Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 8m

T-shirt du jour.

Royal blue T-shirt. Drawing of 11books on a shelf with plants at each end. Titles include Forever By Judy Blume and A Wrinkle in Time by M. L’Engle. Underneath in capitalized white letters:
I’m with the banned.

Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 2d

Levar Burton:

“Literacy is an incubator for empathy, and absent an exposure to a wide variety of literature, you grow up in an echo chamber, in a very narrow silo of information and experience.”

What he said.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 2d

Great sign in Portland:

Portland isn’t a war zone.
It’s a bookstore with a city around it.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 8d

🎈Happy Book Birthday🎈 to STEVIE, written and illus. by John Steptoe. John was just 16 years old when he took his portfolio into #UrsulaNordstrom. She encouraged him to write a book and use his paintings to illustrate it. Edited by UN. Pub'd in 1969.
#kidlit #kidlitillustration

The cover sports one of Steptoe's drawings. It is white with a color inset, which takes up all but about a 1.5 inch border. The inset is in mostly greens and blues, with a background of a car, and a foreground of a large boy standing, and a smaller boy sitting next to him. The title is at the top, on the white space in blue letters.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 8d

Thanks for posting! It's brand new. I'm waiting for my copy today. Congratulations to @suzylevinson.bsky.social !

A.J. Irving 🩷💜💙 @ajirving.bsky.social · 10d

DINOS THAT DRIVE by @suzylevinson.bsky.social & Dustin Harbin is filled with action-packed illustrations and hilarious rhyming text. There are so many fun details in the art! Kiddos and grownups will be obsessed with these dinosaurs and want to read this brilliant picture book again and again!

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 9d

Well done Reading Rainbow! Congratulations to @mychal3ts.bsky.social 🎈🎈🎈

The Author Village @theauthorvillage.bsky.social · 9d

Here's some amazing news... READING RAINBOW is back and @mychal3ts.bsky.social is the new host!

Congrats, Mychal!

bookriot.com/new-host-of-...

Meet the New Host of Reading Rainbow: Mychal the Librarian

After 20 years, Reading Rainbow is back! The new host is Mychal the Librarian, who has been spreading library joy online for years.

bookriot.com

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 18d

It’s coming . . .
#kidlit #biography #kidlitnonfiction

A badge or banner that reads:
Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights. Little Free Library- Banned Book Week. Oct. 5-11, 2025. White letters on a black background. Censorship has a bold red line through it. There is a line of rainbow colored stars. The logos for little free library and banned book week also appear.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 18d

This made me laugh!
Feeling better about my book buying habits already.
#kidlit #nonfictionkidlit

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 22d

Can’t wait to read yours, Lee! Congrats!

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 22d

🎈Happy Book Birthday🎈 to THE PIRATE RABBI, by David Sherrin, illus. by @barbaradilorenzo.bsky.social! The MC, a rabbi, who had always wanted to be a pirate, finally gets his chance. Based on a true story. Cool art! #PB #kidlit

The cover art shows a pirate and his dog standing on the prow of a pirate ship. The background is a cloudy medium blue sky. Beneath is the ocean, depicted by a swath of turquoise blue on top and shadings down to deep blue at the bottom. The ship is sailing from left to right and takes up two-thirds of the cover in a triangular image. The title is in dark blue in the upper right hand portion across the sky. The author's and illustrator's names are in black print on the foresail. The pirate is wearing brown boots, tan breeches to the knee, a white shirt and scarf and mid-length blue jacket. The dog is tan.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 24d

@michellemarkel.bsky.social
I like your style

Michelle Markel @michellemarkel.bsky.social · 24d

Sundays I'm posting quotes from #nonfiction #picturebooks about #resistance "They ignored the law & refused to leave until they were served. Those kids had a recipe, too. A new brew called integration. It was just as simple: combine black with white to make sweet justice." FROM:

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 24d

I’m going today!

Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 25d

Here are four ways anyone can support and help their local library:

• Get a library card ⭐️
• Use your library card 🌟
•Visit the library 💫
•Tell everyone to get a library card and support their local library ✨

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 25d

Jesus Christ is Risen Today. Alleluia.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · 26d

🎈Today is Else Holmelund Minarik’s birthday.🎈 This first-grade teacher walked into #UrsulaNordstrom’s office with a manuscript written in blue crayon. Ursula saw in it the first book for the I CAN READ! series. LITTLE BEAR, illus. by Maurice Sendak, published in 1957. #kidlit #kidlithistory

The cover, by Maurice Sendak has a dark blue background with light blue vines surrounding an oval with a white background. In the oval, the title is in reddish-brown color; the author and illustrator names are in black. In the center is a mother bear in a chair holding Little Bear on her lap. A scroll saying "A I Can Read Book" is centered underneath the oval. This cover is the current one, not the original.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Sep 7

Happy 100th birthday to Ronni Solbert! #UrsulaNordstrom chose her to illustrate BRONZEVILLE BOYS AND GIRLS, a book of poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, first published in 1956. Solbert used pen and ink. Fifty years later, HarperCollins re-issued the book in color, illus. by Faith Ringgold. #kidlit #poetry

Cover has a light yellow, sandy hue. Title is in black letters at the top, followed by author and illustrator. Below is a tree to the left, whose leafy branches are behind the cover. In the mid-ground is a wooden fence. The foreground has a boy leaning against the tree, two boys playing marbles and two girls walking hand in hand towards the street. On the right in the mid-ground are two boys playing ball in the street. Mostly pen and ink, with light mint green for the leaves and on the girls' dresses and also on some of the fence panels. Other fence panels have an olive green wash.

