Melanie Ellsworth
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melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Melanie Ellsworth
@melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
250 followers 330 following 21 posts
Children's book writer, dog walker, dandelion fan. Author of CLARINET & TRUMPET, HIP, HIP...BERET!, BATTLE OF THE BOOKS. She/her. Rep’d: McIntosh & Otis www.melanieellsworth.com
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melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Read this picture book gem by @isabellakung.bsky.social today! Got lost in the gorgeous illustrations. This journey through a child's big feelings is so thoughtfully and gently done, reminding readers of the power of processing strong emotions through art and imagination.
Book cover of the picture book NUNU AND THE SEA by Isabella Kung depicts a young Asian girl and her backpack on a life-sized origami sailboat in a sea of blues and pinks. The girl holds out her hand as an origami crane is about to land on it.
October 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Such a fun, informative read by @lindsayhmetcalf.bsky.social, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. Filled with delicious tomato puns and a hilarious Supreme Court Food Fight between Team Fruit and Team Vegetable. Many classroom applications here!
book cover for picture book Tomatoes on Trial featuring orange background with red tomato in center, and two groups of people on lower right and lower left saying "It's a vegetable" or "It's a fruit!" interior book scene set in the US Supreme Court with several men at the bench arguing for the tomato as a fruit, not a vegetable
October 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
autumn clouds and colors
View shows a green grass path surrounded by meadow with fall colors - yellows and oranges on the oaks at the end of the path, and a mountain of clouds approaching on the far right
October 22, 2025 at 1:49 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
THE TRAVELING TACO is a yummy picture book about the journey food makes across time and cultures. Joyful, colorful, and informative! May inspire zesty classroom debates about favorite ways to prepare these foods! @redcometpressbooks.bsky.social @pragmaticmom.bsky.social
This book cover features the title, THE TRAVELING TACO, centered in yellow font on a blue background. Illustrations around the title include various food items, like fries, shrimp, pasta, and a person carrying a giant taco at the bottom of the cover. This interior book spread is on a yellow and blue background and features ice cream in a variety of cones and dishes across different countries.
October 2, 2025 at 8:52 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Kids will be absolutely hooked by the picture book SHARKS UNHOOKED, about the awe-inspiring #Cristina Zenato, who dives with sharks and removes fishing hooks. Her story is one of courage, compassion, and following your dreams - however wild they may be!
@patricianewman.bsky.social
#sharks
This picture book title has a scene in the Bahamas, with the title SHARKS UNHOOKED in red at the top, 2 palm trees on the upper right and left sides, and an underwater scene of Cristina Zenato swimming in a yellow bathing suit alongside 3 sharks and several schools of fish. This illustration includes 2 scenes - one with Cristina in a chain suit and scuba gear with her hand on a shark, and 3 other sharks approaching her and her blue bucket of mackerel. The bottom scene shows a shark swimming onto Cristina's lap while she sits in her scuba gear on the sandy bottom of the ocean in the Bahamas.
August 13, 2025 at 9:45 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Love this back-to-school read! Little Tortoise is endearing, full of self-confidence even when she's passed by all her classmates as she "hurries" to school. Lots of humor at play between text and illustrations, and a perfect ending as Little Tortoise finds a kindred soul in her teacher.
Book cover features a little Tortoise with a striped helmet carrying a lunchbox on its shell as it walks in the grass on its way towards school. A tree, blue sky, and flowers in background - illustrated with woodcut art.
July 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Science meets poetry in A Universe of Rainbows, with beautiful poems by many talented poets, selected by Matt Forrest Esenwine, gorgeously illustrated by Jamey Christoph. Loved learning about the way rainbows appear in so many different places in nature.
The cover of the picture book A UNIVERSE OF RAINBOWS has an arching rainbow with the title underneath and several rainbow-colored birds at either end of the rainbow. Mountains and crystals on the left, green slopes on the bottom, and colorful hibiscus on the right This photo shows 2 sides of a picture book spread with the poem "Echoes of Rain" by Alma Flor Ada & F. Isabel Campoy on the left illustrated with two rainbow eucalyptus trees, and a family of three on the right looking at the trees, including a young brown-skinned girl with a straw hat and yellow dress, a brown-skinned mother in a blue sundress with long brown hair, and a light-skinned father with blue button-down shirt - all holding hands while they look up at the trees
June 28, 2025 at 10:52 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
down by the river
Flowering grass overlooks a dock and a dark river; tall trees on the other side of the narrow river
June 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Love walks with flower finds - lady slippers and irises!
Green field with ferns, purple irises, grass and a line of distant darker green trees with blue sky above pink lady slipper flower in wooded setting pink lady slipper setting in brown leaves in woods
June 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
FIREFLY SONG by @colleenpaeff.bsky.social and Ji-Hyuk Kim is a gorgeous #PB! Lyrically written, magically illustrated tale about researcher Lynn Frierson Faust that immerses us in a dreamy, firefly-filled summer world. Reminds us that our curiosity and attention can spark discoveries! #womeninSTEM
Picture Book cover shows a young girl with white skin and light brown hair holding up a glass jar with fireflies lighting up. Background shows green leaves and firefly glow. Titled FIREFLY SONG by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Ji-Hyuk Kim.
