SO MUCH!!! And when the author is one of the first CPs I ever had…way back when I first started writing…that’s even more fun!
And when I got to see an EARLY draft in the first stages of this amazing story…well, as you can imagine, I am EXCEEDINGLY thrilled to sing Happy Birthday to BEFORE I LIVED HERE, written by Stacy S. Jensen, illustrated by Victo Ngai, and published by Neal Porter Books/Holiday House.
Listen friends…this is a truly special book! Just look at that cover! And wait till you see the inside spreads…you know you want your own copy, right? Thanks to the generosity of author Jensen and her publisher, there is a brand new copy that will be given away to one lucky winner…so please make sure you leave a comment and do your part to spread the word by sharing this post on social media.
And we are ALL lucky today because Stacy has stopped by to chat with us and share some of the story…and the story behind the story. ME: Welcome to Picture Books Help Kids Soar, dear friend! Please tell us a little bit about the story and how it came to be.
STACY: Hello everyone! And Vivian, thank you so much for having me!
BEFORE I LIVED HERE is a book about a little boy who’s living in a new neighborhood. The story goes back in time with each page turn to share a different period of the land. It’s about the history of where you live.
What inspired you to write this book?
I lived in a neighborhood called Banning Lewis Ranch in Colorado Springs. It was an interesting place to live from the day we moved into the neighborhood to the day we left. Before the neighborhood, the land was part of a cattle ranch.
How long to make this book?
I scare people a little when I tell this story. I wrote the first draft in 2013. My son was three years old. When I received my first author copy and he held it, he was 15. While the book has a long journey, I always received nice feedback from professionals and critique partners. Writers, who also worked in classrooms, were always positive and sharing ways the book could be used in a school setting. I kept going and it sold to Neal Porter Books in 2021. Now, it’s a book that teachers and families can enjoy.
When people look at my path to publication, some are surprised. Has it taken a long time? Maybe. Do I love the final product? Yes. The illustrations by Victo Ngai are gorgeous and will entertain young readers. BEFORE I LIVED HERE has received five nice trade reviews — two starred — and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
I’ve also met so many nice people along the way like you Vivian and so many others who have read my work and helped me grow as a writer. Hopefully, I’ve returned the favor and helped others along the way too.
Also, as a huge picture book fan, working with Neal Porter, Taylor Norman, Victo Ngai, and the team at Holiday House has been a delight.
Thanks Vivian for sharing this special day with me and your readers.
ME: Thank you, dear Stacy! You definitely exhibited all 5P’s – Passion, Practice, Preparation, Patience, and Perseverance – and I am so very thrilled for you!
And now, dear blog readers, here is a little bit about the author and illustrator:
Stacy S. Jensen is a former newspaper journalist always searching for unique stories for children, which has led her to historical sites, state and national parks, and everyday spots like the grocery store. When not writing, she enjoys time with family, reading, and paper quilling. She also volunteers to support literacy, youth, and children’s programs. Previously a Colorado resident, she now lives in Marietta, Georgia at the base of a mountain with her husband, son, and two Vizslas, who walk their humans daily. Stacy can be found online at stacysjensen.com.
Victo Ngai is a Forbes 30 Under honoree and a Society of Illustrators New York Gold Medalist. Her illustrations have been featured in the New York Times and the New Yorker, among others; she also creates storyboards and art for NBC, Dreamworks, and other animation studios. Originally from Hong Kong, she now lives in Los Angeles.
And don’t forget, there is a GIVEAWAY…please leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of BEFORE I LIVED HERE…maybe you can share what you see when you look out your back window.
Thank you for spending your precious time with us. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Well, dear friends, this is a very special post!!! It’s a double your pleasure/double your fun because it’s a Happy Book Birthday for this book…PLUS, it’s a Perfect Picture Book Friday also!!!
THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES
Written by Stephanie Gibeault
Illustrated by David Hohn
Published by Sleeping Bear Press (August 1, 2025)
Why I Love This Book: 1. I love stories that are inspired by true events! 2. I love stories where the text engages young readers…and encourages them to get in touch with protecting our planet! 3. I love stories that have glorious illustrations!
This Perfect Picture Book Friday/Book Birthday post includes quite a bit from author Stephanie Gibeault…I’m grateful to her for stopping by to chat and share.
ME: Hello Stephanie! Thank you so much for giving us your time…and for the generous giveaway of a copy of THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES…and for telling us about this fabulous new book of yours. Can you tell us what the book is about…and how you came to write it…and how we can get a copy of our own?
