Musical icon Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton have written over 30 children’s books together, including nine New York Times bestsellers. What’s their process? Do they ever disagree? Do they still get rejections? What are the keys to their successful partnership, and how does their background in the arts inform their writing? Join us for a once-in-a-lifetime conversation with this celebrated mother-daughter duo.

Language learning is serious business. We all understand how important it is that our children learn how to read and write. But sometimes we take it a little too seriously, swinging the pendulum from the delightful wordplay of early childhood to the dry, regimented grind of grammar acquisition, spelling proficiency, and the mechanics of structure. Unfortunately, a child's natural love of the music of language is often lost in the process, and we spend years trying to figure out how to restore it. Nikki Grimes shares how lyrical picture books play a vital role.

Picture books are a unique art form because of the way the illustrations and words interact within a limited space. While these creative boundaries can be challenging, they have the potential to make the storytelling shine. Celebrated author-illustrator team Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead will draw from classic examples as well as their own books to navigate the process of bringing a book to life and reveal how picture book text and art can come together in perfect harmony!

Authors Julie Hedlund and Angela Dalton both published their first picture book biographies this year. They did everything wrong--before they ultimately hit the right notes and made their books sing. In this workshop, by sharing what not to do, they will teach you what you should do in order to write a compelling picture book biography for today's competitive market.

If you want to be smart about your manuscript you need to make a dummy. A real-life, page-turning dummy is a physical mockup and can help you assess rhythm, pacing, tension build, the balance of acts, page turns, and whether your text provides enough illustration opportunities for the illustrator. Author and illustrator Katie Davis demonstrates how creating a dummy is the key to making your manuscript sing.

Every presentation comes with a 60-minute video replay, chat, transcript of the session, and a printable handout. Extended access means you can revisit these informative sessions again and again with each new manuscript over the years. Give yourself the picture book writing gift that keeps on giving year after year.