Little Thoughts Press Issue Fourteen: Traditions and Rituals featuring the poem "Peppers in His Pockets" by Diane Gonzales Bertrand. A quick glance at any book written by Diane Gonzales Bertrand shows a writer who grabs inspiration from her family life in San Antonio, Texas. She captured her experiences in her short story collection Upside Down and Backwards, in her novel The Ruiz Street Kids, and in her poetry book, The Taco Magician/El Mago de los Tacos. She is the author of ten novels for teens and a dozen bilingual picture books for children including the award-winning Uncle Chente’s Picnic, A Party for Papa Luis, and Cecilia and Miguel are Best Friends. Her books have earned awards from the International Latino Hall of Fame and Writers League of Texas. Bertrand was named a Tricentennial Poet for San Antonio in 2019. In 2022 she retired from her position as Writer-in-Residence at St. Mary’s University. Her picture book, Music Rides the Bus, is forthcoming from Piñata Books in 2027. Little Thoughts Press: The specificity in your poem "Peppers in His Pockets" creates a beautifully tender and vivid portrait of your pápa. What advice can you offer to young or newer writers for creating a strong identity in a character even when you’re working with such limited text? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: With fewer words in a story or poem, every word has a specific job. One interesting detail has to do more work than a paragraph. I rely on a big thesaurus, searching for words until I find the right one. When I feel “stuck,” I close the computer and read a book. I learn from other authors about language, description, and building characters through details. Read, read, read to become a better writer. Little Thoughts Press: You’ve published a great many books for children. Can you tell us about a few that you think best capture the theme of Traditions and Rituals? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: I write from my experiences growing up in a Mexican American home. We spoke more English than Spanish, but the Mexican culture is the foundation for our family’s traditions and rituals. My first book, Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup/Caldo, caldo, caldo reflects the Sunday ritual during the winter months when Mom cooked a big pot of caldo. My second book, Family, Familia, tells the story of a boy who comes to the annual Gonzales/Gonzalez family reunion for the first time. The Last Doll/La Ultima Muñeca, presents the tradition to give a teenage girl her last doll at her fifteenth birthday party, a quinceañera. Readers learn about this ritual as the doll, Sarita, understands her important role in this very special party. Little Thoughts Press: This issue is about big traditions, but also the little rituals that give our lives magic, joy and peace. What is your favorite small ritual that brings you joy? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: My favorite ritual is decorating the cabinet top in my dining room for different holidays. I have small figures for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother’s and Father’s Day, July 4, or Dia de los Muertos. I decorate with old photos and classic toys on family birthdays. I use small stuffed animals, bright flowers, troll dolls in costume, and various wooden pumpkins or turkeys my husband has made in his workshop. Decorating and looking at the cabinet through the special season or occasion brings me joy. I look forward to watching my dinner guests enjoy my display and ask me about some of the decorations. Little Thoughts Press: How did you get started writing kid-lit and what do you find most challenging and rewarding about writing for kids? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: When I was in graduate school, Dr. Anne Semel, a religious sister, encouraged me to write kid lit because I had two small children. She gave me an anthology of essays written by influential children’s authors. I started writing picture books, then as my children grew older, I wrote novels for their age group. I love writing, creating poems and stories. When I start, I have no idea if the story will be a picture book or stretch itself into a novel. That discovery is part of my enthusiasm for writing every day. My biggest challenge is to trust the writing process, because it takes many, many drafts to discover ways to connect my ideas, to form the characters, or to create patterns of words. My favorite reward is meeting children at schools, libraries and bookstores. When they tell me, “I read your book, and I liked it,” I feel as if I won an Olympic gold medal. Little Thoughts Press: Which kid-lit authors and books were your favorites growing up? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: I am a big fan of Dr. Seuss. If he couldn’t find a word to express an idea, he wove letters together to make a new word. As a child, I started writing poems and stories because I wanted to play with words like he did. My parents took us to the library every week, and I read books like Ferdinand the Bull, The Five Chinese Brothers, and Horton Hears a Who. As I grew up, I loved to read novels set in other cities or countries or in different periods of American history. I could stay in my room and let those books take me far from hot summers in Texas. Little Thoughts Press: And what about today? Any kid-lit writers you love and want to shout out? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: I enjoy San Antonio kid lit writers Naomi Shihab Nye, Lupe Ruiz Flores, and Xavier Garza. I also like reading the drafts of the talented kid lit writers in my two critique groups. We give each other valuable feedback and support each other after disappointing rejections. And I belong to three incredible writing organizations, SCBWI, Writers League of Texas, and Gemini Ink, where I meet more writers and poets at readings, meetings, and workshops. Little Thoughts Press: What advice would you give to young writers? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: Specific details help create an interesting character. Use all five senses to discover setting details. If you slowly re-read “Peppers in His Pockets,” you can see how concrete details describe how, when, and where Papa liked to eat peppers. Writing this poem about my father helps keep his memory alive, especially to my grandson, who didn’t have the chance to meet him. Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share? Diane Gonzales Bertrand: Piñata Books will publish my bilingual picture book, Music Rides the Bus/La música viaja en camion illustrated by C. Rod. Unalt in March 2027. I love to visit schools and libraries as a cheerleader for literacy, so sharing a new book brings me extra joy. Sometimes we feel we are not “real” writers for children unless we get a book published. There are wonderful opportunities to share kid lit writing through small magazines, the local newspaper, on stickers and bookmarks, or typed up as a gift. Having my poem, “Peppers in His Pockets,” published in beautiful Little Thoughts magazine is a wonderful boost to my writer’s spirit. Read, write, share. Do this from your own corner of the world.