STEPHANIE: Thank you so much for having me, Vivian. It’s always a pleasure to stop by your blog. Summary of book: Cybil Preston needs a dog. But not just any dog. She needs a dog to help her with her work. Cybil is a beehive inspector who works to ensure the health of commercial beehives in Maryland. Hundreds of hives are shipped across the country as farmers need bees to pollinate their crops. Without the bees, there wouldn’t be foods like apples, almonds, and strawberries. But the bees must be healthy to be shipped, and there’s a deadly disease, foulbrood, that is highly contagious. If even one infected hive left the state, entire bee populations could be wiped out. Dogs, with their ultrasensitive sense of smell, can sniff out even the tiniest scent of foulbrood in a hive. A well-trained, focused detection dog can inspect 50 hives in 10 minutes. Work that would take Cybil an entire day to do. When Cybil meets Mack, an unruly and lonely dog, she wonders if she has found her canine colleague. Can rambunctious Mack be trained to meet this important challenge? Readers of all ages will enjoy this warmly illustrated true story of Cybil and Mack as they work to save the bees.
Inspiration: Thank you, Vivian, for celebrating The Dog Who Saved the Bees with me! This is a book of my heart, so I’m overjoyed to see it out in the world. And David Hohn’s illustrations are incredible. The first time I saw them, I cried. The path to publication for this story started in 2018 when I first met Cybil Preston, the apiary inspector in the book. I interviewed her about her sniffer dog Mack for an article I wrote for the American Kennel Club. After I sent the article in, I couldn’t stop thinking about Cybil and Mack’s story. Before she rescued him, Mack was living all alone in a garage. He was untrained and unruly, but Cybil couldn’t bear to leave him in that situation. So she took him home and began months and months of training. First, she had to teach this easily distracted dog just to listen and focus. Then Mack needed to learn to detect the scent of foulbrood, a deadly bee disease. Eventually, Mack became the only certified foulbrood scent detection dog in the United States! After working for the Maryland Department of Agriculture for nine years, Mack retired last summer. He’s now enjoying a life of leisure on Cybil’s farm. The story of Cybil’s determination and Mack’s transformation pulled at my heart, and I just knew I needed to share it with young readers. Thankfully, Cybil was on board for countless interviews. Over the years, I tried many approaches to this biography, including a middle grade version. Eventually, after loads of revisions (a special thank you to my critique group The Word Weavers) I received an offer from Sleeping Bear Press in April of 2023.
ME: Oh, this is wonderful, Stephanie. And dear friends, here’s a little bit about Stephanie and illustrator
Here’s a little bit about Stephanie: Stephanie Gibeault is an award-winning author of children’s picture books and middle grade nonfiction including Making Sense of Dog Senses (a Eureka! Honor book), Calculating Chimpanzees, Brainy Bees, and Other Animals with Mind-Blowing Mathematical Abilities (a Mathical Honor book and Best STEM Book by the NSTA), and Dogs vs. Humans: A Showdown of the Senses among others. As a former biologist with a Master of Science in animal behavior, Stephanie used to spend her time grunting with gorillas and stinking like marmoset monkeys. Years later, being a certified professional dog trainer meant being covered in fur and drool. Now she spends her days just outside of Toronto, Canada, sharing her love of dogs and other animals through her writing. Find out more at stephaniegibeault.com. Social Media Links: Bluesky: @stephaniegibeault.bsky.social Instagram: @stephanie_gibeault Purchase Links: Blue Heron Books (my local indie in Uxbridge, Ontario) Bookshop.org Barnes & Noble Walmart Amazon Canada Amazon US
Some of Stephanie’s other books!
And here’s a little bit about the illustrator: David Hohn is the illustrator of Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary, which garnered starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Booklist. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Thank you for spending your precious time with us today, dear friends! And please remember to leave a comment for a chance to WIN a copy of THE DOG WHO SAVED THE BEES…you get one ticket in the giveaway hat for the comment, and if you share on social media, you get another ticket…so please share widely…that’s a wonderful way to help new books get discovered by parents and teachers and the kids who will love this book!
FOR WRITERS, ILLUSTRATORS, PARENTS, TEACHERS, LIBRARIANS, AND BOOK LOVERS EVERYWHERE
TODAY’S GUEST
LINDSAY LESLIE
I’ve known today’s guest quite a few years. We first met virtually, as most of us in the kid lit world do…on social media, in Facebook groups, and perhaps at an online class or webinar. But in 2018, we were part of a debut picture book group, New in 19…and we formed a panel, along with Monica Fields, Ishta Mercurio, Bea Birdsong, and a few others to put together a panel proposal for NCTE Conference that was going to take place in Baltimore that next November. Luckily, our proposal was accepted…and, although I dragged my feet booking a hotel room and found myself without a spot to stay, Lindsay was amazing and offered to let me room with her! She’s the BEST!
And so, when I heard that Lindsay has a NEW book, GUS HEARTS THE BUS, coming out in just a few days, I just had to let everyone know about it. She’s a fabulous person…and a fabulous writer.
Lindsay Leslie is the award-winning author of So You Want to Build a Library (Capstone), Dusk Explorers, Nova the Star Eater, This Book is Spineless (Page Street Kids), and Rock & Moss: The Physics of Friendship (Kiwi Co.). Her next picture book, GUS HEARTS THE BUS (illus. by Geeta Ladi), hits the shelves on July 1, 2025, with Sleeping Bear Press. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, sci-fi/fantasy/horror novelist Ryan Leslie, two teenagers, and two fur-beasts (a.k.a. dogs). Visit her at lindsayleslie.com. Website: www.lindsayleslie.com IG: @lindsaylesliewrites Threads: @lindsaylesliewrites Bluesky: @lindsayleslie.bsky.social
Geeta Ladi is a passionate picture book illustrator who began her creative journey working with children to address learning challenges in math and science. For over a decade, she designed learning toys, led creativity camps, and used storytelling to simplify complex concepts. These experiences led her to illustrate picture books, including the award-winning My Brain Is Magic by Prasha Sooful. Based in Chennai, India, Geeta loves to travel and draw people and architecture.
IG: @geetaladi_illustration
ME: And now that we know a little bit about our guest and her illustrator, let’s welcome Lindsay! Lindsay, thank you so much for stopping by to chat with us. And thank you for the generous giveaway of a copy of GUS HEARTS THE BUS…note to blog followers: please make sure you leave a comment at the end of the post for a chance to win…and please share the post on your social media for extra tickets in the giveaway hat. And now…for our chat with Lindsay! Who were your favorite authors/illustrators when you were a child?
LINDSAY: It’s a joy to be here, Vivian. I have a hard time reaching back to when I was reading picture books as a young kiddo, but know I loved them! The only ones that come forward in my memory, which makes me assume they were my favorites, were the Sweet Pickle series. I remember reaching for Stork Spills the Beans, Very Worried Walrus, and Zip Goes Zebra a lot. When I got a little older, my favorite authors were Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, and Shel Silverstein. My GOATs!
ME: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started writing?
LINDSAY: That Twitter would blow up? I jest, but not really. I invested a lot of time building a wonderful community there filled with writers and authors across the world, and I enjoyed the heck out of it in its prime. But then, we know how that story goes. I’m still struggling to find that same feel with the other social media offerings, and I’m also more than a bit exhausted with social media. Raise your hand if you agree! Also, I had great connections via Facebook only to have a hacker come through my linked Instagram account and lock me out of my Facebook account. I couldn’t regain control and had to restart, so goodbye to that community. I guess what I’m trying to say here is, social media will come and go. Find your community in other ways and hold them dear. I’m so glad to have my awesome critique group, my local SCBWI chapter, 12×12, and my writerly husband, plus the connections I’ve made over the years that I foster the best I can. Surrounding yourself with wonderful and talented writers is the best thing you can do. You will learn so much and have fun along the way.
ME: Where do you like to write – inside, outside, special room, laptop, pen and paper?
LINDSAY: I’m a fan of my office, which I recently repainted a deep teal. The room is so moody and snuggly, which makes me feel ready to write. When I get to writing, I love pencil and paper, specifically—a really sharp Ticonderoga and a pad that flips top to bottom rather than a spiral notebook.
ME: When do you write – early morning, late in the day, middle of the night, on schedule, as the muse strikes?
LINDSAY: I’m all over the place on this one. It’s mostly when I have the time coupled with when the mood strikes. Sounds not very productive, yes? And you’re right. I think this year I’m going to have a serious chat with myself and figure this out. A lot of this comes from the COVID years. It took my mental focus away. I also have an issue with having too much time and then getting complete paralysis as to what to do, so I do housework. Again, can anyone relate?
ME: Why do you write for children?
LINDSAY: I have so many answers to this question, but the answer jumping out to me right now is I write for the child in my heart—the one who is taken with an idea, because I think there is a child out there who might be taken with it, too. With my most recent book, GUS HEARTS THE BUS, illustrated by the talented Geeta Ladi, I became fascinated with childhood passions. They are like a first love. They take over your mind and space as a child, and there’s nothing more precious. I also believe that those passions tell a child a lot about themselves and what might be down the road for them. So, that idea became my passion, and I had to write the story.
ME: Also, if you have any thoughts or advice for aspiring writers, please share.
LINDSAY: Advice can be a double-edged sword. Just as I say when I give a critique, take what works for you and pitch the rest. So, what I would say is don’t believe the hype. Yep. When folks say, agents are looking for author-only clients or this market is sooooo tough. You know what? Just move forward and keep trying. Read all the picture books (current, yes, believe this hype). Be a keen observer and write down your ideas in a notepad. Create a writing process that works for you, because we are all different and that’s a wonderful thing. If you can’t find your way with a particular story, put it away and give it time. Build up your tolerance to rejection, because it’s going to happen when you are pre-agented and after. Don’t let rejection stop you from doing what you love, as that would be such a disservice to yourself and your future readers. And be the most persistent (but kind and considerate) person ever, as that will move the needle.
