Cait Darfler..... is on SUBMISSION!
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caitdarfler.com
Cait Darfler..... is on SUBMISSION!
@caitdarfler.com
1.6K followers 1.7K following 950 posts
picture book writer. mom. geologist. environmentalist. gardener. jigsaw puzzler. #SCBWI #kidlit 🏳️‍🌈

Co-Assistant Regional Advisor, SCBWI NY: West/Central
PBParty2025 Finalist!

www.caitdarfler.com

Rep'd by Joyce Sweeney @joycekay.bsky.social
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caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Box Full of Wonders
Karl Newson & Emily Hamilton
Karl Newson

I haven't seen may books where the heart of the story centers around blending families. I love the moving box as the creative space that brings them together.
Cover for The Box Full of Wonders. Shows a large brown box exploding with colorful shapes and inside, with arms spread wide, is a small brown hair, brown skin boy wearing an orage sweater.
January 11, 2026 at 12:20 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Zombees
Justin Colon & Kaly Quarles
Justin Colón
Kaly Quarles

Undead bees invasion?!?! or maybe there's something more going on for this wonderful Halloween tale. 😉
Cover for Zombees. Black background with huge white lettering broken into ZOM BEES with small green bees flying around.
January 10, 2026 at 12:06 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

So Devin Wore a Skirt
Shireen Lalji & Lucy Fleming
Shireen Lalji
Lucy Fleming

Well done story of how we often hide what makes us feel good about ourselves, and also the love and relief from acceptance. Be you!
Cover for So Devin Wore a Skirt. Light blue background. small brown hair, brown skin boys wearing a red tshirt and a long midnight star-lit sky skirt.
January 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Shoes Off, Please
Helena Ku Rhee & Myo Yim

We're also a shoes off family. I loved the framing of family traditions and acceptance of others.
Cover for Shoes Off, Please. shows black harid mom and girls sitting whiel they take off their shoes.
January 8, 2026 at 12:08 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Ellie Has a Secret
Amelia Bothe
ameliabothe.com

Jawdropping illustration here. Perfect representation of a secret from something small and cute to and overwhelming monster. Lovely fantastical element with a lot of truth. Stunning.
Cover for Ellie Has a Secret. Shows small red haired girl looking up at a green and furry beast.
January 7, 2026 at 12:01 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

We Are The Wibbly! A Tadpoles Tail
Sarah Tagholm & Jane McGuinness
@janemcguinness.bsky.social

Really well done informative fiction, full of frog-facts! Pacing was kept up throughout with a chase through the developmental stages. Cute!
Cover for We Are The Wibbly! A Tadpoles Tail. Shows the title across a cloud of bubbles and frog eggs. Also a few tadpoles swim around, and across the top are a number of adult frogs.
January 6, 2026 at 12:56 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Children of the Throne
Joseph Coelho & Richard Johnson

Gorgeous illustration. Fantastical nature journey. KIDS ARE THE FUTURE!
Cover of The Children of the Throne - Wistfully show 3 children sitting around a large throne which is carved into tree branches and a flurry of butterflies surround them.
January 5, 2026 at 12:51 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Witchling's Wish
Lu Fraser & Sarah Massini
@sarahmassini.bsky.social

Another witchy MC, but not just for halloween. A story of friendship. It's soft and sweet and just what you want to read and night. Masterful in both prose and art.
January 4, 2026 at 12:32 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

This Year, A Witch!
Zoey Abbott

2026 is my year for witches. Working on both a #MG & #PB. My notes: Seriously fun bold images. Cute story. Just a touch of wickiness. Loved it.
Cover for This Year, A Witch! green leafy background with cartoon girl wearing a white witches hat. She has black hair and a blue and purple stripped shirt. Title is arranged in the witches hat.
January 3, 2026 at 12:54 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Witch's Table
Melinda Beatty & Stefano Tambellini
@melindabeatty.com

Very creative story. So much fun to think of these witchy items as having their own stories and characterization.
Cover for The Witch's Table. lime green, cobwebbed background with a legged table at the center. a dark hair witches sits at the table with a grumpy black cat the table is covered in witchy items.
January 2, 2026 at 12:34 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Good Little Mermaid's Guide to Bedtime
Eija Sumner & Nici Gregory
@eijasumner.bsky.social
@nicigregory.bsky.social

Really fun balance of cute and kid-like wickedness. Great juxtaposition between words and images. Loved it.
Cover for The Good Little Mermaid's Guide to Bedtime. Blue and green ocean and seaweed background with a evil looking mermaid.
January 1, 2026 at 12:18 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Day the Books Disappeared
Joanna Ho, Caroline Kusin Pritchard & Dan Santat
@joannahowrites.bsky.social
@carolinekpritchard.bsky.social
@dansantat.bsky.social

Know someone who supports #bookbans? Gift this gentle story. End censorship.
Cover for The Day the Books Disappeared. Shows a wide-eyed black haird boy holding a book and behind him are scared looking kids who just had their books "poofed" away.
December 31, 2025 at 12:20 PM
caitdarfler.com
Look what I got to do yesterday!!!!

