The Children's Book Review: Growing Readers Podcast

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze sits down with two-time Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall to talk about Stella & Marigold: Past and Presents, the third book in her early chapter book series with Annie Barrows, and Story Rug, her new picture book illustrated by Phoebe Wahl. From a mysterious drawing hidden behind the sofa to a classroom braiding scraps of fabric into something extraordinary, both books celebrate the stories we carry and the people we make them with.
Sophie shares how Stella and Marigold were born on one of her annual writing retreats with Annie, and why the two set out to write a sibling relationship built on kindness rather than rivalry. She also opens up about what it felt like to hand her own manuscript to another illustrator for the first time, and why the pictures she’d seen so clearly in her head simply “evaporated” once Phoebe’s drawings arrived.
📖 Read the transcript on The Children’s Book Review: (coming soon)
Story Rug video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBMZVnyL2dI&feature=youtu.be
Highlights
Rapid-fire warm-up: Pavlova, Blackwing pencils, a traveling Chinese inkstone, and a studio mess that rates a ten.
Twenty-plus years with Annie Barrows: From Ivy + Bean to Stella & Marigold, and the morning walks that come before coffee.
Cool colors and hot colors: Why Stella is drawn in blues and Marigold bursts off the page in reds, yellows, and oranges.
The hurdle between head and page: Sophie’s encouragement for kids, and grown-ups, to keep drawing even when the result doesn’t match the picture in their mind.
Specificity over sameness: Why real, quirky details matter more than ever in a world of AI-generated art.
Ziamara and the elastic nature of time: How Past and Presents explores the children who came before us and those who will come after.
Procreate and Paperlike: How Sophie keeps her digital work feeling like pencil and paint.
Letting go with Story Rug: Why handing the pictures to Phoebe Wahl felt like “water through my fingers.”
Braiding parties and a very catchy song: How Story Rug has inspired real rag rugs in classrooms and bookstores.

Notable Quotes
“Let’s lean into the weird gristly knobbly bits.” —Sophie Blackall
“Books are by nature collaborative, and I think that’s why we love them so much.” —Sophie Blackall
“You can be each other’s greatest ally.” —Sophie Blackall
Books Mentioned
Stella & Marigold: Past and Presents by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Story Rug by Sophie Blackall, illustrated by Phoebe Wahl: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Stella & Marigold (Book 1) by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Emily Hughes: Amazon | Bookshop.org
Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas: Amazon | Bookshop.org

About Sophie Blackall
Sophie Blackall is a two-time Caldecott Medalist and the illustrator of more than 60 books for children, including Finding Winnie, Hello Lighthouse, Farmhouse, and the bestselling Ivy + Bean series. Originally from Australia, she is also the founder of Milkwood, a creative retreat for the children’s book community in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Story Rug is her first picture book illustrated by another artist.
Visit: https://www.sophieblackall.com/
Credits: Host: Bianca Schulze | Guest: Sophie Blackall | Editor: Kelly Rink | Producer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes back Academy Award–winning director, writer, and Pixar animator Alan Barillaro to talk about the second book in his illustrated middle-grade series, Bunns Rabbit: The Return of the Spirit Rabbit. In this sweeping sequel, Bunns leaves her sheltered meadow for the sea and has to decide what kind of hero she will be in a world that isn't sure it wants one.
Alan shares the story behind the story: the bedtime readings with his mother that inspired the book's dedication, why an Emily Dickinson poem about hope opens the book, and how a hopeful fox and a doubting albatross carry the idea that the future is never set. He also gets candid about craft, including how he handles feedback, how he gets through a bad creative day, and why he paints ten versions of an illustration. He closes with a first look at his upcoming picture book, Today Will Be Eaten.
Read the transcript on ⁠The Children's Book Review.
Highlights:
Stopping at Gollum's Riddle: How Alan's mother read to four kids at once, and paused The Lord of the Rings mid-riddle so they could solve it overnight. That memory shaped both the dedication and the bedtime-read-aloud structure of Bunns Rabbit.
From Belonging to Responsibility: Book one was about Bunns accepting who she is. In book two, she has to ask what she owes the wider world, a story that grows up alongside its readers.
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: Why Alan opens with Emily Dickinson, and how the fox and the albatross argue about whether the future is already written.
Symptoms, Not Remedies: Alan's approach to feedback. He listens for where a reader got "bumped" instead of taking their suggested fix, which keeps a creator's unique voice intact.
Bad Days and Ten Paintings: Saving research for the evening so a rough writing day sets up a good morning, and painting many versions of a piece so no single one becomes precious.

