Our own wordplay warrior, Julie Hedlund, gave a stupendous workshop encouraging us to have fun with our writing by turning it into play. Today, we share a snippet of that presentation where Julie reveals what wordplay is, where it can be used effectively, and how to use it to make your audience feel smart.

Remember, you can purchase lifetime access to any past Summit Superstar Presentation or Workshop, including this one, at picturebooksummit.freshlearn.com.

Join the Picture Book Summit Team as we celebrate this year's crop of Caldecott Winners and Honorees. We have so much to say that it can't be contained in one episode! Today, we analyze OUR LAKE, written and illustrated by Angie Kang, and EVERY MONDAY MABEL, written and illustrated by Jashar Awan.

Plus, we discuss commonalities in all of this year's Caldecott books, what we loved and observed about these books, and while picture books look easy, these are particular ones are so layered and full of nuance. From thoughtful and beautiful to funny and relatable, we hope this conversation inspires you to do some creating of your own.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• OUR LAKE written and illustrated by Angie Kang
• EVERY MONDAY MABEL by Jashar Awan

Find all of this year's Caldecott books in the Picture Book Summit Bookshop!

How are Caldecott books chosen each year? Check out Emma's video explanation here.

We talked about Katie's awesome Summit presentation on picture book endings. Podcast listeners can get 25% off! Use code PODCAST at this link: https://picturebooksummit.freshlearn.com/endings.

To celebrate our 10th Anniversary Picture Book Summit, we hosted returning Superstar Speakers Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett to talk about how they construct picture books together. You will be fascinated by the details behind one of their seemingly simple stories. (You might also leave with a greater appreciation of 8-bit video games.)

Enjoy this insight into their partnership, how they think, and how they play off one another's work.

Remember, you can purchase lifetime access to any past Summit Superstar Presentation or Workshop, including this one at picturebooksummit.freshlearn.com.