Little Thoughts Press Issue Fourteen: Traditions and Rituals featuring the poem "Raise the Rainbow Flag" by Mary E. Cronin Mary E. Cronin lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Her books include Trucks, Boots, and Bells, a poetry collection set in a busy city firehouse, and Like a Mother Bear, a picture book biography of PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford. Mary’s poems have appeared in numerous children’s anthologies and in The New York Times. www.maryecronin.com. Little Thoughts Press: In your poem, “Raise the Rainbow Flag” you describe the Pride flag in the following ways: “the stripes a celebration,” and “The colors weave a joyful noise, a mix of song and poem.” This flag is not only a symbol of identity, but of connection, celebration and joy for the LGBTQ+ community. Why is joyful celebration such a vital part of the LGBTQ+ community’s traditions, and how can kids best join in and support Pride celebrations? Mary Cronin: I think many of us are familiar with stories of struggle and overcoming challenges in the LGBTQ+ community, which is why leading with joy is so important. There is a stubbornness and a determination in the LGBTQ+ community-- there may be challenges, but no one can stop our joy and delight. Children can understand that and feel that, in every Pride gathering, large or small, and they can join in by cheering, waving flags, singing along, or marching with family… or simply by displaying a rainbow flag at home. Little Thoughts Press: There is currently a growing effort to ban books for young readers that feature LGBTQ+ families, history, and themes. So let’s shout some out instead! What books should we be reading and sharing with our students and kids? Mary Cronin: These are all picture books! Two of my favorites are Mac Wears a Hat and Molly's Tuxedo, both by author Vicki Johnson. Menudo Sunday by María Dolores Águila is a fantastic multi-generational family story. And It's Pride, Baby by Allen Wells is the quintessential joyful Pride book! You can find these authors on Instagram: @vickijohnsonwrites, @allenwriteswell & @maria.d.aguila. Little Thoughts Press: This issue is about big traditions, but also the little rituals that give our lives magic, joy and peace. What is your favorite small ritual that brings you joy? Mary Cronin: For me, it’s about setting up my writing routine. Every evening I make a big thermos of Irish tea and set it on my desk. I wake at 5 in the morning to start my writing time, and when I open up that thermos and steam comes out, it pleases me every time! Little Thoughts Press: How did you get started writing kid-lit and what do you find most challenging and rewarding about writing for kids? Mary Cronin: I’ve been a teacher for as long as I’ve been a writer, so the two have always gone hand-in-hand for me. Working with young students inspires me. I started writing poetry to support the curriculum I was creating for the classroom, and I then gravitated towards picture books, because children’s literature was always a huge part of my life as a classroom teacher. Little Thoughts Press: Which kid-lit authors and books were your favorites growing up? Mary Cronin: As a child, I would read anything and everything…short stories, chapter books, joke books, picture books, MAD magazine, the encyclopedia, comic books, and the back of cereal boxes! I was a voracious reader and that has served me well as a writer for children. Little Thoughts Press: And what about today? Any kid-lit writers you love and want to shout out? Mary Cronin: Sticking with picture books, I love the rich and varied books that Brittany J. Thurman creates, and I feel the same about books by Anika Aldamuy Denise. I’ve already mentioned a few authors above, so I’ll add the poets who inspire me: Georgia Heard, Janet Wong, Alice Schertle, and Jacqueline Woodson. You can find these authors at: Brittany Thurman- @britjanee, @anika_aldamuy_denise, @georgiaheard1, @janetwongauthor, @jacqueline_woodson & aliceschertle.com Little Thoughts Press: What advice would you give to young writers? Mary Cronin: Keep a notebook--decorate it, fill it with your ideas, wonderings, scraps of language that please you, things you want to know more about, the beginnings of stories and poems. That notebook will keep you grounded as a writer--it becomes a place to come back to, to add to, to remember all of the ideas rumbling in your head. The things in the notebook are just for you--they don’t have to be finished or polished. I always keep a notebook and find it helpful and comforting. Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share? Mary Cronin: My poetry book Trucks, Boots, and Bells: Firehouse Poems has just been published by Holiday House Books for Young Readers! It’s an action-packed book of poems about the tools, tasks, and teamwork of a busy firehouse, inspired by my dad’s career in the New York City Fire Department. In March 2027, my second book will be published by Simon & Schuster. Like a Mother Bear: How Jeanne Manford's Words Change the World for Queer Kids is an upstander story, a picture book biography of Jeanne Manford, who stood up for her gay son Morty, founded the organization PFLAG, and became a mother figure to many young LGBTQ+ people and their families.

Family Breakfast a half piece or whole piece of fat fluffy waffle drenched in golden syrup a slither of crispy bacon a couple of fat pork sausages a parent and grandparent laughing uncontrollably with the server My tummy rumbling with anticipation I wonder how long until breakfast will be here William Holmes is 8 years old and is a year 4 student at Te Paritō Kōwhai Russley School in Ōtautahi Christchurch. So many traditions and celebrations involve enjoying a meal with people you love. Why do you think food plays such an important part in so many traditions? Food makes people happy because it joins people together. It can be for celebrating a special moment and everyone can enjoy it. What are some other traditions you have with family or friends that are unique and special in your life? Go to my grandparents and celebrate with a big Christmas dinner with all of my family. At Easter, my sister and I wear bunny ears and hunt for Easter eggs at my grandparents house. We celebrate birthdays with cake, presents and parties. My family has movie nights with the lights off and warm blankets in winter. We always have our meals together around the dinner table where we talk about our day or listen to audio books. What is your favorite topic to study in school? Maths because I love a challenge and it is fun. What is the most interesting thing you recently learned? I’ve learnt a new division strategy which helps with longer and harder division questions. What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood. I recommend this Five Realms series of books because it is full of adventure, rabbits and monsters like the Gorm. I have read most of Kieran Larwood's books, and I love the cool new characters and bad guys he creates.

My Family and I When Eid arrives my family and I celebrate with our amazing friends Sometimes my mum invites friends to our home Other times, we gather up in a hall filled with many people We eat flavourful biryani and creamy sweet sheer khurma I wear a purple gharara stitched with delicate floral embroidery feeling bright and new But, sometimes I wonder will there be a year I will spend Eid alone? and will the generations after me celebrate Eid? and will my descendants celebrate Eid the same way my family does? Or will it slowly fade, like an old story rarely told? I suppose some things will remain a mystery Hania Dawood is 11 years of age and in year 7. She lives in Otautahi Christchurch. She loves netball and is obsessed with chocolate. Hania Dawood was born in Pakistan but has lived in New Zealand most of her life. Your poem beautifully captures the way traditions connect us to the past and across generations and contemplates the possibility that rituals fade over time. How do you think kids can help to keep traditions going as they get older? What parts of your family’s Eid traditions do you most want to carry with you into the future? I think kids can help keep traditions going by continuing to celebrate them and sharing them with future generations. I would like to carry on my family’s Eid traditions such as always gathering with friends and family and dressing up nicely for the day. What are some other traditions you have with family or friends that are unique and special in your life? Some other traditions I have with my family are always offering chai to anyone who comes to our house, serving our guests a full meal, and giving money in envelopes to kids on Eid. What is your favorite topic to study in school? My favourite subject to study at school is currently art because I enjoy expressing my creativity through drawing and painting. What is the most interesting thing you recently learned? Something interesting I recently learned in science is the difference between physical and chemical changes. I enjoyed learning about how and why they happen. What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? The most recent book I read was a book called Watch Your Back by Sue Wallman. I would recommend it to readers who like mystery, drama, secrets, and exciting twists.

Easter At Easter we go to the beach My family and I Mum tells me of when she did the cold plunge in Antarctica I wonder if the sea in New Brighton is as cold as Antarctica Jessica Pollard is 10 years old and is a student at Te Paritō Kōwhai Russley School in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Visiting the beach sounds like such a fun and unique Easter tradition! Why does your family choose to celebrate the holiday this way? What kinds of things do you do at the beach together? How cold is the sea in New Brighton?! Easter in New Zealand is in Autumn heading into winter and the water is very cold! It’s a challenge my family has to run in together, dunk your head under and stay in as long as possible. If it is a very cold day we will visit the hot pools afterwards. In summer we go boogie boarding, swimming and sometimes hunt for crabs. Christmas in New Zealand is in summer too so we also have our family Christmas photo on the beach with Santa. Our dog comes for a photo too! What are some other traditions you have with family or friends that are unique and special in your life? A couple of days before school starts we always go and get a special drink, it might be a monster shake which is a milkshake topped with delicious ice cream, sweets, popcorn and cocktail umbrellas on top, or sometimes a bubble tea. One of my friends and I always get ready for our school discos together. Sometimes our whole friend group can come. We help with each other's outfits and do our make up and hair, sometimes we also have a mini disco to get our dancing skills ready before the real thing. What is your favorite topic to study in school? Writing is my favourite topic because I get to let my imagination run wild. I also love researching in books for the information reports we do in school. Preparing speeches about a topic we get to pick is super fun. What is the most interesting thing you recently learned? The most interesting thing I learned is that ancient people in Peru ate popcorn, and that archaeologists have found popcorn cobs they think could be up to 6,000 years old. What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? I am reading Factopia by Kate Hale. There are 400 really interesting facts in the book and there are three books to collect. I would definitely recommend this to other readers, it teaches you stuff you probably didn’t know.

