The Lerner Podcast

Get the behind-the-scenes story of Notes from a Sickbed, a collection of memoir comics from artist Tessa Brunton. 

 In 2009, Tessa Brunton experienced the first symptoms of myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome). She spent much of the next eight years unwell, in a medical holding pattern, housebound and often alone. In 2017, she found a strategy that helped reduce her symptoms, and soon began creating the...

Lerner Publishing Group presents children’s & YA book creators to talk about their books in honor of LGBT+ History Month in October. We’ll cover the importance of queer history in literature for today’s young readers, how readers can find role models in both fiction and nonfiction, and the difference and importance of recognizing queer history in addition to LGBTQ+ Pride in June. Participants will leave this powerful we...

Celebrate the pub date of Yuck, You Suck! Poems about Animals That Sip, Slurp, Suck by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple with some spectacular samplings of the poems from the book.

Warning: this book sucks! It bites, slurps, and sticks too.

Dare to open these pages and you’ll find ticks, mosquitos, stingrays, elephants, jellyfish, and the particularly sucky lamprey. Sixteen slurpy poems from Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple introduce a s...

Listen to Tameka Fryer Brown discuss her first nonfiction picture book, written in narrative free verse, about the amazing Shirley Chisolm. 

Shirley Chisholm was a natural-born fighter. She didn’t like to be bossed and she wanted things to be fair.

Brooklyn-born Shirley Chisholm was smart and ambitious. She poured her energy into whatever she did—from teaching young children to becoming Brooklyn’s first Black assemblywoman. Not afrai...

Learn about the unexpected inventor of the aquarium, who studied and experimented on animals in the early 19th century. 

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was never expected to be a scientist. Born in 1794 in a French village more than 100 miles from the ocean, she pursued an improbable path that brought her to the island of Sicily. There, she took up natural history and solved the two-thousand-year-old mystery of how of the argonaut octopus ...

Author Sandra Nickel shares the story of Big Bear and Little Fish – the most precious picture book this year. 

At the carnival, Bear wants a teddy bear. And not just any teddy bear—she wants the biggest one of all.

But instead she gets a fish. A very small fish. Bear is so very big and Fish is so very small that Bear worries they have nothing in common. Can they possibly be friends?

Gentle, accessible prose by Sandra Nickel is paired ...

Debut author Emma K. Ohland shares the story of Funeral Girl, what inspired the book, and what she hopes readers take away from it.  

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Richter feels conflicted about the funeral home her parents run—especially because she has the ability to summon ghosts.

With one touch of any body that passes through Richter Funeral Home, she can awaken the spirit of the departed. With one more touch, she makes the spirit dis...

Meet author Kerry O’Malley Cerra as she describes Hear Me, and shares her own story of progressive hearing loss. 

One year after being diagnosed with hearing loss, Rayne’s hearing keeps getting worse, even with aids. It’s a struggle to maintain friendships and keep up in school, surfing is now a wipeout, and she can’t understand her favorite singer’s lyrics. But worst of all, Rayne’s parents are pushing for her to get cochlear impla...

Join author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator (and son!) Jeffrey Boston Weatherford as they discuss their new picture book Call Me Miss Hamilton, the book's protagonist Mary Hamilton, and the lasting impact of her activism.

Call Me Miss Hamilton
Discover the true story of the woman Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nicknamed “Red” because of her fiery spirit!

Mary Hamilton grew up knowing right from wrong. She was proud to be Bl...

Listen in as author Lee Wind discusses his YA nonfiction title No Way, They Were Gay?, discusses research and primary sources, and talks about what he's working on next, live from the ALA exhibit floor in Washington DC.

No Way, They Were Gay?
“History” sounds really official. Like it’s all fact. Like it’s definitely what happened.

But that’s not necessarily true. History was crafted by the people who recorded it. And sometimes...

Join Sue Fliess live from ALA as she discusses her picture books Rumble and Roar and Flash and Gleam.

Rumble and Roar
Babble / Swoosh / Roar and WHOOSH!
The roar of a waterfall, the chirp of insects, the thump of a heartbeat—sound is all around us! Rhyming text and atmospheric illustrations present four children in different parts of the world who encounter all sorts of sounds.

Flash and Gleam
The soft glow of a candle, the blink of ...

Listen in as Patricia Newman is interviewed in the Live from the 25 podcast booth at ALA. She discusses her excellent environmental justice panel and how her books support her goals of increasing environmental awareness and action in the next generation.

Books discussed include:
Plastic Ahoy
Follow a team of researchers as they explore the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where millions of pieces of plastic have collected. You'll lea...

Author and actor Doua Moua introduces young readers to his new picture book, TODAY IS DIFFERENT.

Mai, a young Hmong girl, and Kiara, a young Black girl, are best friends. They do everything together—riding the bus, eating lunch, playing at recess. But one day Kiara misses school and Mai goes looking for answers. When she learns that her best friend is protesting an act of police violence against the Black community, Mai decides to ...

Author Meeg Pincus introduces readers to their new picture book, MAKE WAY FOR ANIMALS!

Around the world, city highways and country roads have cut through natural spaces. Wild animals are blocked from the resources they need to survive, or must make dangerous crossings across busy roads to get to them. Fortunately, solving this problem has inspired some creative solutions! Take a tour of wildlife crossings across the globe, from gra...

Author Laura Purdie Salas introduces readers to her new picture book WE BELONG!

Explore and celebrate who you are and who others are too! Rhyming verse by Laura Purdie Salas invites others to notice the diversity of our world and affirm that we all belong, just as we are. Bright illustrations by Carlos Vélez Aquilera feature a diverse group of children, playing and learning in an urban setting.

Learn more and see inside the book on ...

Author Sue Fliess introduces readers to her new picture book, RUMBLE AND ROAR.

The roar of a waterfall, the chirp of insects, the thump of a heartbeat—sound is all around us! Rhyming text and atmospheric illustrations present four children in different parts of the world who encounter all sorts of sounds.

Learn more and see a preview on the Lerner website or visit Sue at her author website. Download a transcript of this episode here...

Author and photographer introduces readers to his new environmental nonfiction, WASHED ASHORE.

Every day, we use plastic products. And where does these items go when we are done with them? Too many end up in the ocean. Enter artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, the founder of Washed Ashore. With the help of volunteers, she collects ocean trash and uses it to construct sculptures of ocean wildlife. The sculptures go on display to educate ...

Author Ryan Dalton introduces readers to his new middle grade novel, THIS LAST ADVENTURE.

When Archie's beloved grandpa is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Archie tries to slow the progression of his grandpa's memory loss through shared role-playing fantasies. But he has to face the reality of what he's losing.

This imaginative and heartfelt story sensitively portrays the common experience of slowly losing a loved...

Author Carole Boston Weatherford introduces readers to the new picture book, CALL ME MISS HAMILTON.

Discover the true story of the woman Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nicknamed "Red" because of her fiery spirit! Civil Rights activist Miss Mary Hamilton was found to be in contempt of court after she demanded that an Alabama judge address her with the same honorifics used to address white people. Her case ultimately went to the ...