Deborah Freedman's Blog

Endpapers are the unsung glory of contemporary children’s publishing. Once a purely functional form—sturdy pages glued to the inside of a book’s cardboard covers—endpapers today are often full of wit, surprise, and deep emotion. As one of the first (and last!) visual elements readers encounter when interacting with a book, endpapers set the mood for the story inside…

More than 50 works on view now, including from classics such as Blueberries for Sal and The World of Pooh. I’m incredibly grateful to curator Bruce Handy for hanging my endpapers from Blue Chicken on the wall next to book art by so many illustrators I admire.

At the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA, April 19 - November 9, 2025

"Meet Deborah Freedman" — in which I chat with a school librarian about Partly Cloudy.

"... you know, it's okay if that five minute walk turns into an hour. I mean, there are stones to turn over, there are holes to look down, there are leaves and acorns to collect..."

I'm honored to learn that TINY DINO is a South Carolina Association of School Librarians nominee for the 2024 - 2025 South Carolina Picture Book Award. Many thanks to the committee and those who nominated my book, and congrats to my fellow nominees. It's incredibly gratifying to know that children all over SC will be reading about my little hummingbird!

ICYMI... an interview with Reading With Your Kids Podcast!

We talk about the "value of using children's literature to expose kids to diverse perspectives... the importance of observing the natural world and asking questions to cultivate curiosity..." and the importance of research and the creative process.

Many thanks to Jed Doherty for hosting me.

"Because my projects are short, I can pretty much hold them in my head... I especially like to think about them to the rhythm of walking, since cadence is so vital to books that are ultimately read aloud..."

Many thanks to author, editor, and writing coach Laura Zinn Fromm, of Sweet Lab Writing Workshops, for inviting me to join her "Writers at Work" series.

…Travel through stories that break the fourth wall, where narrators and characters directly address the reader. Witness familiar characters acting out of character or find stories that contain other stories in them. In blurring the lines between author, narrator, and reader, these books subvert our expectations about the real world and the world of fiction. 

Aaron Becker, Richard Byrne, Lauren Child, Jason Chin, Raúl Colón, Lulu Delacre, Tony DiTerlizzi, Deborah Freedman, E.B. Goodale, Ekua Holmes, Oliver Jeffers, Barbara Lehman, Brian Lies, David Macaulay, Barbara McClintock, Oge Mora, Yuyi Morales, Julie Morstad, Christopher Myers, Kathryn Otoshi, Brian Pinkney, Jerome Pumphrey, Jarrett Pumphrey, Peggy Rathmann, Adam Rex, Dan Santat, Lane Smith , Melissa Sweet, Don Tate, Corey Tabor, Chris Van Allsburg, David Wiesner, Mo Willems, Pamela Zagarenski

I hope that Partly Cloudy inspires kids to pay attention to the world around them, wonder, ask questions, use their imaginations…

I celebrated Earth Day this year by chatting about Partly Cloudy with CT Live! host Taylor Kinzler. Many thanks to Taylor and the whole team at NBC Connecticut for inviting me to share my new book with CT readers!

Happy Poetry Month, friends!

Poetry is in the air. Just listen…

In my newsletter this month I had a few thoughts about poetry and picturebooks, and poetic picturebooks.

You can find that newsletter and the rest of my archive here. Or better yet, sign up! I share my email list with NO-one, promise not to bombard you with email, and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Welcome to the Wonder House is the winner of the 2024 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award!

“‘Welcome to the Wonder House’ was a standout from the moment we read it,” said one judge. “The language and illustrations beautifully complement each other, which makes the book an absolute delight…”

Congratulations to authors Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard, and many thanks to the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Penn State University Libraries, and the estate of the esteemed Lee Bennett Hopkins for this incredible honor.

More spring events for Partly Cloudy. I’d love to see you!

April 11, 2024: Cloudy with a Chance of Imagination:
An Afternoon with Deborah Freedman, at RJ Julia, Madison, CT, RSVP here

April 13, 2024: Partly Cloudy Storytime at Wesleyan RJ Julia, Middletown, CT, RSVP here

May 4, 2024: Hudson Children’s Book Festival, Hudson, NY

May 11, 2024: Partly Cloudy Storytime, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

May 4, 2024: Exhibit, Pictures at Play: Metafiction in Children’s Books, including art from Blue Chicken! Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art—details soon

May 18, 2024: Storytime, Barnes & Noble, Glastonbury, CT—details soon

Check back for more storytimes, book festivals, and other events updates here.