The Warmth of the Diya The vibrant diya It’s light flickers from the winds trying to extinguish it My hands shields it from the harsh winds coming for it It’s light shines in the cold darkness of the night Signifying the warmth of my loved ones Helping me through the darkness of my life I set it down outside my doorstep Luring good luck and love towards my house It’s light shines brighter now I think it’s gained strength And can now handle the cruel winds tormenting it Holi Festival Handfuls of color in the air On the ground is a vibrant array of powder Like how we are all different In our own way Fun, laughter, and joy is everywhere Each throw of color Symbolizing love Time flies when we’re bonding with friends and family Inside our hearts Valuable memories will always stay And when times get tough we can always remember the Love filled in the times that we went through together Zaira Menon is a twelve-year-old in sixth grade. She is a black belt in taekwondo and she loves to sing, read, and dance. She has also published a poem on Little Thoughts Press: Issue 12: Better Together Your poems beautifully demonstrate the way traditions can bring both connection and comfort to our lives. Why did you choose these specific traditions to focus on in your pieces? What do these rituals bring to your life? They bring me a sense of comfort and joy, since I have been doing these rituals for many years. It has become a part of my life that is impossible to forget. What is your favorite topic to study in school? My favorite topic to study in school is Language Arts, specifically writing. What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? The most recent book I have read was called The Giver by Lois Lowry, and it was one of my favorite books! I would definitely recommend it to other readers.

on the last day of school on the last day of school me, my brother and my dad go out to the scrumptious avonhead tavern I smell lovely fish’n’chips floating to my mouth I feel drool s l i d i n g down my chin I see people gobbling delicious doughnuts I hear people yapping as loudly lions roaring I wonder how many doughnuts I could eat in one sitting Basti Clare is 8 years of age and in year 4 at Te Paritō Kōwhai Russley School in Ōtautahi Christchurch. He enjoys playing cricket and loves doughnuts. A special meal is a great way to celebrate the last day of school. Why do you think we create traditions to celebrate when the school year comes to an end? Do you have any traditions to celebrate the start of a new school year? We make traditions to celebrate the end of the school year because we are so happy we have made it through another year. My brother and I have a photo taken together in our school uniforms on the first day of school. What are some other traditions you have with family or friends that are unique and special in your life? We have take-aways together as a family every Friday. We take a family photo in front of our house every December. We spend Christmas with our cousins. I have a birthday party every year with my friends. We go away on family holidays at Easter, July school holidays and the summer holidays. What is your favorite topic to study in school? My favourite topic to study in school is science because we get to do cool activities. What is the most interesting thing you recently learned? I learned how to do long multiplication. What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? I recently read Big Nate Remain Calm. I would definitely recommend this book because it is funny.

there’s always something to do at a hockey game a crowd full of loud cheering a ball getting hit hard into a goal a team of speeding players a coach who encourages us to play like professionals on the field team mates running like 100 gazelles with me Kieran Beckingham is 8 years old and in year 4 at Te Paritō Kōwhai Russley School in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Your poem wonderfully captures the energy and collaboration of a team sport. Why did you choose this topic as the focus of your piece? What do you like most about playing sports? Thank you very much. I chose this topic because hockey is my favourite sport, and I look forward to learning new skills at training and playing games every week. I love playing with my friends and working together as a team. It’s fun and keeps me fit! What are some other traditions you have with family or friends that are unique and special in your life? My mum is from the USA, so we celebrate some of those holidays and traditions. We always dress up on Halloween and go Trick o’ Treating, and every Christmas Eve, we get to open one present before we go to sleep. What is your favorite topic to study in school? My favourite topic to study in school is Maths, because I like working with numbers and solving problems. What is the most interesting thing you recently learned? My sister recently did a Passion Project about the giant squid. I learned that they can grow up to 13 metres, which is around the size of a bus! What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? I am reading the Treehouse Storey series by Andy Griffiths. I would recommend these books to other readers because they are really funny to read. They are about three people who live in a treehouse, and they go on cool adventures and solve problems.

Chinese New Year a festival in spring the start of the year everyone celebrating people from around the world come back home to eat and share delicious beef dumplings happy children hopping away with red pockets from the elders filled with money and their best wishes Everyone laughing Everyone having a splendid time Ryan Cui is 8 years old and in year 4 at Te Paritō Kōwhai Russley School in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Your poem wonderfully demonstrates the way traditions bring joy and connection to our lives. Why did you choose this specific tradition to focus on in your pieces? What does this holiday bring to your life? I thought it would be fun to share one of my traditions and show other people that Chinese New Year is full of fun! This holiday is very important to me because it marks the beginning of a new year, and it reminds me that I’m growing up. What are some other traditions you have with family or friends that are unique and special in your life? Celebrating birthdays with my family which is not a particular Chinese holiday, but is still an important tradition and a special part of my life. What is your favorite topic to study in school? My favorite topic in school is maths, I think it’s in my blood! What is the most interesting thing you recently learned? I learned that a bug called a scorpionfly has a scorpion tail but is harmless. What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers? I recently read The 104-storey Treehouse. I would recommend Treehouse books because they have a lot of humor, fun stories, and rich language.