June 4, 2025 at 7:42 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
AT THE WINDOW is a lovely picture book. Lim's poetic writing and Leng's watercolor art reminded me of that feeling of discovery and adventure that kids are so good at finding, even in an everyday stroll through the neighborhood. Big themes of #connection and #perspective
@hopelim.bsky.social
This picture book cover is titled AT THE WINDOW by Hope Lim, illustrated by Qin Leng. A child with a backwards red baseball cap, long brown hair, white skin, and a t-shirt and shorts holds a leash as a small brown dog pulls the child down the sidewalk. Child looks up at the window of a neighbor woman who is writing in front of her window. There's a small plot with green plants below her window, and a large tree next to her house.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Found this fun, energetic, musical story! Loved learning about the African-Brazilian martial arts/dance form, Capoeira. Kids will relate to Lucas' anxiety as he performs for the capoeira circle in his moving-up ceremony. And they'll cheer for him when he earns his just-right nickname! @joanapastro
Picture book title reads Lucas and the Capoeira Circle. Written by Joana Pastro, illustrated by Douglas Lopes. Picture shows a brown-skinned boy wearing loose white pants doing a martial arts move, holding himself up on his hands while his legs whirl overhead, surrounded by the greenery of a park.
April 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
cloud tree dance
A whispy curvy white cloud twirls vertically up between the branches of a large oak tree. Blue sky in the background and a power line between tree branches.
March 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Thanks to teacher Michelle for sharing this photo of reading BATTLE OF THE BOOKS (by me and illustrator James Rey Sanchez) to your class! It's the biggest thrill for an author!
#picturebook
White female teacher with blonde bun and glasses holds up the picture book BATTLE OF THE BOOKS showing the page she is reading aloud in her classroom.
March 13, 2025 at 6:32 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Enjoyed the fun twist on a bedtime story in BOXER BABY by Mia Wenjen & Kai Gietzen, with Dad and baby as opponents in the “naptime” arena. Hilarious illustrations, relatable themes, and #figurativelanguage like "roll with the punches" and "throw in the towel." @pragmaticmom.bsky.social
A young girl wearing boxing gloves stands in the lower middle of this picture book cover, while a parent's hand holds out a pacifier, and her stuffed monkey flies overhead. The title reads BOXER BABY BATTLES BEDTIME! by Mia Wenjen, Illustrated by Kai Geitzen
March 12, 2025 at 7:04 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Learned so much about giant manta rays, creative environmental activism, and #communityconservation from GIANT RAYS OF HOPE by @patricianewman.bsky.social. Amazing photos of these beautiful sea creatures. Highly recommend for classroom and school library collections!
The cover of the book GIANT RAYS OF HOPE by Patricia Newman features text in orange and a giant manta ray swimming through the ocean.
February 13, 2025 at 10:04 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Thanks for this winter wonderland, February!
Side of a gray barn next to an old apple tree coated in snow, with tall oak trees in the background. About 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground.
February 3, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Melanie Ellsworth
authorsabb.bsky.social
President Trump's DOE has made themselves clear: they will support book banners in their efforts to strip our institutions of learning of the books that define them.

So let us be perfectly clear: we're going to do whatever we can to try and stop them.
Today the DOE announced plans to dismiss 11 outstanding complaints against book bans, and to eliminate the position of Book Ban Coordinator at the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). This distortion of the intended work of the OCR--the protection of civil rights and students' freedoms in our nation's schools--is negligent, grossly un-American, and in direct conflict with freedom of speech, a bedrock right enshrined in the Constitution. Authors Against Book Bans unequivocally stands against all such attempts at censorship and discrimination. We stand with families, students and educators across the country who exercise free speech every time they open a book, and with the 71% of Americans who are opposed to book bans. Book bans do not protect children; history teaches us that they are a terrifying step toward tyranny.
January 26, 2025 at 3:03 AM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Always nice to have sick day support!
White dog with brown ears stands beside bed looking up at person working from bed.
January 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Enjoyed the picture book BUILDING A DREAM: How the Boys of Koh Panyee Became Champions by Darshana Khiani and Dow Phumiruk. Gorgeous illustrations of a breathtaking setting. Based on a true story of kids who work towards their dream of building a soccer pitch despite a barrage of challenges. #Kidlit
Children walk across walkways elevated on stilts over a bay in a Thai village to get to the cafe to watch a soccer game on TV.
January 27, 2025 at 10:41 PM
melaniebellsworth.bsky.social
Happy to be here at Bluesky at long last, joining my Kidlit friends!
January 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM