You May Contribute A Verse

There's a Stan Yan in the Basement

Otherwise known as The Many Misfortunes of Stan Yan's Internet Connection, which we managed around quite successfully, I'd say!
Join us for a chat with Stan Yan, author-illustrator-graphic novelist-comic artist of (yes, I already made the book title puns above) There's a Zombie in the Basement and (JLG Gold Standard) The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang!
Despite our intermittent connection issues this was an absolutely wonderful chat as we got to know the breadth of Stan's educational and illustrative chops. Next time we'll talk more about his history as a stockbroker.
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This episode’s book reviews: 
THE STUFF BETWEEN THE STARS, words by Sandra Nickel and illustrations by Aimee Sicuro
SPARKLE PIGS by Kit Holliday (hi Steph!)
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The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Ocean's Heart, Land's Heart with Jilanne Hoffman

Jilanne Hofmann is back (here's her first episode)!
She has some updates from several things we discussed in our first chat, namely that now The Ocean's Heart is out in the world, and HeartLand is soon to be born! 
We talk about both of these as well as her work with the educational market. And lots more! Stay tuned for passion and... heart?
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This episode’s book reviews (all author-illustrators this week!): 
 
THE OCEAN'S HEART by Jill herself, illustrated by Khoa Le
CALVIN GETS THE LAST WORD by Margo Sorenson, illustrated by Mike Deas
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The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Literary Manager Lindsey Aduskevich, After All These Years

It's not every day we get to hear fresh thoughts from a literary agent/manager in her first four months of agenting. Lindsey Aduskevich joins us today for some insights on her journey to becoming a Junior Literary Manager at Martin Literary!
 
What's more important is that we have known Lindsey for six years, since one fateful Twitter (RIP) thread led to the creation of our first critique group. And look at us now!
 
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This episode’s book reviews (all author-illustrators this week!): 
 
DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE by John Hare
THE SEARCH FOR OUR COSMIC NEIGHBORS by Chloe Savage
NO MORE GNOMES by Beth Mills
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The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
 
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Winsome Bingham on Friday!

Winsome writes. Winsome reads. Winsome cares. And Winsome Bingham speaks. About her editorial voice, her lyricism, her Reycraft family, her views on humor, joy, trauma, craft, and the perfect mix of art and words.
Winsome Bingham is the author of several very acclaimed books, including Soul Food Sunday, Fish Fry Friday, The Walk, Missing Momma, The Table, Life is Beautiful, and, coming September 1, 2026, On Fridays, her latest collaboration with Jason Griffin (go listen to our conversation with him if you haven't yet!).
Today our reviews are for On Fridays, because you should go and preorder it or request it from your library immediately!
You are going to love Winsome's verse!
 
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The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Right Moves and Mistakes with Jason Griffin

The Michaelangelo to Bob Ross to Akira Kurosawa to Jason Griffin pipeline is strong.
Master Collaborator and accomplished visual artist Jason Griffin is a Caldecott Honoree for his work with Jason Reynolds on their 2022 collaboration Ain't Burned All the Bright, their third book together (we'll talk about the others in this episode).
But his work with our friend and future guest Winsome Bingham is what brings us here today. The 2024 multicultural, multi-generational picture book collab The Table will be followed in September by the amazing, poignant, gorgeous On Fridays.
Check out our Instagram later this week (on Friday, actually) for some very cover-y things to be revealed!
Resources to consume that were discussed in this episode:
Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk featuring THE Tom Waits anecdote
Akira Kurosawa's iconic blood spray oopsie
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This episode’s book reviews: 
RAINBOW PANDA, words by Lisa Muchnik, pictures by Emilie Timmermans
ALBERTO SALAS PLAYS PAKA PAKA CON LA PAPA, words by Sara Andrea Fajardo, pictures by Juana Martinez-Neal
THE BLACK MAMBAS THE WORLD’S FIRST ALL-WOMAN ANTI-POACHING UNIT by Kelly Crull
 
The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
 
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Jess Yoon's Jeong

Jess Yoon stands on business. And she's doing way more than sitting in her little room, typing away. She's tapping into her inner child to great effect!
She manifested a Little Golden Book into being and now her Blackpink biography is out in the world! Her picture book Jeong Is Jeong JUST released this month (February 2026), AND her junior novelization of K-Pop Demon Hunters comes out next month! 
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This episode’s book reviews: 
 
SLEEP TIGHT, DISGUSTING BLOB by Huw Aaron
SEALS ARE JERKS by Jared Chapman
 
The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Abominable Steph Lau!

Now with 100% more consternation! Or less. Not sure where we landed on consternation.
Steph Lau has gotten some good experiences over the years. Some published, some TBD. But at least we have thus far been graced with ABOMINABLE SNOW DANCER, and will be graced with MEDUSA'S PET ROCK later this year! And more to come!
Steph, you'll have to come back on so we can talk more about pancakes and pastries. 
 
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This episode’s book reviews: 
THE CAVE DOWNWIND OF THE CAFE by Mikey Please
DESERT QUEEN by Jyoti Rajan Gopal, illustrated by Svabhu Kohli
 
The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
 
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

AI Incidents and Control Freaks with Jan (J.E.) Thomas

We make it so today with author Jan (J.E.) Thomas, author of The AI Incident and Control Freaks. Lots of good habit discussion, some Star Trek, and exactly how you can be a certified Human Author. Jan is a delight!
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This episode’s book reviews: 
HOW TO GROW A FAMILY TREE by Bea Birdsong, illustrated by Jasu Hu
THIS BOOK IS ON FIRE! by Ron Keres, illustrated by Arthur Lin
CASSINI'S MISSION by Katie Venit, illustrated by Julia Blattman
 
 
The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
 
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

It's Not A Book Until It's A Book with Matt Forrest Esenwine

Today's second-timer is our last-timer of 2025! Matt Forrest Esenwine graces us once again with his delightful, radio-ready voice for a soothing exit to the year. 
In addition to Matt's twelve other books (some of which you can hear about in our first conversation from 2021), this year Matt released his anthology A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World.
We don't get to talk a ton about anthologies, so this was a delight! 
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This episode’s book reviews: 
JOVITA WORE PANTS by Aida Salazar, illustrated by Molly Mendoza
THIS BOOK IS PERFECT by Ron Keres, illustrated by Arthur Lin
MY DAD IS THE BEST by Fran Pintadera, illustrated by Joan Turu
 
The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Karyn Friedman-Everham Captivates!

Karyn Friedman-Everham (Josh's agent sibling - hi, Joyce!) has a fascinating story that's a little bit backwards from how most of us approach our debuts, but that's what makes her story fascinating and very endearing! 
Her 2024 debut was Otter Oughta Know, followed in October 2025 by Chesed. Two different paths, one cool convo!
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This episode’s book reviews: 
NUNU AND THE SEA by Isabella Kung
ERNO RUBIK AND HIS MAGIC CUBE by Kerry Aradhya, illustrated by Kara Kramer
 
The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com 
 
Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com  
 
Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!! 
 
Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!