Little Thoughts Press Issue Thirteen: Head, Shoulders, Spleen and Nose with a sneak peek of the poem "Bald Lady" by Annelies Judson Annelies Judson is a children's author and poet from Aotearoa New Zealand. She loves cooking, cricket and her kids (not in that order). She also has alopecia, but that is neither hair nor there. Her debut picture book, Turkey Hurly-Burly, was released in 2025. You can find her at anneliesjudson.wordpress.com. Little Thoughts Press: Your poem "Bald Lady" features a long list of delightfully creative reasons for the speaker's baldness. Some are wondrous and weird, some are very silly, others have an element of logical realism to them—"I want to be an Olympic swimmer / and baldness makes me very fast". Can you talk a bit about your process in brainstorming all of these wild ways of going bald? How would you advise fellow writers to break free from the constraints of reality if they are looking to add more playfulness and whimsy to their writing? Annelies Judson: As a teacher and children’s writer, I work a lot with kids. Many of the ideas in the poem were off-the-cuff comments that I made to children who asked why I was bald. So some of the ‘brainstorming’ was actually just living my life as a bald teacher with a creative brain. A lot of the other ideas were things I came up with to try and fit the rhyme scheme! That might sound a bit boring, but I actually think there’s a lot of magic to be found in constraints. For example, I had the line, I woke up one day and it was gone. So then I needed to find a rhyme for ‘gone’. I looked at the options to see if any of them could be applied to hair, and the obvious choice was ‘long’ (a slant rhyme, I know!). So then I came up with the idea of long, invisible hair, which led to the following lines, it’s there but it’s invisible/and it’s actually very, very long. The restriction of the rhyming lines means that you have to force yourself to consider how to use the limited rhyme options that you’ve got. Of course sometimes you don’t find a rhyme, and that leads you down a different path, but that too can force you into creativity. In general I think that constraints are actually very helpful for the creative process. I love writing to a brief because it forces me to come up with ideas that fit that—and only that!—thing. You can create your own constraints or use others’. For example, there’s a children’s poetry team called The Poets XYZ (you can find their page on Facebook), and for the last three years they’ve promoted a challenge where you have to write 100 poems in 100 days. It’s hard to do, but it’s been great for getting the creative juices flowing. Little Thoughts Press: In your author's note that accompanies this poem you write about how you have alopecia and explain, "When I lost my hair I decided that it was important to show people that it is OK to be bald, and hopefully to teach people about accepting people's differences." Do you think kid-lit writers have a responsibility to demonstrate vulnerability to young readers? As writers, how can we best encourage both compassion and courage and are there any books or other pieces of writing that you think are especially adept at this task? Annelies Judson: That’s a really interesting question. I don’t think that kid-lit writers have a responsibility to be anything really, beyond just good human beings. But I think the kid-lit community as a whole has a responsibility to show vulnerability, whether that is the illustrators and writers themselves, or the characters they create. Not every creator will want to show or represent vulnerability. You may not want your characters grappling with deep subjects, either because you don’t want to write that kind of book, or because it doesn’t fit the concept or vibe of what you’re doing. (Books like How To Count To One or Oi Cat are hardly the place for emotional discussion.) And many people don’t want to be personally vulnerable, because they’re human, and that’s hard! But those of us who feel that they have the confidence or good humour to wear their vulnerability openly do, I think, have some level of responsibility. Children who are minorities of any sort, from cultural minorities to medical minorities, deserve to have role models and characters in which they can see themselves. Adults too, for that matter! But representation is more than just for minorities. All children (and adults!) should have exposure to all the different parts of being human—not just the happy parts or the pretty parts or the parts that look and sound like their own experiences. The more that people are exposed to something, the more normalised it becomes for them. And children’s literature is a wonderful way to give that exposure, either directly via the characters and themes, or indirectly through illustrations or incidental characters. How we encourage compassion and courage is a different part of the puzzle. Exposure is only the first step. It’s all nice and well for children to see people and stories that reflect minorities, and for kids who are part of the majority (whatever that may be in their own context), this is certainly an important part of recognising the similarities between themselves, and others who may be quite different. But I think the more important part is the discussions that we as adults have with children. If children have questions or comments about a character or a person, then by answering them with honesty and thoughtfulness, and posing questions for children to reflect on themselves, we can build up their own ability to think and reflect. And that’s the first step to compassion. For example, my daughter recently asked about a character who was referred to by the pronoun ‘they’. (We were reading the junior fiction series Violet and the Velvets, if anyone wants to find it!) I explained about how ‘they’ is a gender-neutral version of ‘he’ or ‘she’, and why people might choose to use it. Not long afterwards, I was talking about one of our local library staff, who also uses the pronoun ‘they’. Again my daughter asked about the use of ‘they’, but this time the explanation was pretty quick because she was able to make the connection. Then she went on her merry way, because the pronoun ‘they’ is now just a non-notable part of her experience of the world. Neither of these were super deep conversations: just a few questions, honestly answered. Any kind of difference you can think of will have been dealt with in picture books. Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder is great. A writer I follow online, Ryan Rae Harbuck, has just published When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Chair, which is about a kid in a wheelchair. I’m also a big fan of having incidental characters who ‘just happen to be’ different. Harriet Gets Carried Away by Jessie Sima is one of my favourite picture books, and the fact that Harriet has two dads is irrelevant to the storyline. In the middle grade/junior fiction realm, I think that R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (and the picture book version We Are All Wonders) is a stand-out example for people with physical differences. I loved Simon Sort-Of Says by Erin Rew for the way it dealt with emotional/psychological challenges. There are incidental examples in books of this level too, like Violet and the Velvets that I mentioned before. Little Thoughts Press: How did you get started writing kid-lit and what do you find most challenging and rewarding about writing for kids? Annelies Judson: I had wanted to write for kids for years before I started in earnest. I remember coming up with an idea for a picture book while I was in the university library writing my dissertation, and accidentally-on-purpose spending an hour of my precious study time coming up with a plot. That book has been swallowed up by the gods of obsolete hard drives. I started writing properly when my first child was young. I distinctly remember lying on my side on the carpet by his cot, holding his hand in one hand and my phone in the other, drafting a book. I wrote the whole thing in that position, just a little bit each night. The turning point for me was 2023. That year I won a poetry competition run by The Poets XYZ, which connected me with other children’s poets. That same year I entered an award which I went on to win, and that led to my first picture book being published. All the while I was writing picture book reviews and interviewing people for a children’s literature website here in Aotearoa New Zealand (shout out to The Sapling!). Over those years I’ve become more and more connected with the kidlit community here. Making connections is really valuable because writing is a lonely business in some ways. Having a community means you get to talk shop sometimes. Plus you always have someone to turn to who can give you an opinion on a manuscript, offer advice about publishers and the publishing process, or answer random questions you have about punctuation. What’s challenging about writing for kids is avoiding didacticism, particularly in picture books. Children’s literature has a long history of being used to educate children on the values and expectations of society. We’ve come a long way since the days of ‘the moral of the story is…’ but some books still manage to moralise in a way that I find pretty distasteful as a reader and parent. But yet as a writer, I do sometimes fall into that trap! Books should first and foremost appeal to emotion, whether that’s joy or pathos or something else. I want children and parents to read my books and poems because they get some kind of satisfaction from the story, not because they want to learn a lesson. If they gain something more from the text then that’s a bonus. What’s rewarding about writing, for me, is the feeling of getting something ‘just right’. I love it when I find the perfect last line for a poem, or manage a great ‘mic drop’ moment, or write a metaphor that works perfectly, or find an ending for a book that brings everything together, or find a way to represent an emotion or character that feels pitch perfect. That’s not unique to writing for children of course. What is special about writing for children is that you get to share all those things when you do school visits. Adult authors are a lot more limited in their options for talking directly to their audience, I think. I love the fact that I get to regularly work with my readers. Little Thoughts Press: Which kid-lit authors and books were your favorites growing up? Annelies Judson: How much space have I got? Haha. Poetry-wise, I loved, and to this day continue to love, A.A. Milne. I can still recite entire poems of his off by heart. Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes was another favourite. I also remember very clearly a poetry book in my primary/elementary school library that I issued over and over again. I can remember what it felt like and vaguely what it looked like, but not the title. Unfortunately I’ve never been able to find it again! That was definitely very influential in my love of poetry. Plus of course all the rhyming picture book writers, especially those from Aotearoa New Zealand, like Lynley Dodd and Pamela Allen. When I was a teenager I discovered Ogden Nash and Edward Lear, who both write things that can be enjoyed by children too. I read a lot of fiction from Aotearoa New Zealand as a child. Hairy Maclary was a mainstay, and Margaret Mahy’s books. As I got older, Joy Cowley, Tessa Duder, Lisa Vasil and David Hill were all in my bookshelf. I was a big re-reader as well. Although I remember going to the library and I’m sure I must have read quite widely (I was described as a ‘voracious’ reader on one of my school reports), I read the books I owned over and over. As a child of the 80s, I also remember reading lots of Judy Blume, the Anastastia Krupnik series, The Baby-Sitters Club, and my absolute favourite, Animorphs. Plus a lot of modern classics like Charlotte’s Web, Playing Beatie Bow and Bridge to Terabithia. I think kids often don’t remember non-fiction books as clearly, but I have a strong memory of the book Tell Me Why, which I received from my grandparents with the inscription, “So you can out-knowledge the knowledgeables.” I read that book so many times. I also received a book about the natural world for Christmas one year, and I remember taking it to school stuffed with bookmarks, and sharing it with my class. I recall vaguely knowing that my teacher wanted me to finish talking but I was desperate to share everything so I just kept going, bookmark after bookmark. The class must have been so bored! Haha. Little Thoughts Press: And what about today? Any kid-lit writers you love and want to shout out? Annelies Judson: I’m a massive fan of Julia Donaldson’s incredible rhyming and rhythm skills. The pared-back writing and dry wit of Oliver Jeffers really appeals to me too. I also love Kes Grey, Shaun Tan (for both his writing AND his art), Philip and Laura Bunting, and Jessie Sima. And I absolutely must shout out the book Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis. It’s so very clever. We have wonderful writers in Aotearoa New Zealand too. I love the linguistic nerdery that Juliette MacIver brings to her writing, and Gavin Bishop makes the most amazingly beautiful, thoughtful books. Those are just two examples from the picture book realm, but I won’t start naming more, because I’m sure to leave someone out! I should