young adults, and this year's virtual format again lets even more people tune in from all over the world. Based on live polling, the makeup of attendees is over 60% pre-published, and over 60% writers.

Sarah gives a shout out to this year's conference materials illustrator, Heegyum Kim.

And invites us to remember two great names in children's literature we lost this year, Mildred Pitts Walter and Jane Yolen.

If you want to follow along with the rest of the conference, register at https://www.scbwi.org/events/virtual-summer-conference-2026. Replays of the conferences will be available after the conference for a limited time.

Conference art by Heegyum Kim

Team Blog is Ready to GO!

Elated, Hydrated, and Motivated! 

Team Blog is back for another round of the SCBWI Conferences! This summer, Jaime Temairik and Jolie Stekly will be returning to live blog this international conference. Countless people will be logging on and locking in for an exciting weekend of panels, discussion, breakout sessions, virtual social hours, and more! And Team Blog will be capturing highlights throughout the whole weekend. 

Follow along with us here on The Official SCBWI Conference Blog and check out all there is to offer at SCBWI! Don't forget to tag SCBWI with the hashtag #scbwiSummer26!

Thank You, from US to YOU!

From SCWBI to you—Thank you so much for following along with us this weekend! 

The conference was a blast and we had a great time blogging for you all! I hope you found some advice, joy, and nuggets from our posts to take with you along your journey! 

We hope to see you next year!

Can't make it to the In-Person Winter Conference in New York City, join us online at the Virtual Winter Conference featuring inspirational talks, industry panels and deep-dive Creative Labs,taking place in February of 2026. Videos of all sessions are available to watch for approximately 30 days after the event.

The Wrap Up

Sarah Baker (she/her) is the Executive Director of SCBWI, where she leads the SCBWI staff and works closely with the Board of Directors, the Advisory Council, and the Global Regional Teams. She joined the SCBWI staff in 2011. Sarah graduated from UCSB with a major in Studio Art and began her career in children’s book publishing at Penguin Young Readers Group, where she designed children’s books. Sarah is also a children’s book illustrator, with her debut illustrated picture book coming out in May 2026: Becca & Bubbe's Bucket List, written by Laura Gehl, published by Rocky Pond Books.

With the audience still applauding Tiffany Jackson for her inspiring closing keynote, Sarah took to the stage to thank Tiffany both for her keynote and for her generosity in giving a Q&A. 

She hopes that everyone found inspiration, tools, insights, and friends this weekend. “The whole staff are proud of you too.” 

She goes on, as we leave the children’s book bubble, remember that this community is here for you and you can tap into that magic anytime you want and anytime you need it. 

• Attend a meet up
• Attend an online course
• Listen to a podcast episode
• You can read a blog post (Shoutout to us!)

Stay in touch with those you met this weekend. Community is what keeps us going. From the good times and the bad. 

Sarah talked about an author talk she heard. The author said that writing and reading is a way to underscore that human connection is important . You know my mind and I know yours. Sarah agrees. 

Human connection is more and more rare. We have to fight against that. The books we create connect all of us. When you go back to your desks, just know that you’re doing important work. When it feels hard and silly and vulnerable, remember that it’s important. The world needs your stories, so keep it going. 

It’s great to stay connected, so use the SCBWI hashtag, #scbwiNY26, when sharing content from this weekend. 

Even if you didn’t attend the class, you can still glean some gem or insight from someone else’s posting of the class.

She reminds us that the Virtual Winter Conference is coming up! It starts with golden kite awards and you can keep the energy of this weekend going with all new content. 

Stay in touch throughout the year. The next winter conference will be at this same hotel, the Marriott Marquis in Time Square, in March of 2027. 

Thanks for coming and for being members. 

Keep creating!

Can't make it to the In-Person Winter Conference in New York City, join us online at the Virtual Winter Conference featuring inspirational talks, industry panels and deep-dive Creative Labs, taking place in February of 2026. Videos of all sessions are available to watch for approximately 30 days after the event.

Closing Keynote: Tiffany D Jackson

Tiffany D. Jackson is the author of ALLEGEDLY (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books).

TV professional by day, novelist by night, awkward black girl 24/7. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Film from Howard University and her Master of Arts in Media Studies from The New School University. A Brooklyn native, she is a lover of naps, cookie dough, and beaches, currently residing in the borough she loves with her adorable chihuahua Oscar, most likely multitasking.

