Alex Gino

Book Bans ‘Kill Creativity,’ Sow Self-Doubt in Authors For the past few years, author Charlotte Sullivan Wild has been working on a picture book about an LGBTQ+ family who learns to cope with one member’s deployment to the military. The story is inspired…

As hard as we are fighting, book bans are having an impact on the books being written and published. To put this another way, a very small number of well-funded people who don't write books, don't teach books, don't work in libraries are trying to decide what books are available for everyone else

Google AI is trying to summarize the AI spamming me. I hate it here.

It surprises me how often I stun people with this writing advice, so I'll just remind you here:

You don't have to start at the beginning. It probably won't be the beginning anyway. You can write the part you can see/hear/imagine best and go from there.

OUR 2026 SCHOLARSHIP WINDOW IS NOW OPEN!

Boyds Mills offers scholarships each year thanks to the generous support of our community!

Apply now!

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄
January 22 – February 9

Click the link in our bio for all the details!

Ugh! Beaten only by deleting it and deciding the day after that maybe it was salvageable but now you'll never know!

Do you know trans youth aged 19 and younger who might want a piece in the second issue of Chrysalis? Submissions are open! www.chrysalismagazine.org/submissions

semi-regular reminder that ICE was only created in 2003

when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out

Can I name the three friends in my WIP Kay, Elle, and Emma? Asking for a friend. (I'm my own best friend.)

I've finally reached the place as an author where I have the project of my heart and the project that will get me a contract and I have to make myself work on one and not the other. Take that, imposter syndrome!

My new upcoming events page:

Alex currently has no public events scheduled. If you would like to fight against book bans, consider checking out any of the partner organizations listed here (link to @authorsabb.bsky.social.) And see what's going on in your local libraries and school districts!

Spam email with subject "When Chris finds a friend, shouldn't everyone find more readers?"

Go home, AI. You're drunk.

Exploring Friendship and Diversity in Children's Literature with Alex Gino

This week on the Book Faire Podcast, we have an interview with @alexgino.bsky.social author of Chris Makes a Friend!
#podcast #kidlit #middlegrade

open.spotify.com/episode/2CPs...

Hope you enjoy it!

Congratulations to CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND on being an Amazon Editors' Pick for the month of November! 🎉 We are so proud of you, @alexgino.bsk

🎉 Congratulations to CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND on being an Amazon Editors' Pick for the month of November! 🎉 Cheering for and celebrating with you, @alexgino.bsky.social!

@literaticat.bsky.social

If we had followed Hari's modest proposal, we'd have the public option by now.

I really truly didn't think there was anything in the Epstein files that was new or surprising but like they're straight up refusing to seat a Republican House rep because she'll vote to release it and the House basically hasn't existed since like September

Moreover, ICE must be destroyed

A reminder thay if your senators and congressperson are not contacts on your phone ... they could be.

And to be honest (maybe this isn't great), calling my reps is easier for me now than it's almost always a voicemail not a person answering the phone.

The latest AI/scam bruhaha is from surprisingly officially named local book clubs (today's is "The San Diego Women's Book Club") offering for their group to read one of my books.

PSA: Book clubs do not need permission to read a book. Just sayin'.

heads up to anyone who holds trans kids near: amy harmon from the nyt is searching for and having a hard time finding people to interview to find out exactly what trans kids are doing when their care is limited or cut off, and for purposes of community safety, please shut the fuck up around her.

Book cover THE KIDS IN MRS. Z'S CLASS: THEO CHANG IS NOT A CAT by Mike Jung has a yellow background with orange and white title graphics and shows an Asian American third grade boy in a green sweatshirt holding a surly wiggly brown and black cat as two other boys look on.

Book cover THE KIDS IN MRS. Z'S CLASS: THUNDER NELSON DOES THE IMPOSSUMBLE by Martha Brockenbrought has an orange background with wine-red and white title graphics and shows a third grade girl with wild reddish brown hair and a green tee shirt holding a cardboard box with a baby possum inside as two of her classmates look on.

MRS. Z'S CLASS is growing!!

Happy book birthday to @mikejungwroteabook.bsky.social & @marthabee.bsky.social whose new books THEO CHANG IS NOT A CAT and THUNDER NELSON DOES THE IMPOSSUMBLE are out today from @littlebrownyr.bsky.social, both illustrated by the inimitable @katfcomix.bsky.social!

First week sales are important, but also, I know how money is. So, if you'd like, you can order a copy, or, you can borrow (or request!) a copy from your local library!!

For hardcover: highfivebooks.org/products/chr...
For ebook: bookshop.org/.../chris-ma....
For audiobook: libro.fm/audio.../979...

And in fun news, the launch party at High Five Books in Florence, Massachusetts at 5 pm this Saturday is going to include a scavenger hunt. The store is making sure all the books are stocked, and each will have a letter in a bookmark to spell out a quote. Drop by if you're local!

It's got some deeply autobiographical notes to it. I also did a thing I can't really tell you about, but you'll know by the time you're done what it was. Plus, I got to highlight some of the amazing middle grade literature and nonfiction available these days in a 72 book reading log.

Cover of CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. Two kids sit in the woods reading back to back. Ones face is hidden by their book.

It's my *SIXTH* book birthday!!! CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND releases today in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook (read by me!) I'm really proud of this one for a lot of reasons. It's about annoying little siblings and about having a mom with chronic pain. Chris is independent but also maybe lonely.

Thanks Kate. I'm really proud of this one. It's about loneliness and sense of self and big things

Congratulations to @alexgino.bsky.social, the author of the groundbreaking middle grade novel, MELISSA on the release of their latest middle grade title, CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. Happy book birthday and welcome to the world!

A reminder that if you see someone stealing food

NO YOU DIDNT

Youtube has a music service!They're still a big company, yeah, but I'm already paying to avoid ads in videos.

And wherever you transfer to, there are lots of tools online to help you move your library.

My personal Tripledent Gum (Inside Out) is George Costanza's outgoing voicemail song. I wasn't even that into that show, but I'll belt that one out randomly.

Believe it or not, I'm not hooooome. 🎶

LGBTQ+ youth's mental health struggles are getting worse, according to a new survey A new survey from the Trevor Project found that between 2023 and 2025, LGBTQ+ youth reported an increase in anxiety, depression and suicide ideation.

The kids are not alright.

Longitudinal research shows that rates of mental health distress among LGBTQ+ youth have increased since 2023, that they're less able to access mental health care, and that nearly 1/4 have been threatened with conversion therapy.

www.latimes.com/science/stor...