The predominate color is brick red for an urban house of apartment building facing the reader. The steps and the sidewalk are a muted, grayer red. At the top is Bronzeville in bright yellow and Boys and Girls in black below. The Bronzeville is at the top of the cover and really stands out. A woman and child look out of the window on the left. Two girls stand on the stoop facing the street. On the sidewalk, a boy is walking up the steps. In the foreground, a boy on the right is chasing a ball rolling left. On the left is a girl pushing a baby carriage towards the right. Very colorful and fun!

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Sep 3

Two iconic children's books, both edited by #UrsulaNordstrom, were published on this day. In 1947, GOODNIGHT MOON, by Margaret Wise Brown, illus. by Clement Hurd. In 1952, A HOLE IS A DIG, by Ruth Krauss, illus. by Maurice Sendak. Like many of the books Ursula edited, each broke new ground. #kidlit

Bold greens and reds are the colors of the room depicted on the cover. The walls are green, the flooring is red. A bright moon and starry sky are seen through a window on the left, with a red and green-striped curtain on the left margin. On the right is a fireplace with a fire burning. On the wall above the fireplace is a picture of a cow jumping over the moon. The title is in big yellow letters on the top half of the cover.

The cover is light green. There are two circles with white backgrounds. The smaller one of the top has two Sendak-drawn children, one is giving flowers to the other. The circle on the bottom is oblong and has Sendak-drawn children jumping rope, with a half circle of children, one mom, one cat and one dog are watching. The drawings whet the appetite for what lies inside the book. The title and sublitle are in black letters at the top. Ruth's and Maurice's names are midline. A border of Connecting small geometric shapes, filled in with white, make a border around the cover.

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Reposted by Nancy Hudgins

Becky Levine @beckylevine.bsky.social · Sep 2

Teachers & librarians are facing so many book challenges & bans. We need to fight to protect the rights of kids to read what they want. Meanwhile, as the 2025-26 school year kicks in, maybe share some banned books with your own kids & teens. Here's a recent list to get started. #kitlit #bookbans

PEN America Index of School Book Bans – 2023-2024 - PEN America

PEN America's 2022-2023 Index of Banned Books found 3,362 instances of books banned, affecting 1,557 unique titles. This searchable banned book list includes each documented ban.

pen.org

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Reposted by Nancy Hudgins

Diana Delosh - illustrator @dtdelosh.bsky.social · Aug 29

Welcome back #colour_collective
Here's a quick hedgehog for #CCStrawYellow He's testing a leaf blanket for his winter slumber. #kidlitart #Colour_collective #illustration

My ink, watercolor and digital illustration of a cute hedgehog laying on it's back with a leaf across his tummy. At the bottom is my name stamp. © Diana Ting Delosh • diana delosh.com

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Aug 31

🎈Happy 65th Book Birthday🎈 to THE SECRET LANGUAGE, by #UrsulaNordstrom, illus. by Mary Chalmers. The legendary children’s book editor wrote an #MG novel about an 8-year-old girl going off to boarding. Tantalizingly, she denied it was autobiographical, except "in some of the details.” #kidlit

The cover is a painting of the red brick school in the background. The title and authors name are printed in black across the background. In the foreground are 7 girls in coats and dresses, wearing white socks and Mary Jane shoes. Several are carrying a suitcase, two are hugging each other, one is waving to someone in the distance. So, it appears girls are arriving at boarding school for the new year. Most of the girls coats are a shade of brown or rose. A medium blue coat on the girl in the middle makes her stand out.

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Reposted by Nancy Hudgins

EveryLibrary @everylibrary.bsky.social · Aug 29

Plot twist: Your favorite quiet reading spot's hours, programs, and book budget? All decided by local elections! 📖

Libraries are community treasures funded by local votes. Be the main character, and register to vote today: shorturl.at/i2Hvn #NationalVoterRegistrationDay.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Aug 25

If Becky thinks it’s this great, I’m in.

Becky Levine @beckylevine.bsky.social · Aug 25

I'm rereading Sheila Turnage's Mo & Dale Mysteries (start with THREE TIMES LUCKY). Some of the best writing I have ever read, in any genre and for any age. The voice and characters are brilliant. You will laugh out loud and feel your heart break so many times, often on the same page. #kidlit 📚👍🏻

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Aug 24

🎈Happy Book Birthday🎈 to HAROLD AND THE PAPER CRAYON, written and illus. by Crockett Johnson—70 years ago today! Edited by #UrsulaNordstrom. One of my book’s chapters is about how it was made. So fun to research! #kidlit

This is the cover for the 60th anniversary. It has a dark brown/purplish background. Harold is on the cover wearing medium-blue pajamas with footies. He has a violet purple crayon in his hand and there are purple swirls strewn about.

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Aug 23

Congratulations! 🎈 Can’t wait to see what you come up with! #kidlt

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Aug 21

Thanks! Another adventure!

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Nancy Hudgins @nancyhudgins.com · Aug 21

Just launched my first newsletter! A feature is #PB and #MG recommendations. This time:
PBs: ANIMALS IN PANTS, by @suzylevinson.bsky.social; HONEYBEES, by Candace Fleming
MGs: CITY SPIES (all 6!), by @jamesponti.bsky.social;
THE WOMAN WHO SPLIT THE ATOM, by @marissamosswriter.bsky.social
#kidlit

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