The Ultimate Guide To Children's Books | Bianca Schulze (Mom of 3, Author, Children's Book Review)

[00:00:00] Bianca: When you have a dream and sometimes we don't think we're worthy of our dreams. But when you put the work in, I really believe you can make it happen, right? And it may not happen in the way that you think it will happen, or when you want it to happen, but I do really believe that we can manifest our dreams.

[00:00:19] Adam Fishman: Welcome to Startup Dad, the podcast where we dive deep into the lives of dads who are also leaders in the world of startups and business. I'm your host, Adam Fishman. In today's conversation, I sat down with Startup Mom, Bianca Schulze. Bianca is the founder and editor of the Children's Book Review, a resource devoted to children's literature and literacy, and the host of the Growing Readers podcast.

Bianca is also the author of Don't Wake the Dragon, which has been translated into 20 languages and is now a six book series, as well as 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up, which is an Amazon editor's pick for best non fiction for kids. In addition to being an incredible founder and literary expert, she's also a wife and the mother of three kids.

In our conversation today, we spoke about how to raise readers and foster a love of reading in your household. We went deep on her top five book recommendations for 2024 and the Children's Book Review's journey from simple blog to important literary resource. We also discussed how she came to write her earliest books, classic holiday stories, and how parents can work with kids who are struggling to find reading enjoyable.

I hope you enjoyed today's conversation with Bianca Schulze.

[00:01:37] Adam: I would like to welcome Bianca Schulze to the Startup Dad podcast. Bianca, pleasure to have you here. Thanks for joining me.

[00:01:46] Bianca: Oh my gosh, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much for inviting me to come and have a chat today. I know we're going to talk about some great stuff.

[00:01:54] Adam: Yes. I am stoked about this topic. We are going to spend the entirety of our conversation today talking about raising readers and how to foster a love of reading in our kids, through our work as parents and maybe I'll ask you at some point how tired parents can find time to read in the day.

Cause that is the thing that I struggle with falling face down into a book at night. But before we get started, I wanted to ask you a little bit about yourself. So, tell us a little bit about your professional background.

[00:02:27] Bianca: Oh my goodness. Well, I consider myself a literacy advocate at this point. I'm also an author. But I'm one of those people that has done a lot of different jobs. So I mean, we can probably have a really long discussion and go way, way, way back. But let's just say you might be able to tell from my accent that I'm not originally from the United States.

And I found myself here at a point in time between paperwork, I couldn't do what I had been doing. I wasn't able to legally work and everybody was like, what are you going to do? And I had done a lot of work working with children in the snow sports field. And I wanted to write books for children.

I think everybody thought I was absolutely crazy. But my favorite quote is an Albert Einstein one, and it is “learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” So I have thrown myself into the world of children's book selling, children's book publishing and then obviously immersed myself in what it takes to raise readers.

And so I've been doing the Children's Book Review. I'm the founder of the Children's Book Review since 2008. It started as a blog and now it is a whole lot more. It's a great resource for parents, even educators, librarians looking for the next best book for their kids.

[00:03:49] Adam: Yeah, that's amazing. And so the Children's Book Review is a big reason that I reached out to you because you seem like you would be an expert in talking about books and which ones parents should buy and things like that. So we're gonna get into all of those. But tell me a little bit about you.

You are a mom yourself. You have three kids, if I'm not mistaken. So tell me little bit about your family.

[00:04:12] Bianca: We are a family of five. My husband is a startup dad. So that's his world. And then I have an 18 year old who's a freshman at CU Boulder. I have a 12 year old who's in seventh grade. Anybody that's listening that has middle schoolers, you know where I'm at right now.

I love middle school age, but it's so challenging. And then I also have a nine year old who is in fourth grade. So two girls, one boy, and I feel like my one big mom brag is that all three of my kids love to read and it makes me so happy.

[00:04:46] Adam: Well, that's awesome. I would say you probably wouldn't be great at your job if you had kids who didn't like to read.

[00:04:52] Bianca: Yeah, it'd be embarrassing.

[00:04:54] Adam: Yeah. And fun fact I do not have an 18 year old, but I do have a nine and a 12 year old. And my 12 year old is in sixth grade. She just turned 12. So I know what you're talking about.