And yes, my kiddo is wearing a "Don't Worry, Be Capy" t-shirt.
#capybaras
December 30, 2025 at 6:45 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Invisible Parade
Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio
@johnpicacio.bsky.social

It's huge, so much story. It's heafty, 60 pgs. It's deep, in color & richness of the illos.
I often found my not-yet-reading 6 yr old with it spread across her lap.
Cover for The Invisible Parade. In deep rich colors show a small dark hair girls behind a skeletal-feather-clocked-hooded-being, riding a dark grey myscial horse. Bats fly in the background and they are backed by firey reds and oranges and starry night sky.
December 30, 2025 at 12:33 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Stalactite & Stalagmite
Drew Beckmeyer

As a geologist I always pick up natural-world-themed books. As a #kidlit #writer I can't get over this story. It's informative. It's got tension. It's gorgeous. What a perfect duo this pair is.
Cover for Stalactite & Stalagmite. on a black, cave-like background you see a smiling stalactite hanging from the ceiling and a smiling stalagmite protruding from the floor. There is a drip from the stalactite landing on the stalagmite.
December 29, 2025 at 12:52 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Cat Nap
Brian Lies @brianlies.bsky.social

Gobsmacked - that's my reaction to this masterpiece. Just one of these art styles would take an expert, and yet Lies does them all. I had so much fun comparing the pages to the works of art. Wow.
Cover for Cat Nap shows a grey cat lounging in a picture frame with one eye open. It's dangling a paw down which is swipping at the back end of a mouse who is running off the page.
December 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Girl and the Dinosaur & The Girl and the Mermaid
Hollie Hughes

Gorgeous and imaginative. I loved the magic in both of these stories.
Covers for The Girl and the Dinosaur& The Girl and the Mermaid. One shows a small brown girl and white haired mermaid smiling underwater together. The other shows a white girl with red hair riding on the back of a long neck dinosaur in front of the moon.
December 27, 2025 at 2:13 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Everybelly
Thao Lam

Yes, THIS. More of this. More visuals of REAL bodies. The art in this book is *chef's kiss*. Very kid friendly all around. I love it!
Cover for Everybelly - artful cutout of a small girl in goggle and a swim cap underwater, her tan belly peaks from under her floral rash guard. There is also the lower half of a black woman swimming in a yellow suit and a pair of black arms and legs floating.
December 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

The Polar Bear and the Ballerina
Eric Velasquez

What a feast for the eyes. I was transfixed by the use of color and the imagination.
Cover for The Polar Bear and the Ballerina - shows a magnificant black girl doing a arabesque en pointe with a brilliant long red scarf trailing behind her, in the background an enormous polar swims in it's tank.
December 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

A Stickler Christmas
Lane Smith

This is one of my favorite book characters, and he's absolutely ridiculous. I adore the Stickler books. Give yourself a gift and snuggle up with this one
Cover for A Stickler Christmas showing a big fat reindeer int he snow with the Stickler character on it's back and a large red sack. Sticker is wearing a red pointed cap.
December 24, 2025 at 12:11 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

My Dear Sea
Andre Carrilho
@andrecarrilho.bsky.social

A will absolutely, without a doubt get ANY picture book by Carrilho, forevermore.
Cover fro My Dear Sea. Shows a small girl with balck hair peering into the vast underwater worlld. with red and orage fish, crabs and coral, splashing blue waves and deep green seaweed.
December 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

String Ball
Chris Monroe

Terrific depiction of motion and action. Wordless and filled with fun.
Cover for String Ball show large red ball of string and small black cat peaking out from it
December 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
caitdarfler.com
Tough auntie duties tonight... Hold the sleeping baby while everyone else cleans up from Chanukah dinner.
White lady with glasses (Cait) holding sleeping baby
December 22, 2025 at 1:49 AM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Gravity Is Brining Me Down
Wendelin Van Draanen & Cornelia Li
@wendelinvand.bsky.social
@cornelia-illo.bsky.social

Love this story. Lot of science and heart. Circular story. Filled with facts and ways to look at gravity. Brilliant
Cover for Gravity Is Brining Me Down, show brown hair girl in glasses in four frames tumble-slip-sliding down to a crash landing.
December 21, 2025 at 12:12 PM
caitdarfler.com
📚👍 So many good books.
#kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Pig Town Party
Lian Cho
@liantomato.bsky.social

How refreshing to have a MC you don't love. Completely surprise ending. Made me laugh out loud.
Cover for Pig Town Party - small piggish girl in blue dress with pigtails surrounded by frame of pig faces staring at her.
December 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM