Author Archive

We are in a golden age of picture books. I was honored to be asked to talk about some of my favorite on NPR this week. To listen to the interview click here!  

Dr. Molly Ness has a wonderful and important podcast centered around ending book deserts. I was lucky enough to be a recent guest. Listen here.

  Sharing this short piece I wrote for NCTE. Thanks for reading . . . .

  When I was a newer author I dreamed of writing a great novel. A great picture book. I dreamed of getting positive reviews, maybe even awards, and meeting readers who had been moved by my words. I think a lot of writers begin in this head space. We want to make something great

Immigration is a complex and loaded issue. Obviously. I don’t believe the job of the fiction writer is to come up with answers to such issues but to ask interesting questions. Two of my recent books are set atop our country’s current struggle with immigration. When Clark discovers his alien background in Superman, he

This May I went back to my alma mater, University of the Pacific, to deliver the commencement speech. I was also awarded an honorary doctorate and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. This is easily one of the greatest honors of my life, and I’m humbled to forever be a part of the UOP family.

Knowing that a book I’ve written is being read by real people — real young people — is both thrilling and humbling. But twice now I’ve had the experience of making Last Stop on Market Street  come alive. The first time was in Kansas City, where a few super creative public librarians came up

Superman is coming soon. March 5. And the reviews are starting to come in. The first one is a star from kirkus: “A wonderful, bold interpretation of a DC icon that aspires to embrace all readers, new and old.” (You can read the whole review here.) I’m so honored and humbled to have been

Sean Connors from the University of Arkansas has a great new Podcast called The Storytellers Thread. I sat down with him over the holidays to talk about my work. We covered a lot of ground. If you’re interested in giving it a listen, you can access it on iTunes or Soundcloud or just click

Earlier this month, Christian Robinson and I finished a three-week tour for Carmela Full of Wishes. It’s always an honor to be sent on the road for a book, but this one was special. This was a book dedicated to my Mexican grandparents. This was a book celebrating family and community and the power