also mention Joy Cowley. She isn’t writing any more, but two books of her writing have been published in the last few years, and books like Greedy Cat and Mrs Wishy-Washy are still being reprinted! She is hugely influential in the children’s literature community both here and overseas, and there’s a beautiful documentary about her available online, which I think everyone should watch. Little Thoughts Press: What advice would you give to young writers? Annelies Judson: Write. That’s it. Don’t worry if your spelling is wrong or you can’t remember which punctuation to use. Don’t worry if your poem isn’t perfect or your rhymes don’t work. Just write. Then, if you feel really inspired by a particular thing you’ve written, go back and fiddle with it. Change some words around. Change them back if they don’t work. I love working on a computer for this reason. You can make multiple copies of a piece easily, and then you can compare to see if you like a previous version better. But I would only fiddle with the things you really like. I’ve written hundreds of poems and many of them I’ve never looked at again once I’ve finished them! Maybe one day I will. But I only bother to work on the ones that really capture me, or that I want to send to a magazine or a competition. You can get too caught up in trying to make everything perfect. I don’t have the time or energy to work on everything I write, but the act of just writing them in the first place is valuable. For the same reason, don’t even feel like you need to finish every piece of writing. I have so many poems and stories that I’ve started, but then never finished. Sometimes it’s because I realise the idea isn’t as good as I thought, sometimes it’s because something else has captured my interest, and sometimes it’s simply that I’ve forgotten about them! Obviously you want to finish SOME pieces of writing—don’t leave everything incomplete!—but definitely don’t feel obliged to keep working on something just because you started it. For me, it’s finding the balance between pushing through the challenging parts (eg. not giving up just because I can’t find a rhyme for one particular word) but also making sure that I spend time on things that I find satisfying, rather than slogging through something that I don’t think is working. And especially when you’re young, I think just continuing to write is the most important thing you can do. Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share? Annelies Judson: I’m currently writing a novel-in-verse for young adults, which has been a good new challenge. I have no publishing news to share, but the nature of writing is that you never know when that might change! People can follow me on Instagram @annelies_judson_writer and anneliesjudson.wordpress.com for updates.

Reviewed by Jennifer Thomas Some people collect shells, comic books, or keychains. Shaun Jex collects tales about American creatures that most of us have never seen, “the type that people tell stories about while sitting around a campfire, or just before bedtime,” as he says at the start of his new poetry collection, A Catalog of Curious Creatures. He has written poems about 81 of these creatures, from the agropelter to the whirling whimpus. They lurk in just about every corner of the United States, from the bayous of Louisiana to the shrubland of California, from the watering holes of Oklahoma to the northern woods. Although many of the creatures love to dine on unsuspecting humans, some of them just enjoy a bit of mischief: the argopelter, for instance, perches high up in conifers and pelts passersby with splinters. The table of contents is a feast for word lovers. Who could resist learning about creatures called gillygaloo, gumberoo, sheepsquatch, or whiffenpoof? My favorites are the foopengerkle, a 15-foot-long vegetarian (thankfully!) worm, and the humpdumple, which makes potholes in roads. Great care has been taken with the look and feel of the collection. The pages have the worn, sepia-toned look of antique books, and each poem is anchored in a rustic twig frame. The fonts used for the poems could have come straight out of a 19th century typesetter’s lead type drawers. Many of the poems provide a taste of old, almost-forgotten American dialects, and archival illustrations of several of the creatures add to the effect. The collection is a window into a time before there was K-Pop on every cellphone and Netflix on every tablet, when the evening’s entertainment was cousin John playing his fiddle and Grandpa spinning tales by the hearth, while dear knows what lurked outside in the dark. Reading these poems is like listening to the hiss and pop of a scratchy antique recording of an old-timer singing folk tunes. There are poems in this collection to fire the imagination of young readers, and there’s plenty of sly humor for older readers: Everyone who likes to fish has probably encountered the sizzerbill, which snatches prize fish from fishermen: “I almost caught the big one, the biggest fish you’ve ever seen / They woulda put my picture inside a magazine.” If you’re a 10-year-old, ask an adult to buy this book for you so that you can start planning your Great American Road Trip when you grow up: which creatures are you going to try to find? If you’re an adult, buy this book to reconnect with your 10-year-old self. Once you’ve got your copy, read it with a flashlight when you’re tucked into your sleeping bag at night on a camping trip. It will help you to figure out what’s snapping the branches and crunching through the leaves just outside the tent wall. Perhaps you’ll even see a snipe, which is part-jackrabbit, part-squirrel, and maybe part-bird: “Its glowing eyes give off bright sparks / It’s really quite a sight / The fellas swear I’ll catch a glimpse / If I stay here all night.” Shaun Jex is a poet living in the Oklahoma City area with his wife, two children, three cats, a pair of snakes, and a bearded dragon. His poems have appeared in publications such as Dirigible Balloon, The Caterpillar Magazine, Little Thoughts Press, and others. When he isn't busy writing, he spends time peeking under rocks to see the bugs living there. Jennifer Thomas is a Canadian word fan who loves writing children’s poetry and helping kids to unleash their imaginations in poetry-writing workshops. She enjoys poring over very old dictionaries, blowing the dust off beautiful and oddball long-forgotten words, and sharing them. She’s at her happiest walking in the woods near her home in Canada with her dog, letting words for new poems bounce around in her head while she watches the world change through the four seasons. Find some of Jennifer’s poems and a few of her favourite old words at jenniferthomaswords.com.