Notable Quotes:
"I see too many artists give up on that unique voice too quickly and take the quick fix. And the quick fix makes your story like everybody else, and it's not unique to you." —Alan Barillaro
"My biggest hope would be a kid puts that down and says, you know what, I can read The Golden Compass... because I feel confident." —Alan Barillaro
Books Mentioned:
Bunns Rabbit: The Return of the Spirit Rabbit by Alan Barillaro: ⁠Amazon⁠ | ⁠Bookshop.org⁠
Bunns Rabbit by Alan Barillaro: ⁠Amazon⁠ | ⁠Bookshop.org⁠
Where the Water Takes Us by Alan Barillaro: ⁠Amazon⁠ | ⁠Bookshop.org⁠
Today We'll Be Eaten by Alan Barillaro: ⁠Amazon⁠ | ⁠Bookshop.org⁠

About Alan Barillaro: Alan Barillaro is an Academy Award–winning director, writer, and animator who spent more than 25 years at Pixar Animation Studios. His directorial debut, the animated short Piper, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. He is the author and illustrator of the novels Where the Water Takes Us and Bunns Rabbit, and his picture book Today Will Be Eaten is forthcoming.
Visit: ⁠alanbarillaro.com⁠
Credits: Host: Bianca Schulze / Guest: Alan Barillaro / Editor: Kelly Rink / Producer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes aboard retired Navy Captain, aviation lawyer, and author Mark C. Fava to talk about Andy the Admiral and the USS Shipshape, the first book in his Shipshape Shipmates series.
Inspired by the best leaders Mark served with and by his own Navy father, Andy the Admiral takes young readers onto a bustling aircraft carrier where kindness, good manners, honesty, and teamwork keep everything shipshape. Mark shares how three decades in uniform, a career built on words, and a lifetime of fatherhood came together in a picture book full of heart, humor, and hidden surprises.
Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.
Highlights:
It's All in the Inflection: Why "shipmate" can be a scolding or a compliment, and how "Well done, shipmates" became the heart of the book
A Floating City of 5,000: The doctors, dentists, cooks, mechanics, and pilots who keep an aircraft carrier running
Finally Getting Sea Time: How a two-week carrier cruise, after 30 years in land-based P-3 aircraft, shaped the book
Every Word Matters: What a career in law taught Mark about wordsmithing, and why he writes with outlines, lists, and yellow highlighters
Why the Navy Teaches Friendship: Everyone has a job and everyone depends on each other, at sea and at home
"Son, Make Me Proud": The father who pinned on Mark's Navy bars, handed down his sword, and told him to take care of his sailors
You Don't Have to Be Perfect: Mark's advice for kids who dream of joining the Navy, from building paper rockets to not giving up on hard subjects
Perseverance, Passion, and Persistence: The publishing lessons Mark learned the hard way, including why he waited to launch after the holidays
Easter Eggs Ahead: Captain the Black Cat, Skipper the Sea Dog, and sneak peeks at Patrick the Pilot and Riley the Rescue Swimmer

Notable Quotes:
"Everybody has a job and everybody is looking to the other person to complete their job." —Mark C. Fava
"Do the best you can, but you don't have to be perfect." —Mark C. Fava
"I hope they remember that there is a reward for being kind to each other." —Mark C. Fava
Books Mentioned:
Andy the Admiral and the USS Shipshape by Mark C. Fava, illustrated by Agus Prajogo and Yohanes Bastia: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Lessons from the Admiral: Naval Wisdom and Sea Stories for Leaders by Mark C. Fava: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Coming soon: Patrick the Pilot and Riley the Rescue Swimmer

About Mark C. Fava:
Mark C. Fava is a career aviation lawyer and retired U.S. Navy Captain who served 30 years, six on active duty and 24 in the reserves, commanding three units, including a P-3 squadron. As a naval flight officer, he flew missions tracking Soviet submarines in the P-3 Orion. He is a vice president at the world's largest aerospace company and the author of Lessons from the Admiral: Naval Wisdom and Sea Stories for Leaders. Andy the Admiral and the USS Shipshape is his first picture book and the launch of the Shipshape Shipmates series. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and three daughters.
Visit: https://theshipshapeshipmates.com/Author website: https://markcfava.com

