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Nancy Hudgins
@nancyhudgins.com
750 followers 1.1K following 290 posts
🎈Celebrating🎈
Books Good Enough For You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children's Books
Pub. Date: 3/24/26 by Abrams BFYR.
Rep’d: Rachel Orr, Prospect Agency
#MG #SCBWI #HighlightsFoundation #InkedVoices #nonfictionkidlit
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nancyhudgins.com
MY LIFE AS AN ASTHMANAUT by @jlockettauthor1.bsky.social, illus. by Adriana Pedroi, is available for pre-order now at Bookshop.org. Jake’s own experience informs his sensitive account of the challenges of living with asthma. Well done! #kidlit #informational #PB
January 20, 2026 at 7:24 PM
nancyhudgins.com
And--you can hear snippets of Barbara Rosenblat's narration of Winnie-the-Pooh on YouTube.
January 19, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Nancy Hudgins
beckylevine.bsky.social
Yes, I do call this research. 💖 #kidlit 📚👍🏻
Three books: THE MISFITS A ROYAL CONUNDRUM, CITY SPIES, THE UNDERDOGS CATCH A CAT BURGLAR.
January 19, 2026 at 8:54 PM
nancyhudgins.com
Clement Hurd was born on Jan. 12, 1908. A friend of Margaret Wise Brown's, she recommended him to #UrsulaNordstrom to illustrate THE RUNAWAY BUNNY and GOODNIGHT MOON—and the rest is #history. Their origin stories are chapters 4 and 5 of BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU. #kidlit #nonfictionkidlit
January 19, 2026 at 9:40 PM
nancyhudgins.com
🎈Congratulations🎈 to @fuse8.bsky.social for her hilarious POP! GOES THE NURSERY RHYME, available now! Her comedic timing is impeccable. I can see reading this aloud to a room full of kids, but your kid(s) will have just as much fun at home (and you will, too!) #PB #kidlit
January 18, 2026 at 8:13 PM
nancyhudgins.com
I'm late, but still celebrating the🎈 70th Book Birthday🎈 of BRONZEVILLE BOYS AND GIRLS, by #PulitzerPrize winner Gwendolyn Brooks, illus. by Ronni Solbert, and later by Faith Ringgold, edited by #UrsulaNordstrom. Its origin story is chapter 11 of BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU. #kidlit #nonfictionkidlit
January 18, 2026 at 4:12 AM
nancyhudgins.com
@cathycarrwrites.bsky.social's #MG novel, 365 DAYS TO ALASKA, celebrates its🎈 5th #bookbirthday🎈 this week. Sales are still strong for this fish-out-of-water story about a backcountry Alaska girl’s move to the Conn. suburbs. #SLJ recommends it, calling it “charming.” Check it out! #kidlit
January 16, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Nancy Hudgins
theauthorvillage.bsky.social
Rest in Power, Claudette Colvin

Today would be a great day to share the beautiful picture book, BECAUSE CLAUDETTE, written by @traceybaptiste.bsky.social and illustrated by Tonya Engel, with young people.

www.traceybaptiste.com/books/becaus...
January 14, 2026 at 11:07 AM
nancyhudgins.com
Special thanks ❤️ to Publishers Weekly for this lovely review of BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU: THE STORIED LIFE OF URSULA NORDSTROM, EDITOR OF EXTRAORDINARY CHILDREN'S BOOKS.❤️ #kidlitnonfiction @publisherswkly.bsky.social
bit.ly/4sDSufG
Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books by Nancy Hudgins
In this intriguing biography, debut author Hudgins pays tribute to acclaimed editor Ursula Nordstrom (1910–1988), who shaped 20t...
bit.ly
January 13, 2026 at 12:03 AM
nancyhudgins.com
Dear Greenlanders—Take courage from your Icelandic neighbors: Read I DARE! I CAN! I WILL!: THE DAY THE ICELANDIC WOMEN WALKED OUT AND INSPIRED THE WORLD, by author-illus. Linda Olafsdottir. It’s about equal rights, but its message speaks to this moment. #kidlitnonfiction
#PB
January 8, 2026 at 9:00 PM
nancyhudgins.com
ICYMI, @suzylevinson.bsky.social was interviewed on the Children's Literature podcast about her new picture book DINOS THAT DRIVE, illus. by @dharbin.bsky.social. bit.ly/4pvV6Kw Suzy reads (and sings!) her poems. Mel Rosenberg says he's "in awe" of her work. Not to be missed!
#kidlit #poetry #dinos
A dynamic cover! Against a light blue background, the title is in the upper third in fire engine red letters. In smaller black letters the author and illustrator's names are above. In the bottom two-thirds some of Harbin's zany dinosaurs drive all kinds of motor vehicles--a fire engine, a police car, a motorcycle, a VW bug, a school bus, a bicycle, a pickup truck, a convertible, a scooter, a jeep, a long haul truck, and more. Very fun!
December 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Nancy Hudgins
joncooper-us.bsky.social
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December 1, 2025 at 2:34 PM
nancyhudgins.com
Many thanks to Kirkus Reviews for this enthusiastic review of BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! #kidlitnonfiction #kidlit #UrsulaNordstrom

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
BOOKS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU | Kirkus Reviews
Only the rarest kind of best was good enough for this editor.
www.kirkusreviews.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:51 AM
nancyhudgins.com
Have you seen this from Popular information?

“One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or characters.”

This is just nuts.
November 25, 2025 at 4:06 PM
nancyhudgins.com
November 13 is the book birthday for🎈🎈WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE!🎈🎈 In February 1963, #Sendak mentioned to his editor, #UrsulaNordstrom, that he had a book idea about wild horses. She encouraged him to write it. Nine months later it was published. #kidlitnonfiction #kidlit #thegoodolddays #BOOKSGEFY
The book jacket has a Caldecott in the lower left hand corner, partially obscuring the sailboat on the river headed toward one of the Wild Things. The boat is light orange with yellow sails. To the right is a huge Wild Thing, taking up three quarters of the book. His eyes are closed and he's faintly smiling. He's sitting on a small spit of land in the forefront with one hand resting on his knee and his head is resting in his hand. While he has the body of a monster, with gray fur, horns coming out of his head, a pig-like snout and claws on his hand, his feet are human feet. Also in the foreground are two palm trees, their leaves painted a rose color. In the background is the other bank of the river with six varied trees against the blue sky.
November 9, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Nancy Hudgins
12x12challenge.bsky.social
November is Native American Heritage Month — a time to honor the stories, traditions, and voices of Indigenous communities. 📚✨

Let’s celebrate the authors and illustrators sharing Native stories with the world.

#kidlit #12x12PB
November 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Nancy Hudgins
peoplesbooktakoma.com
We are so thankful for this wonderful community. Please consider yourself formally invited to our forthcoming author events!
November 1, 2025 at 10:48 PM
nancyhudgins.com
My #MG recommendations were:

365 DAYS TO ALASKA, by @cathycarrwrites.bsky.social
#kidlit

TWELVE DAYS IN MAY: FREEDOM RIDE, 1961, by Larry Dane Brimner #kidlitnonfiction
It's a colorful cover. The main character is drawn in the center foreground. She's wearing boots, brown sienna pants and a navy blue T-shirt; she has a purple lumberman's shirt tied around her waist. She is facing right, taking a step. from a meadow with a stream beyond and white-capped mountains beyond that, into a paved asphalt road on her right, with two wooden houses painted in neutral yellow-white and the ocean beyond--signifying her journey from Alaska to the Connecticut suburbs. The cover is black. The title and subtitle take up most of it. To the left is the well-deserved Sibert Medal awarded to the author. Underneath it is a picture of a Greyhound bus from 1961. The words in the title are in gray and white, except May, which is in red. The subtitle words are in blue. It's striking.
October 29, 2025 at 2:34 PM
nancyhudgins.com
I'm writing my monthly newsletter and realized I didn't post my recommendations for September.

For #picturebooks, they were:

THE RABBIT LISTENED, written and illus. by Cori Doerrfeld

HOW TO MAKE A BOOK (ABOUT MY DOG), by @bartography.bsky.social l, illus. by @sarahhorne.bsky.social

#kidlit
The cover has a white background. In the upper third is the book's title, in large green-blue letters. In smaller letters underneath it say New York Times bestseller. In the left lower quadrant is the author's name, in smaller light-chocolate letters. In the right lower quadrant is a drawing from the book of a young child in blue and white horizontally striped pajamas hugging a light chocolate colored rabbit. The cover background is shades of orange and it is busy. The book's title takes up most of the cover. On the lower left is the author's name. On the lower right is the illustrators name. Drawings from the book abound, including one of the author and one of his dog. It has a semi-collage feel. The title letters are cleverly different colors and textures. For instance, the K in book is an actual open book with the red cover on a vertical line as the vertical line in the K and the book pages are splayed out into two pieces, making the angular parts of the K.
October 29, 2025 at 2:15 PM
nancyhudgins.com
Last weekend I was at the Prospect Agency client retreat at the Highlights Foundation near Honesdale. So wonderful to be in the midst of such warm and multi-talented creatives. Hung out with old friends, met new ones. And got a sneak peek at upcoming titles--2026 will be a great year for #kidlit!
October 24, 2025 at 7:51 PM
nancyhudgins.com
Go Rose! #USWNT
October 24, 2025 at 12:26 AM
nancyhudgins.com
Worth your time—by my friend @scribemarjie.bsky.social And you get to hear her read it!
October 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM
nancyhudgins.com
@mychal3ts.bsky.social :

“Book bans declare some voices, some stories, don’t deserve to be heard, to be told, and I cannot accept that,” he said. “I refuse to believe that. No voice should ever be silenced. No voice should ever be made to feel invisible.”

I’m with Mychal.
October 12, 2025 at 2:52 PM
nancyhudgins.com
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director, ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, “Behind every book ban is a young reader being denied the chance to read, the chance to find out that literature is a way out to a better life, a better world, a better understanding of themselves, a way to grow and live.”
October 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
nancyhudgins.com
If you get a chance to hear Maria Corina Machado's reaction on the call from the Nobel committee informing her she had won the Nobel Prize for Peace 2025, I recommend it highly. (Sorry for no link, I found it on Substack.)

That's how normal, humble people do it.
October 11, 2025 at 2:46 PM