WOW! So delighted to share that ALPACAS HERE, ALPACAS THERE, written by me, illustrated by the incomparable Elisa Chavarri, and published by Beach Lane Books was named a 2026 Bank Street College of Education Best Books Children’s Books. Thanks to the selection committee and all the people who helped put this book into the world!

I am thrilled to announce I’ll be joining an amazing group of authors at Portland Book Festival with Literary Arts on November 8th. See the full author line-up here. Passes are on sale now!

My newest book, Alpacas Here, Alpacas There got its first trade review recently from Kirkus Reviews, which is known for being a bit harsh. I guess when they say the book is “Cute, cozy, and rather relentlessly informative,” they’ve seen my authentic nonfiction-nerdy self, so I’m calling it a win. Here’s hoping this book, beautifully illustrated by Elisa Chavarri, finds its’ readers who also love nonfiction!

Here’s the full review:
“An introduction to the shaggy, big-eyed, impossibly appealing alpaca.
As Tillotson points out, alpacas are raised for their warm fleeces in both their native South America and in North America. To reinforce that connection, the paired illustrations show them being raised, tended, and shorn in similar ways side by side on hilly Andean meadows and in flatter, grassier, fenced-in fields. In both settings, long-necked adults and their little crias fetchingly flock, nuzzle, or gambol springily as the author barrages readers and listeners with basic facts, presented in appropriately bouncy rhymes and parallel blocks of smaller-type prose, all capped by further historical and husbandry notes at the end. It’s a heavy info-load, though delivered with infectious enthusiasm. Readers learn that alpacas were domesticated thousands of years ago in the Andes from their camelid cousin vicuñas and that they bear coats of 16 official colors in North America and 22 in South America, which are regularly removed without harm to the animals. Unlike sheep’s wool, alpaca fleece requires no chemical processing before being spun. The smiling human figures that Peru-born Chavarri slips into her outdoorsy scenes alternate between racially diverse ranchers in the north and, in the south, brown-skinned herders dressed in a mix of modern and traditionally designed and patterned fabrics in a variety of bright colors and earth tones.
Cute, cozy, and rather relentlessly informative. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, glossary, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)”

Releases February 11, 2025, available for preorder now, signed and personalized copies at Annie Bloom’s Books.

What a delight it was to come home from camping to discover that B IS FOR BANANAS was a SCBWI Crystal Kite Award Honor winner! This award is given by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and is voted on by other authors and illustrators – thank you to everyone who voted for our book in the West division!

It is really an honor to win an award from the organization that started it all for me. I joined SCBWI 10 years ago this summer, after stalking their website for years, thinking how cool all the authors and illustrators were. I’m so happy to be one of them now!

Huge congrats to all of the winners – see the full list here.

I got some wonderful news this month – B Is for Bananas was selected to the Bank Street College of Education Best Books of the Year list, for books published in 2023. This is a huge honor, and I was delighted to see my book alongside so many friends’ great books. Check out the whole list here.

The wonderful booksellers at Annie Bloom’s Books in Portland, Oregon have set up a webpage where you can order signed and/or personalized copies of my books! For personalized books, just make a note in the checkout comments with the name of the person you would like the book signed to. Annie Bloom’s will let me know and I’ll pop in to sign your book! Make your orders here.

Huge thank you to Imagination Soup for selecting B IS FOR BANANAS as one of 2023’s Best Picture Books!

Of the process, Melissa says “Every month of 2023, I’ve read around 250 newly published picture books, adding up to three thousand books. Of those three thousand, these are my picture book picks for the best books of 2023.”

See all the wonderful selections here.

Eeep! B IS FOR BANANAS is one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Year for ages 3-5!
Thank you Amazon Books!