John Schu Returns With a Gentle Story About Joywalking

On this episode of We Make Children’s Books, I’m joined by John Schu to talk about his upcoming picture book Lily-May’s Joyful Day, illustrated by Holly Hatam and published by Candlewick. The book is a companion to Ruthie Rose’s Big Idea: A Poetry Story and follows Lily-May during a classroom sharing activity called the Bag of Y-O-U. Her best friend Ruthie Rose has a bag full of treasures, and the class loves it. But when Lily-May pulls out just one piece of paper from her own bag, her heart starts racing. Remembering her grandmother’s advice to breathe, hold, and count to three, Lily-May finds her courage and tells the class about joywalking — a practice of listening, thinking, wandering, roaming, exploring ideas, and noticing. Soon she leads the whole class outside on a joywalk of their own. We talk about mindfulness in picture books, the classroom as a storytelling space, the joy of noticing everyday details, and how John and Holly Hatam build a book that can be used both at home and in school. If you love books that help children name feelings, breathe through nervous moments, and find delight in the world around them, this is a beautiful conversation. #JohnSchu #HollyHatam #LilyMaysJoyfulDay #RuthieRosesBigIdea #CandlewickPress #PictureBooks #KidsLit #ChildrensBooks #MindfulnessForKids #SocialEmotionalLearning #ReadAloud #ClassroomBooks #Joywalking #WeMakeChildrensBooks #Storycomic The Title sequence was designed and created by Morgan Quaid. See more of Morgan’s Work at: https://morganquaid.com/ Storycomic Logo designed by Gregory Giordano See more of Greg’s work at:   / gregory_c_giordano_art   Want to start your own podcast? Click on the link to get started: https://www.podbean.com/storycomic Follow us: Are you curious to see the video version of this interview? It's on our website too! www.storycomic.com www.patreon.com/storycomic www.facebook.com/storycomic1   / storycomic   For information on being a guest or curious to learn more about Storycomic? Contact us at info@storycomic.com Thank you to our Founders Club Patrons, Michael Winn, Higgins802, Von Allan, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Marek Bennett, Donna Carr Roberts, Andrew Gronosky, Simki Kuznick, Simki Kuznick, John Holland, Maureen Devline, Benjamin Hunting, Samantha Kolber, Frank Walk, Mark Bell, Alexis E. Fajardo, and Matt & Therese. Check out their fantastic work at: https://marekbennett.com/ https://www.hexapus-ink.com/ https://www.stephanieninapitsirilos.com/ https://www.vonallan.com/ https://higgins802.com/ https://shewstone.com/ https://www.simkikuznick.com/ https://www.dieboldcomics.com/ https://www.maureendevlinauthor.com/ https://benjaminhunting.com/ https://www.rootstockpublishing.com/ https://www.pigmacast.com/ https://plaguedoctorpress.com/ https://kidbeowulf.com/