100 Scope Notes

Books on Film: Eliza Kinkz Takes Requests

Travis Jonker — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Personally, I’m still recovering from the completely epic Eliza Kinkz cover reveal/interview over at A Fuse #8 Production recently. But while recuperating, I wanted to highlight a very cool solution she devised for a common author visit problem.

As Eliza shares here, her school visits would often end with student drawing requests going unmet. To fix the problem, she’s taking those requests to Instagram, where she’s been filming #DrawingForKids videos.

She’s already posted some great ones, including axolotls, a pizza battle, and Pokemon.

Share them with your students!

Books for WHO WOULD WIN? Fans

Travis Jonker — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Over at the New York Times, I shared 10 books for fans of the the Who Would Win? series. I leaned into the “versus” aspect of those books, with some fiction, nonfiction, picture book, and early reader options.

FYI: I’m sharing the gift link to read below, but the New York Times website has changed so that you still need a free account to read.

Gift Link to Read

An Interview with a Legend: Lois Lowry Visits The Yarn Podcast

Travis Jonker — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Lois Lowry has written some of the most enduring books of all time, including Newbery Medal winners Number the Stars and The Giver. In the latest episode of The Yarn podcast, Colby Sharp interviews Lowry about her life and career, including her latest book, Building 903.

Halloween is Coming! 17 New Books to Celebrate Spookytime

Travis Jonker — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Looking to add some new Halloween books to the collection?

Below are 2026 books that will fit the spooky bill.

Every Single Thing About This ‘AI Tool’ Is Wrong

Travis Jonker — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

When I saw the headline, “Have a Book Idea? This $40 AI Tool Can Handle the Story, Art, and Layout” one word popped into my head:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I could do a sentence-by-sentence reaction to this article (in, ugh, “Entrepreneur” no less), but my feelings can really just be summed up by Oscar’s reaction to Angela’s baby musicians poster:

MORE to Note: Fall Books I’m Excited About

Travis Jonker — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Remember my post from yesterday? The one where I tried to explain how hard my life is because making a fall preview list of just 10 books is challenging?

Well, I remembered I could just make a follow-up post and share a whole bunch more.

Here’s a good ol’ photo dump of more books coming out in September, October, and November that I’m ALSO excited about.

(Click the covers to enlarge)

10 to Note: Fall Preview 2026

Travis Jonker — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

This one was the most challenging yet.

In trying to highlight the 10 books I’m most excited about this fall, I left out so many good ones. I’m probably going to do a “10 to (Also) Note” follow-up tomorrow with a photo dump of all the great books not on the list today.

All of the following books will arrive in September, October, and November.

Picture Books

Whatever You Do by Luke Pearson

September 29 | Tundra Books | Grades K-2

The creator of the Hilda comics series tries his hand at picture books and . . . it turns out he’s good at that too. A funny, chaotic delight that I can’t wait to read with students.

The Pizza Brothers by Lian Cho

October 13 | HarperCollins | Grades K-2

Three bros plan to make the biggest pizza ever. I love large food books. And I think kids will love this one.

The Wishing Well by Gideon Sterer, illustrated by Emily Hughes

September 1 | Union Square Kids | Grades K-2

When it comes to Emily Hughes, I’m an OG supporter. This time out, she pairs with the excellent Gideon Sterer for a story about a wishing well monster who longs to escape.

Early Reader

What Will We Find In This Box? (A Snake & Bat Book) by Mo Willems

September 1 | Union Square Kids | Grades K-2

I would be completely shirking my librarian duties if I failed to bring your attention to this book. Elephant & Piggie side characters Snake and Brian Bat step into the limelight for their own new series.

Middle Grade Fiction

This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri

October 27 | Stonefruit Studio | Grades 3-6

The ever-inventive Daniel Nayeri brings us a middle grade novel about a boy named Nothing on a hero’s journey. The text breaks all the rules, hop, skip, and exploding across the pages. Sporting four starred reviews and counting.