Little Thoughts Press Issue Thirteen: Head, Shoulders, Spleen and Nose with a sneak peek of the story "Benny's Bellybutton" by Rachel Burrows. Rachel Burrows' writing for children can be found in Northern Gravy, The Toy, Tyger Tyger, Little Thoughts Press and The Dirigible Balloon. She is an Undiscovered Voices 2026 Winner and was also shortlisted for the Cheshire Novel Kids Prize 2025 and the Write Mentor Picture Book Writing Competition 2023. Her work was recently selected by John Agard to appear in the Poems on the Move Exhibition for The Guernsey Literary Festival. She teaches and runs the library in an SEMH school near Stonehenge in England and has her best ideas whilst walking her dog, Fennel. She is happiest in the sea. Little Thoughts Press: "Benny's Bellybutton" is such a fun, lively story that wonderfully captures the goofy, playful nature of young kids. What was the initial spark for this story and how did you go about deciding which body parts would speak up? Rachel Burrows: Initially, I think it was watching the youngest children at school lifting the fronts of their T-shirts over their faces or poking their elbows out of their jumper sleeves and finding it so funny. But then I started to think about how hard it is when you are small to sit still to listen to a story when there is so much in the classroom to be distracted by—not least of all your own imagination and wonder! And it doesn’t mean you aren’t listening! Body parts—well it had to be the bellybutton didn’t it! What a wonderfully weird thing it is. It sounds so great to say too with the rhythm of the word and all those ‘l’s and ‘b’s —such friendly sounding letters! And knees—well that was a no-brainer, they deserve a moment don’t they. And with more ‘l’s and ‘b’s—the elbows of course. I love the word elbow. It’s even better in German—Elbogen. And three was enough—the power of three is a wonderful thing. Little Thoughts Press: What advice can you offer fellow writers for crafting lively, active scenes like you've created in "Benny's Bellybutton"? Rachel Burrows: I see it in my mind’s eye. What is happening? What noises are there? What are the reactions? What is it building up to? How is it building? Having said that, I don’t really plan that—it’s just in my head as I’m writing. My main editing question to myself is always, ‘Can I feel it?’ If I can’t, I play with it some more. I love writing dialogue, I think that helps. Little Thoughts Press: I think at some point or another, we've all imagined our belly buttons talking. If your belly button could talk, what would it say today? Rachel Burrows: Today it would be a muffled squeak! It might ask me why I don’t show it the sun anymore! And I would ask it, what’s on the other side—what’s on the inside of a bellybutton? Little Thoughts Press: In a past interview you shared your favorite kid-lit books and recommendations. Are there any recent books you've read and really enjoyed that you can share with us? Rachel Burrows: I adore The Gnome Book by Loes Riphagen—ust so much to look at and enjoy. Don’t Trust Fish makes me laugh just to think about. And The Unfairies by Huw Aaron is so much fun too. I read Tuck Everlasting for the first time recently and thought it was extraordinary. Anthony McGowan has a new book out called Birdlands which I can’t wait to read. I will always adore So Devin Wore a Skirt because the author Shireen Lalji was the first one in my fabulous crit group to get published—so I feel like the proud aunty of it! Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share? Rachel Burrows: Well I have had the most extraordinary writing month and time after time I have had to pinch myself and wonder about the fact that my writing has taken me to these places. A few weeks ago I went to the beautiful island of Guernsey for their literary festival because my poem had been chosen by John Agard to be part of a Poems on the Move Exhibition. And just a few days ago I was celebrating being an Undiscovered Voices ’26 winner at an incredible ceremony in London. I got to meet Louis Stowell! I have made so many new friends which is not something you think about when you start writing! I am busy submitting my middle-grade novel now—and it’s looking hopeful. Thank you so much for choosing "Benny". It’s the best feeling ever when someone loves a character and story as much as I do!