Welcome to my new blog, which now includes content from many of the blogs I’ve created over the years. You can now also access content via category from this one page instead of having to search for my individual blogs, which were scattered over various platforms and websites.
Shortlink to this post: debbieohi.com/reading2026 If you have a few minutes to spare, I would appreciate you taking my (very) informal survey on book reading and book discovery. The survey is anonymous and multiple choice, plus a free-form comment box for anything else you’d like to tell me: 2026 Book . . .
Any other bullet journal fans out there? I usually prep my annual bullet journal in December, but the holiday season was unusually hectic for me and I ended up working through most of it. The page layout above is the one I’ve settled on after a lot of experimenting with . . .
I gave up on concrete New Year’s Resolutions years ago. Inevitably, they led to disappointment and self-recrimination. Instead, I choose a theme word. My word for 2025, like 2024, was “Simplify.” I aimed to simplify things in my life, both digitally and in person, and thus carve out more time . . .
In 2014, I was thrilled to illustrate the covers of Judy Blume titles being reissued by Atheneum / Simon & Schuster Children’s as middle grade: Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, Blubber, Deenie, Iggie’s House, It’s Not The End Of The World, Starring Sally J. Freeman As Herself, and . . .
Woohoo! A single, precious copy of I’M BUSY by Michael Ian Black and me just arrived on the weekend, along with a sweet note from our editor at Simon & Schuster Children’s, Justin Chanda. Don’t you love Laurent Linn’s fabulous book design? This newest in our I’M… series about kids’ . . .
Karen Krossing wrote comics and poetry as a kid and dreamed of becoming a published writer. Today, she’s the author of many books for kids and teens, including picture books and novels. She won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Canada in 2015 and 2023 and has been a finalist . . .
Welcome to my Picture Books 101 post series, in which I talk about the basics of writing and illustrating picture books for young readers. This is part of my Creating Picture Books Resource. Please note my experience is with traditional trade publishers. In Part 3, I will explain the basics of picture book format . . .
This is part of my #100Branches project, in which my goal is to visit all 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library (as well as any other library I can find). You can find out more here. Palmerston Branch, 560 Palmerston Avenue, Toronto, ON M6G 2P7 (see map). Closest major intersection: Bathurst . . .
This is part of my #100Branches project, in which my goal is to visit all 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library (as well as any other library I can find). You can find out more here. Wychwood Branch, 1431 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON M5R 3J2 (see map).Nearest intersection: Bathurst Street and . . .