The Year I Stopped Drawing: An Illustrated Novel-In-Verse by Grant Snider

November 10 | Amulet Books (Abrams) | Grades 3-7

Another inventively visual middle grade novel – this time from Poetry Comics creator (and illustrator of Blue Floats Away) Grant Snider. This novel-in-verse follows Adam – a middle school artist who has lost his love of drawing amid some big life changes and challenges.

Graphic Novels

Don’t Be Scared by Saadia Faruqi, illustrated by Shadia Amin

September 8 | First Second (Macmillan) | Grades 4-7

Is “Horror with Heart” a genre? Because this book makes a strong case that it should be. Riz and his film club are creating a documentary about a local haunted mansion, but Riz’s dad is not very supportive of his filmmaker dreams.

Moonie & Junie: Interstellar Pen Pals by Katie Kordesh

October 20 | HarperAlley | Grades 3-6

Moonie lives on (you guessed it) the Moon. Junie is on Mars. Moonie’s interstellar message in a bottle kicks of a budding epistolatory friendship between the two. But can interplanetary friendship even work?

Mexikid Dreams by Pedro Martín

September 1 | Dial Books (Penguin) | Grades 4-7

This book is currently at the tippy-top of my to-read pile. The first Mexikid was fantastic – one of my favorite comics of the decade (and a Newbery Honor winner). Martín continues to mine his family history for this story about the not-so-easy path to freedom.

Nonfiction

Mind vs. Machine: The Chess Match That Changed the World by Steve Sheinkin and Maurice Ashley, illustrated by Thien Pham

September 8 | Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan) | Grades 3-6

I remember chess master Garry Kasparov’s 1997 match against IBM’s Deep Blue computer. It was big news at the time and gave us a glimpse into the future of computing. Nonfiction master Sheinkin tells this gripping story like few can, and Thien Pham’s illustrations bring it to life.

It’s Dot Day! Here Are Some Ways to Celebrate

Travis Jonker — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Today (September 15) is International Dot Day – a day all about celebrating creativity. It’s based on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. We celebrate every year in our library, and here are some of the things we do.

We visit the website

I like to show this to students first, so they can see how many other schools and students are celebrating.

We read the book

Step one is reading The Dot. It makes a good read aloud.

We watch Peter Reynolds draw

I love showing students this video of Reynolds making a dot based drawing:

We make dots of our own

I use the good old Ellison die cut machine to cut some white construction paper circles. I put out the crayons and students get to work.

We display the dots

I make sure to hang them up in a prominent place in the library so everyone can see them.

How do you celebrate Dot Day?

Cover Reveal! LITTLE TURTLE POND by Carter Higgins and Me

Travis Jonker — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

How It Started:

How It’s Going:

(Click to enlarge)

Little Turtle Pond (written by Carter Higgins and illustrated by me) publishes on May 4th, 2027.

Carter calls it Chicka Chicka Boom Boom meets Rosie’s Walk, and I think that sums it up perfectly. Little Turtle Pond is a rhythmic, rhyming, read aloud and I can’t wait for you to see it.

Before getting to the final cover above, there were a few attempts:

Many thanks to Carter Higgins, Stephen Barbara, Alessandra Balzer, Sharismar Rodriguez, Mike Burroughs, and everyone at Balzer + Bray for making this book a reality.

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#236)

Travis Jonker — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Can you guess the children’s book by its scathing one-star review on Goodreads?

If you are someone’s Nana, it is perfectly acceptable for you to force your grandchildren to listen to this inane story.
Unless, perhaps, you want your grandkids to actually like you.
If so, you need to reconsider this classic.
It’s awful. It reads like a Dick and Jane book…minus all the exciting parts that Dick and Jane books are so famous for.

Click here for the answer.

Why do I share these? Click here.

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Previously . . .

One Star Review Guess Who (#1)

One Star Review Guess Who (#2)

One Star Review Guess Who (#3)

One Star Review Guess Who (#4)

One Star Review Guess Who (#5)

One Star Review Guess Who (#6)

One Star Review Guess Who (#7)

One Star Review Guess Who (#8)