Some Thoughts with Tiffany D Jackson

In ways, Tiffany feels like she tripped and fell into this career. But she wanted to be an author since she was four years old. She said she wanted to make books because she didn't know the word author. When she shared this with people as she got older, people discouraged her. This lead her into the direction of film, but even through school, she didn't forget that four-year old-dream. She kept tinkering with her writing. 

When Tiffany entered the job force after college, she was still writing. And in 2012 a news story about a teen convicted of murdering a baby sparked her attention, and she started writing. After receiving many rejections in the adult world of commercial fiction, Tiffany was ready to hang it up, feeling all the rejection was too much. 

That's when a friend told her words that would change her life: "It sounds like you wrote a young adult novel." 

This opened the world of young adult books to Tiffany that she din't know. She hired a development editor, and she create a list of 100 of agents. Out it went, and the rest of history. That book became her debut Allegedly, and Tiffany has been writing full time ever since. 

Tiffany tells us all to be obedient to the call and dream because it will never leave you alone. 

3 Most Important Pieces of Writer Advice

1. Find a lane and stick to it for a minimum of 2 books

2. Before you start writing, nail your elevator pitch

3. Keep writing, your next book will sell your last book

Tiffany's book Monday's Not Coming is one of the 50 most banned books in America. But she shares she would walk through fire to save one more black child. Banning is just closing the pages the books that kids need. 

"Don't we want to arm our kids with knowledge that we were not afforded?" 

Tiffany still has hope for us. So here are four things to keep the hope alive:

1. Write books for kids not adults who lack reading comprehension.

2. Do not let the chance of being banned keep you from creating your next masterpiece. 

3. "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." -Mr. Rogers

4. Ignore the mob. Legacy works both ways.

"Your decision to write for children is an honorable one...The books that you write will save lives, so you must write them..You are unshakeable if you are a children's book author."

A standing ovation for powerful words! 

Outstanding International Books

 Junko Sakoi announces the Outstanding International Book Titles for 2026

The covers of the 41 outstanding titles

Map representing the titles.

Below are the recognized titles by theme. Please visit USSY website for a list of these books. 

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Outstanding International Books Panel: Wendy Stephens

Wendy Stephens is the immediate past president of the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY)

Ms. Sarah Baker opened up by acknowledging the global kidlit/SCBWI group. She was thrilled when USBBY reached out about their list. OIB highlights outstanding kid lit books from the last year. Six SCBWI members are on the list(some in attendance today). Here to present the list are Wendy Stephens and Junko Sakoi. 

Wendy started by expressing excitement at the opportunity for face-to-face contact. She’s the immediate past president of USBBY and she’s very happy to be here today. 

She started with a history about Bella Lepton. Lepton left Germany during WWII for her safety. She returned after the war with the focus on rebuilding Germany. She wanted to help by building up future generations to avoid similar conflict. She thought this would be through sharing children’s literature. She established libraries and worked with international authors and illustrators to found boards. 

Wendy shared the mission of iBbY and also some of the international projects.

She recommended the website, as it contains not only the notable international books from 2026, but also a backlog of winners from the past 20 years. 

More information about USBBY can be found here:

https://www.usbby.org/ 

Wendy then gave the floor to Junko Sakoi to announce the winners. 

Can't make it to the In-Person Winter Conference in New York City, join us online at the Virtual Winter Conference featuring inspirational talks, industry panels and deep-dive Creative Labs, taking place in February of 2026. Videos of all sessions are available to watch for approximately 30 days after the event.

Fractured Folktales: Reimagining African Folktales in Contemporary Picture Books with Ugo Anidi

Fractured Folktales: Reimagining African Folktales in Contemporary Picture Books 

with Ugo Anidi

Ugo Anidi, a picture book and middle grade writer, who is a part of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. 

As a descendant of a rich tradition of storytelling, she acknowledges that folktales are dying. One of the biggest tribes in Africa, the Igbo tribe is a tribe of storytellers. Storytelling is an integral part of the culture where it not only entertains but gives life lessons, ethos, and educates to the next generation. 

 Under the stars, around a bonfires, captivated by elders, Ugo loved when she got to go to the village on special occasions. There she'd met the "aunties" and "uncles" who told the children stories through call and response, and oral storytelling. Many children enjoyed it and it was a  highlight for her as a child.

 

Nowadays, folktales are being forgotten due to parents having no time or from not understanding the language and not knowing the cultural lessons of the folktales.

Ugo Anidi wanted to find a way to preserve these folktales.

Thank you Omu written by Oge Mora, a Nigerian/American of Igbo descent, wrote a book, that highlights community which is an integral part of African life which is a universal value in many cultures. 

