Lauri Fortino's Blog

Title: Late Today

Author: Jungyoon Huh

Illustrator: Myungae Lee

Publisher/Year: Eerdmans BYR/2025 (Wisdom House/2022)

Format: Hardcover, eBook

October 16th is Global Cat Day, a day that acknowledges that all cats, including stray and feral cats, deserve to be treated humanely. To celebrate the occasion, I’m reviewing a picture book about a little stray kitten.

With starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, Late Today by Jungyoon Huh is already drawing atte...

Title: I Hear the Snow, I Smell the Sea

Author: Janice Milusich

Illustrator: Chris Raschka

Publisher: Anne Schwartz Books

Release Date: October 7th, 2025

Format: Hardcover, audiobook

Summary: In this lyrical picture book illustrated by a two-time Caldecott Medalist, share in a blind child’s joyful experience of the changing seasons.

Where I live, seasons change. I know because my fingers and toes, my ears, my mouth and nose, all tell me so.

Neveah is blind, but that d...

Title: Just Ducky: A Friendship Takes Flight

Author: Berrie Torgan-Randall

Illustrator: Berrie Torgan-Randall

Publisher: Cardinal Rule Press

Release Date: October 1, 2025

Format: Hardcover

Summary: Margaret “aka Ducky” loves ducks and knows everything there is to know about them. However, she soon realizes that not everyone shares her same passions when she’s at a day camp with some other students and things go “fowl”. Through a struggle to make a friend, Ducky discovers th...

Please welcome children’s book author/illustrator Berrie Torgan-Randall to Frog on a Blog! You may be familiar with the first book in her Bella & Blue early reader graphic novel series, Bella & Blue: Bella Meets Blue, which came out a few years ago by The Little Press. And, if you’re a fan, you’ll be thrilled to know that the second book in the series is due out in 2027. (Plus, you can win a copy of Bella & Blue: Bella Meets Blue by leaving a comment on this post!)

But today we’re celebra...

I’m so excited to welcome picture book author, poet, and educator Joyce Uglow to Frog on a Blog! Joyce’s beautiful nonfiction picture book Stuck! The Story of La Brea Tar Pits published in March by Bushel & Peck Books and features gorgeous illustrations by Valerya Milovanova.

Joyce writes lyrical children’s literature about nature, science, and our planet, and her writing motto is “Be curious. Stay unwaveringly committed to seeking answers.” No doubt it’s that curiosity that led her to w...

Welcome multi-published picture book author and kidlit friend Laura Sassi! I’m so excited to help Laura celebrate the publication of her newest book Pumpkin Day for Boo and Belle, which was just released in July by Paraclete Press, and is the sweetest rhyming friendship story with the most adorable illustrations by artist Farah Shah!

Laura has visited Frog on a Blog before, which I love, and you can see her interview and other guest post Here and Here. Today, she’s stopped by to share Six...

Hey, picture book authors, do you hope to one day write a Christmas story? I know I do. That’s why I’m super excited to welcome multi-published children’s book author Robin Currie to Frog on a Blog! Robin’s sweet picture book Just Enough Room for Christmas officially launched yesterday. And Robin stopped by today to share “easy steps to writing a holiday picture book.” Let’s hear from Robin!

by Robin Currie

Ever since the Grinch stole into our holidays in 1957, aut...

Title: Just Enough Room for Christmas

Author: Robin Currie

Illustrator: Estelle Corke

Publisher: Good Books

Release Date: September 2, 2025

Format: Hardcover, eBook

Summary: In a tiny barn in Bethlehem, Old Hannah the cow lives alone until the cold wind drives other animals to seek shelter. One by one, they squeeze in, but when a tiny mouse stirs up trouble, the barn erupts into chaotic mooing, meowing, and barking. Will there be enough room for a little family to have a si...

Title:  Gilbert and the Ghost

Author: Heather Pierce Stigall

Illustrator: Jess Mason

Publisher: Beaming Books

Release Date: August 19, 2025

Format: Hardcover, eBook

Summary: The ghost at 632 Savannah Street is real . . . right?

Gilbert often feels invisible, just like the ghost living at 632 Savannah Street. Despite his family’s disbelief, Gilbert leaves gifts for the ghost: a friendship bracelet, a plate of cookies, even a drawing with a note. When each disappears one by...

I’m excited to welcome picture book author Elayne Crain to Frog on a Blog! Elayne was my picture book writing mentor for a few months through an Inked Voices mentorship program. Elayne is super sweet and so funny and just a genuinely nice person. She’s here today to talk about her rib-tickling debut picture book There’s Something Odd About the Babysitter, which published in June from Feiwel & Friends and is a July/August 2025 Kids’ Indie Next pick over at the American Booksellers Association...