Carren Jao
banner
carrenjao.bsky.social
Carren Jao
@carrenjao.bsky.social
#Kidlit author Rep'd by @heathercashman.bsky.social
at Storm Literary @LeeandLow New Voices award winner, #PBRisingStars '23 Alum #FilTheShelves. http://bio.site/carrenjao
📚👍 “The Greatest” by @veerawrites.bsky.social‬ and Vesper Stamper is a joyous, tender picture book about the love between grandparents and grandchildren—perfect for family reading. #kidlit
November 7, 2025 at 9:11 PM
📚👍 "Soy Sauce!" by Laura G. Lee is a vibrant, rhyming picture book that explores how soy sauce is made in China, Japan, and Korea. Lee’s playful watercolors—painted with real soy sauce!—and upbeat text make this an umam-ful celebration of food, family, and culture.
August 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM
📚👍 Rocket Ship, Solo Trip by @chiaracolombi.com and Scott Magoon is a rhyming, heart-filled adventure about a rocket’s first solo journey and the bravery it takes to try something new. #kidlit
August 22, 2025 at 2:19 AM
📚👍 @jbradley.bsky.social ‘s “Something Great” reminds us that even the simplest things can have big, beautiful possibilities! #kidlit
August 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
📚👍An unconventional story about a seemingly boring reference book like the dictionary is magical in “The Dictionary Story” by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston #kidlit
August 11, 2025 at 11:13 PM
📚👍 Being Home by @tracisorellauthor.bsky.social‬ and Michaela Goade celebrates the joy of family, community, and Cherokee traditions through vibrant storytelling and dreamlike illustrations. #kidlit
July 12, 2025 at 7:10 PM
📚👍There is beauty and poetry in science that @lesliebarnardbooth.bsky.social‬ and Marc Martin bring to life in “A Stone Is a Story.” #kidlit
July 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
📚👍 Filled with humor and earnestness, this book by @debbieohi.coml follows Hana on her quest to find the answers to everything. Can she do it?” #kidlit
June 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
MAYA BREAKS IT DOWN combines my love for breaking (not my skill!) and basic coding principles. Thank you for being such great collaborators @aphelandraw.bsky.social Alexandra McKenzie @charlesbridge.bsky.social @heathercashman.bsky.social See you by the bookshelves 2027! #kidlit
April 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM
✨"If all three worlds are bright inside me, do I have to be just one? @salimaalikhan.bsky.social and Noor Sofi captures what it's like to straddle many different worlds and cultures. 📚👍

#WeNeedDiverseBooks #InclusiveReads #BIPOCAuthors #DiversityInBooks #weneeddiversebooksday #Kidlit
April 3, 2025 at 10:42 PM
📚👍“When you finish your first draft, take a break and go do something else. Stories need time to blossom and grow.”
@katemessner.com and Mark Siegel tell this how-to story in a way that real creatives can identify with, including our need to step away from the story too. #kidlit
March 4, 2025 at 2:17 AM
📚👍“I want to be special, too. How do I become like you?” 🪨 Who hasn’t had that thought even once in their lives? Linda Liu captures a dull, gray rock’s journey from insecurity to confidence. "Hidden Gem" is a sweet read for anyone who needs to remember how special they are. #kidlit
February 21, 2025 at 9:42 PM
“It starts with one..”

🌊Part poetry, part biography, part science. This book by @katemessner.com and @mattforsythe.bsky.social marries so many kinds of storytelling into one whole that shows how the actions of one can ripple out to a whole ocean. It is a science book with heart. 📚👍#kidlit
February 19, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Sometimes when we think a story ends, it is where it begins. @lesliebarnardbooth.bsky.social and Stephanie Fizer Coleman tell a beautiful story of constant beginnings. It’s a poignant lesson: that there is always a place to begin anew again. 📚👍🏼#kidlit #stem
February 13, 2025 at 1:09 AM
📚👍Who doesn't love that first bite of baguette, sweet pan de sal, freshly toasted Hawaiian bread? Cristina Quintero, Sarah Gonzales captured those beautiful feelings in this lovely picture book that sparks of holiday get togethers and family/friend gatherings. #kidlit
November 19, 2024 at 3:51 PM
📚👍@nickesposito.bsky.social and Ricardo Tokumoto bring out the heart in every hero by focusing on what it was in them that brought them to greatness. A part of The Good Guys Agency series, the book aims to showcase books that can give boys better role models #kidlit
October 26, 2024 at 12:49 AM
📚👍 Becky Paige does a great job of adding another layer to the story beyond in "Boo, the Library Ghost." A good Halloween read that also works beyond the haunting season! #kidlit
October 4, 2024 at 8:52 PM
📚👍 I'm only a late fan of Halloween, but Gideon Sterer's prose and @charlessantoso.bsky.social 's illustrations in "I Will Read to You" help set a world where a child is just as supernatural and unexpectedly sweet as the ghouls and monsters they call out to. #PictureBooks #ChildrensBooks #KidLit
September 28, 2024 at 8:54 PM
📚👍🏼 “The Year We Learned to Fly” is a beautifully told story, expertly structured. Problems like boredom, anger, making new friends feel like it is something that readers now have the power to solve. #kidlit
September 17, 2024 at 1:13 AM
📚👍🏼 With lyrical, rhyming text by author Kate Hosford and gorgeous illustrations by artist Sarah Gonzales, this gentle book shows that there are as many ways to say I love you as there are special moments to be shared together. #Kidlit
September 5, 2024 at 1:05 AM
📚👍🏼 “Touch the Sky” by @grubreport.bsky.social and Chris Park captures that beautiful freedom of swinging and the all important lesson to try again. Not didactic, but joyful, it’s a must-read. #Kidlit #PictureBooks #InsideLook
August 28, 2024 at 3:57 PM
📚👍🏼 I admire writers who successfully take big themes and concepts and make them relatable. Antwan Eady does this with the struggles of Black farmers by telling the story of “The Last Stand” in a community and how the owner's grandson steps up to help. Here’s a #LookInside #PictureBooks
August 27, 2024 at 11:13 PM
I fell in love with building worlds and characters reading books like these :) this was a 3-in-1 volume I eventually bought as a college student #kidlit
August 25, 2024 at 1:29 AM
📚👍I'm such a fan of smart, funny books and it's hard to be both, but this one by Caspar Salmon and Matt Hunt was pretty genius. The book only asks kids to count to 1, but lays so many other intriguing things to count (but that's not the mission, says the tricky book). Great class book! #kidlit
August 21, 2024 at 11:12 PM
🐩What if dogs get to choose their humans? @@gabrielevans.bsky.social explores this question in a humorous way. I love the different perspective here and the funny situations that it engenders! 📚👍 #kidlit #picturebooks
August 15, 2024 at 3:36 PM