With her academic brain, Ugo took off and did research on how to write folktales!

What's a folktale?

-traditional story

-passed down from generation to generation

-reflection of culture of community

What's a fractured folktale?

A retelling of a folktale that honors tradition and creates something new. It must be culturally authentic, balancing of culturally significance elements and injecting of your own flavor into the story.

Then, she told us a story about a tortoise. 

In Igbo folktale, the tortoise is a trickster. In this particular folktale, the Tortoise is hungry and wants to go to the sky feast, so he asks the Eagle for one feather, who generously has multiple birds gift enough feathers to make wings.  

They all go to the sky feast, where the trickster Tortoise suggests everyone make new names, his being "All of You." When the food came out, it was announced it was for "all of you," so the Tortoise ate all the food, only leaving scraps. Then drinks came... and the gifts, all announced for "all of you." Livid, the birds took back feathers and left the Tortoise in the sky. Now with no way to return, the Tortoise begged the Eagle to have his wife to find any and all things that were soft to cushion his fall. Mad, the Eagle told his wife to find every sharp object, hence the reason the Tortoise has a cracked shell. For when he fell from the sky, and landed on the sharp objects, his shell shattered and had to be pieced back together. 

Moral: Don't be greedy.

We were all captivated by this origin tale.  

In the same spirit, Ugo told us the folktale of How a Tortoise Married a Wife with a Grain of Corn, and how it inspired her story, The Missing Chicken. 

After the story, she asked— 

What changed? What stayed the same?

And from there, chose our own folktales, and walked through how to make them Fractured Folktales. We considered each of the following elements, and changed just enough to have it similar to the original but become a new tale.

HOW TO RECREATE FOLKTALES

Essential components of the folktale

    1. Character

    2. Structure 

    3. Refrain 

    4. Moral lesson

It was quite incredible to hear what everyone came up with, with only a few minutes to workshop their folktales. I think we might have birthed a few books in that session—perhaps even one of my own! 

Can't make it to the In-Person Winter Conference in New York City, join us online at the Virtual Winter Conference featuring inspirational talks, industry panels and deep-dive Creative Labs,taking place in February of 2026. Videos of all sessions are available to watch for approximately 30 days after the event.

Ugo Anidi (Assistant International Advisor) - writer of picture books chapter books, middle grade and recently: YA - teacher of anything but mostly picture book writing - represented by @lynnette_novak - founder : Books for Umu Ntii an initiative dedicated to bringing African Kidslit writers and stories to the world. - Regional Advisor of SCBWI Nigeria - MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults @ VCFA (Vermont College of Fine Arts, USA - www.ugoanidi.com

How to Make the Unconscious Conscious: Forget About Your Genius and Say What You Mean with AS King

A.S. King has been called "one of the best YA writers today" by the New York Times Book Review. She is the author of more than 15 novels for young people and has won the LA Times Book Prize, the Michael L. Printz Award; and the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the ALAN Award for lifetime achievement in the field of young adult literature. King is the co-founder of the USF MFAY program and is the founder of Gracie's House, a nonprofit that provides safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas. She spends many months of the year traveling the world speaking to high school and university students, educators, and humans who care about literacy, equality, and the mental health of young people. She lives in Pennsylvania with her son and her loud cat.

This talk is coming with a content warning, but the content that may disturb you may be your own. 

How can you make your reader cry if you don't cry first? You have to look at the gross to see the beauty in it.

Amy tells us: "Things will get gross in here today."

Trauma is personal. It isn't a contest.

Fiction for Amy is code. Teens are told their teen years are the best of their lives, and that their experiences don't' matter. All BS. Amy uses metaphor and surrealism to talk about trauma in story. 

You too can write in code. 

Amy encourages: Write about your dreams. Explore your dreams. 

Your early dreams and daydreams are important. You can trust that child, and listen. 

Amy shifts the room into a great deal of writing. Automatic writing. Just writing. 

She asks us to write the earliest dreams you remember. Or earliest memories. "Now write a story, write it fast. Use the feeling that dream gave you...Tell your writer brain to take a hike." 

A bit of homework
for the room: Write a letter to the person who hurt us the most. 

Amy encourages us to read 3 weird psychology articles this week, not just any three but three that could help you heal from the things we uncovered during this workshop. 

Here are some little snippets from some final thoughts from Amy:

"A lot of people think they are boring. I assure you, you are not...Write about the depths that you know. You are not boring, trust me." 

"Your job is to get the experience and just write. Forget about being a writer."

"Maybe lay off the craft books for a little while."