ME: Oh my goodness! Lindsay, thank you so much for sharing so much of your journey…with such honesty and authenticity. Can you tell us a little bit about what inspired you to write this story and/or any humorous incident and/or challenging moment on the path to publication?
LINDSAY: I love the inspiration for this story, because it was my son, Mars! When Mars was about five, we took him (and his younger brother) on a city bus for the first time, so we could go explore downtown Austin. From the moment we stepped on that bus, something lit up inside Mars. He became fascinated. What happens in GUS HEARTS THE BUS happened in real life, for the most part. I, of course, took writerly liberties. Now that Mars is 17, I see how his passion for buses has evolved and where it might lead him. I know that so many kids will see themselves in GUS, whether they love buses, too, or they can relate to having such a passion. Also, the way I wrote GUS pulls from Mac Barnett’s The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown (artfully illustrated by Sarah Jacoby). I built in a lot of room for children to ask themselves questions and think about themselves as they listen or read the story. I would love nothing more for a young reader to connect some dots as they read GUS.
ME: You are the best! So I’ll keep on going…do you have anything else you want to talk about that parents, educators, writers, librarians might want to hear. 🙂
Fewer than half of parents of children up to 13 years old say reading aloud to children is “fun for me”. Gen Z parents, who grew up with technology themselves, are significantly more likely than Millennials or Gen X to view reading as “more a subject to learn” rather than a fun or enriching activity.
Almost one in three (29%) children aged 5–13 think reading is “more a subject to learn than a fun thing to do”, up from 25% in 2022. This growing association of reading with pressure rather than pleasure is contributing to disengagement.
More than one in five boys (22%) aged 0-2 are rarely or never read to. Only 29% of boys in this age group are read to daily, compared to 44% of girls, underscoring early disparities in exposure to books.
I have so many thoughts and questions about these findings, but I can’t pretend to know everyone’s situation, and it’s unfair to generalize or conjecture. But what I do know is my lived experience as a parent. I found such joy in reading to my boys. At first, I made up my own (shortened) stories to go with the illustrations of board books and picture books, as my kiddos only had so much attention to give. Then, I loved reading all the words verbatim and acting out the various characters while pointing to the pictures together. Then, I loved reading chapter and middle grade books to them, sharing in the delight of what’s-going-to-happen-next and the anticipation of being able to read another chapter. And to this day (my kids are now 15 and 17), I love talking about the books we read and reminiscing about the times we did read together, because they remember. All of this reading together impacted them in ways I see and ways I won’t ever see, because it’s hidden in the fabric of their being. Reading books to your kiddos is love. Goodness, I hope this trend turns around.
ME: I hope so, too! Lindsay, this has been fabulous…and I know you are not done yet because this is Will Write for Cookies and I know you have a wonderful recipe to share with us…so, take it away, dear friend.
LINDSAY: OK, so I’m not doing a cookie recipe. Eek! Since I am an ex-pie company owner, I probably should offer up a pie recipe and my never-fail crust recipe. Here’s one of my favorites
Tart Cherry Pie
Crust (Makes two):
3 cups of all-purpose, unbleached flour (King Arthur is the absolute best) 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup of vegetable shortening 1 stick of refrigerated unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized cubes 9 tablespoons ice water
Combine flour, sugar, salt, vegetable shortening and butter into the food processor. Pulse ten times, one second for each pulse. Add three tablespoons of ice water, then turn on the processor for 10 seconds. Add three more tablespoons of ice water and turn on processor for 10 more seconds. You might need to shake the food processor a bit. Add three more tablespoons of ice water and turn on the food processor. Wait for the dough to become one large clump. Divide the dough in half, flatten each into a disc and cover with foil; refrigerate.
Filling:
2 – 14.5 oz cans of tart cherries in water (This is important. Don’t get the cherries in syrup or pre-made filling) 3/4 cup white sugar 1/4 cup of cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon of salt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Drain cherries and reserve the liquid. In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Turn on medium/low heat and stir in cherry liquid. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and let simmer until thickened. Add butter, almond extract and cherries.
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out dough into a 9-inch pie pan. Add filling. Place in oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 and place a sheet of foil over the pie to protect the crust from burning. Continue to bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
This looks like the PERFECT summer pie…maybe some of you will try it for your 4th of July picnic or BBQ. Meanwhile, we are all grateful to Lindsay for sharing so much insight and love with us…and for her generous offer of a giveaway of a copy of GUS HEARTS THE BUS when it launches on July 1st from Sleeping Bear Press. Of course, you probably don’t want to wait to see if you are the one lucky winner…so you can preorder from her favorite indy bookstore, and get a SIGNED copy delivered to you as soon as it launches. Here is the preorder/order info: Sales order links:
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 