Credits:
Host: Bianca Schulze
Guest: Mark C. Fava
Editor: Kelly Rink
Producer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze welcomes award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Megan E. Freeman to discuss her YA novel in verse, The Secret to Belonging. Megan shares how she turned the experience of being the "invisible child" in a family shaped by a sibling's addiction into a story about longing, courage, and creating joy from the ashes of despair.
From the moment a college fund vanishes to the scholarship that sends her protagonist to a remote corner of Norway, Megan reveals the craft choices behind this lush, aching story: why she wrote the entire novel in second person, how her own exchange year above the Arctic Circle shaped the setting, and why first love is one of many discoveries rather than a rescue. Megan also reads a passage from the book and talks about recording her own audiobook. Whether you're a teen who feels unseen, a parent, an educator, or a lover of novels in verse, this conversation is a reminder that the secret to belonging may be closer than we think.
Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review (coming soon).
Highlights:
From Middle Grade to YA: How The Secret to Belonging sat fallow for two years before Megan returned to finish it
The Invisible Child: Writing about the collateral damage of addiction from the sibling's point of view
The Reader as Confidant: Why second person let the protagonist tell her unvarnished truth
Losing the Lifeline: The college fund as the inciting incident, and the parachute that opens after the fall
Arctic Norway: Megan's own exchange year, learning a language, and feeling like a toddler
Belonging on Her Own Terms: A first love that isn't a Cinderella story
The Five-Pointed Star: Why every child needs trusted adults beyond their parents
Reading and Recording: A passage from the book and the surreal experience of narrating the audiobook

Notable Quotes:"The reader is her true and only confidant." —Megan E. Freeman
"I think that the secret to belonging is in here. It's in yourself. And it's just a question of excavating that and figuring out what that secret is for you in your situation, in your life." —Megan E. Freeman
Books Mentioned:
The Secret to Belonging by Megan E. Freeman: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Alone by Megan E. Freeman: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Away by Megan E. Freeman: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Me (Moth) by Amber McBride: Amazon or Bookshop.org
Listen to the Girls by Crystal D. Giles: Amazon or Bookshop.org

About Megan E. Freeman:Megan E. Freeman is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of novels in verse for young readers, including Alone and Away. She spent her junior year of high school as an exchange student in northern Norway, an experience that inspired The Secret to Belonging, and now lives in Colorado. Visit: https://www.meganefreeman.com/
Natalie Foss:
https://www.instagram.com/nat.foss/
Credits:Host: Bianca Schulze
Guest: Megan E. Freeman
Editor: Kelly Rink
Producer: Bianca Schulze

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze sits down with Shaun Tan—the Oscar-winning author and illustrator of The Arrival—to talk about his new visual novel, Hometown, a wildly imaginative, dreamlike story about a girl who must decide whether to trust a stranger who tells her she doesn't belong in the perfect world she's always known.
Shaun shares the story behind the story—how Hometown developed on its own timeline rather than as a deliberate companion to The Arrival's 20th anniversary, why he still doesn't fully understand why themes of home, displacement, and belonging keep resurfacing in every book he makes, and what he hopes a reader might carry from Hometown decades from now. He talks candidly about the despair that shadows every burst of creative inspiration, why he's learned to treat failure as simply "part of the process," and why he finds negative reviews more interesting than frustrating.
Read the transcript on The Children's Book Review.
Highlights:
Sketchbook Confessions: A rapid-fire round covering pencil-first habits, one word for his art style ("unexpected"), and one word for what home means to him ("familiarity")
The Arrival at 20, Hometown Arriving New: Why the pairing of his two milestone books this year was pure coincidence, not design
The Same Story, Different Points of View: Shaun's honest uncertainty about why home, displacement, and belonging keep resurfacing in nearly every book he's made
The "Steaming Garbage Pile" Part of the Process: How embracing creative despair and failure has made making books a happier experience after two decades
Belonging With Critical Thinking: Why Hometown's young heroine gathers many points of view before deciding where she belongs—and what that says about belonging in general

Notable Quotes:
"Belonging is essential. Feeling of belonging is essential. But it's got to be some critical thinking about that, because otherwise it's gonna end in chaos." —Shaun Tan
"I'm making books to have a conversation with people, and as broad a group of people as possible. That's what interests me." —Shaun Tan
Books Mentioned:
Hometown by Shaun Tan: Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Arrival by Shaun Tan: Amazon | Bookshop.org

About Shaun Tan: Shaun Tan is an award-winning author and illustrator known for visual narratives that explore home, displacement, and belonging, including The Arrival, The Lost Thing, and Tales from Outer Suburbia. In 2011, the animated short film adaptation of The Lost Thing won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Tan lives in Australia.
Visit: https://www.shauntan.net/
Credits: Host: Bianca Schulze / Guest: Shaun Tan / Editing: Kelly Rink/ Producer: Bianca Schulze