Nonfiction Glow Up: Crafting Picture Books that Captivate Today’s Readers with Kate Messner

New York Times bestselling author Kate Messner is passionately curious and has written more than seventy books for kids who wonder, too. Her award-winning titles include picture books like Over and Under the Snow, Over and Under the Waves, and The Scariest Kitten in the World; novels like Breakout, Chirp, and The Trouble with Heroes; engaging nonfiction like the History Smashers series; the Ranger in Time historical adventures; and the Fergus and Zeke easy readers. A former TV news reporter, Kate also spent fifteen years teaching middle school English.  These days, she splits her time between Lake Champlain and Florida's Gulf Coast. Learn more at www.katemessner.com

Kate Messner has been talking with agents and editors and one thing's for certain: it’s tough time to sell nonfiction.

Nonfiction is facing a lot of challenges: over-acquiring over the past few years and book-banning in large-market states like Texas and Florida.

So, what’s in demand?

-strong narratives: voice and poetic language that will be a great read-aloud

-structures that increase readers’ delight: experimentation with structure

-photographic nonfiction

-accessible science, including math & physics

-everyday things: ie the airport book, color, food etc

-Humor* every single editor asked for funny nonfiction

-great storytelling: suspense, creating tension

-interactivity

-underrepresented voices 

What have editors seen enough of?

-picture book biographies(there’s a backlog)

-less history (more STEAM)

-didactic stories

-books written like articles (facts aren’t enough)

-detailed art notes (keep notes and references to provide later on, instead)

According to Librarians, what’s circulating?

-animals

-sports

-hunting and fishing

-farming

-crisp, stunning photography

-STEM - space, Dinos gaming robots

-cooking and food

-origami and drawing

Kate's activities for the group are called Glow Up Times. I'll be listing them here so you can do it at home. 

Glow up time - Create a list of ideas for potential books and, given the lists above, which ideas sparkle and which ideas need reimagining? 

Consider that what’s working now is different from 15 years ago. 

Use the Libby app:

Download and look at current picture books. If you live in NY state, you can have your NY public library card, Queens NY library card, and Buffalo. All can be accessed through Libby. What's it like in your state?

Advice: get as many library cards as you can on libby and read/look at all new non-fiction books.

Strong narratives can be many things. Sometimes it’s suspense, sometimes it's immersion into a world, sometimes it's poetry, it's gorgeous language. Ask yourself, is poetry the way in? If so, play up the poetry. Let it be poetic. It can also be humor. 

You have a topic and you have to ask yourself, what can I do with this? Can I make it funny? Immersive? Interactive? You’re adding reasons for people to pick it up.  

Glow Up Activity:

Make it more  (poetic, humorous, interactive)

Think about the strengths of your work. then think, what else might it be to make it more engaging?

The goal is to level it up. If it’s funny, make it more funny/silly.

The group then took an active manuscript and tried to make it more.

Structures that delight readers:

Scrapbooking like the book, My Antarctica

A tour through a museum like the book, Meet the Mini Mammals

Imagine sharing this book in a big group of kids. What would they shout out back at you?

Glow Up Activity:

Take a picture book project you love and think about structuring it a different way. Play around, mess around. It’s what lets you be weird

Could it be a contest? Could it be a tour? Could it have suspense?

Frequent happy failure. If you’re messing around with a lot of ideas, you’re going to find more that stick. Think about them like wildflower seeds. You shouldn’t care a lot for 3 seeds. You should scatter around a lot. Some will sprout and you can move in that direction. 

Ask, what bigger subject can you connect it to?

The Brilliant Deep disguises a biography within a larger issue.

The Story of the Saxophone sells better than the the tory of the person who invented the saxophone.

When a project isn’t working...

-Make it MORE. Give yourself notes

-expand the topic

-try a new structure

-experiment with point of view

-ask yourself should it be a middle grade book?

Write something new, keep a writers notebook for ideas. Scribble ideas down. 

An idea a day may lead to 100 scribbles in your notebook, which turns to 30 that have legs, which turn to 20 that don’t have obvious issues, which turn to 8 that may quite work, that are then 2 after the agents look through it and apply their vision. So keep going. 

Keep working on 'em, and play.

Kate provided some additional materials here: www.katemessner.com/scbwi26

Can't make it to the In-Person Winter Conference in New York City, join us online at the Virtual Winter Conference featuring inspirational talks, industry panels and deep-dive Creative Labs, taking place in February of 2026. Videos of all sessions are available to watch for approximately 30 days after the event.