We'll get into the middle school brain a little bit later. So yeah, we're in it. We're in the thick of it.

[00:05:10] Bianca: Swimming.

[00:05:11] Adam: That's right. Dory knows. So how has the Children's Book Review evolved since its inception? Because I think it probably started out as maybe a fun side project.

And now it's a whole big thing that does a lot of different things. So what's that journey been like?

[00:05:28] Bianca: Yeah. So the funny thing is, the reason you invited me on the show was because you figured I'd be good talking about books, right? And that's exactly why I started the Children's Book Review. I have to give full credit to my husband because at the time in 2008, I was working in a children's bookstore in Washington, DC, and I would come home and just keep talking about all these great picture books.

And, you know, and he was happy to talk about books, but he was like, you know, I think you need another outlet. You need another spot to keep talking about books. He's like, why don't you start a blog? And now this was 2008. And I said, well, what's a blog? I didn't even know what a blog was in 2008. I mean, I think they'd been around for a couple of years at that point, but they weren't like so huge.

So I was like, yeah, that sounds right up my alley. I'm going to start a blog. So I was just sharing, you know, a couple of times a week, books that I found in the bookstore that I absolutely loved. And then sooner or later, I had authors reaching out to me because as an author, there are so many books that get published every single year, and it's really hard to get your book noticed.

And so people wanted their book to get noticed and they would ask me to review it. And so then I had, well, I had to create submission guidelines because obviously I was one person at that point. I couldn't review every single book. And so, you know, I just kept listening to what people needed and I was able to fulfill that for them.

And so at its core it's that resource for finding the next best book. And I interview authors and I create book lists. I reach out to educators. I have educators as contributors to the site and we create literacy tips. But then I also have resources where I'm helping support authors build awareness for their books.

So basically in a nutshell, it was a blog and now it's a full fledged resource to support parents, teachers and also the authors that create the books.

[00:07:27] Adam: Wow. That's awesome. It's become like a full blown community around literacy and authorship and, you know, kids' passion for reading, which is awesome. I can certainly appreciate, I am not a writer of books myself, but I have been asking many of the guests who come on the show in time for the holidays, what their holiday book recommendation is for kids.

And the amazing part is that no one has said the same recommendation, which just sort of underscores your point that there's so many books out there for kids. And we just had our children's book fair at our school and I walked through it and I'm like, oh my God, I don't even know where to start.

[00:08:06] Bianca: It can be really overwhelming.

[00:08:07] Adam: Yes, yes it is. So you are an author yourself. How does that experience really inform the work that you're doing at the Children's Book Review?

[00:08:19] Bianca: Yeah. I love this question because they actually both inform each other. So as I said I wanted to write children's books. That was, you know, back in, in the early days when I didn't, I was between becoming a citizen, becoming a permanent resident of the United States. And I was going to write children's books.

And so essentially taking that job in the bookstore was how I could immerse myself in the world and there's a great saying that to be a writer, you need to be a reader first. I didn't know that saying at that time, but essentially that's what I was instinctively doing. I was immersing myself in that world.

And I think every time you read a book and you see the way somebody else expresses themselves or how it touches you or how it makes you feel, right? Then I know how I want to move forward as a writer myself. Sometimes it's also what I know I don't want to do. I'm like, okay, I didn't love that story. It wasn't for me.

I want to make sure I don't go that direction, right? So every time I'm reading a book, it is informing me as a writer and finding out what I like. Also paying attention to what everybody else is reading. Obviously, you know, we write because it's a way of making sense of the world, but at the same time, it's a business. We're writing books and it is how we're feeding our kids is how we're putting dinner on the table.

And so it's great to, you know, write a book, but is it a book that is going to be received well, right? And so paying attention to what people. Are enjoying and what people need is great. So yes, the Children's Book Review informs me as a writer, but it also informs me in, you know, what other people are searching for and what I want to share on the Children's Book Review as well.

I mean, I feel like that was a long answer. Did I answer it okay?

[00:10:05] Adam: You sure did, you sure did. And I wanted to stick on the topic of you as an author because you've written a few books. One is called Don't Wake the Dragon. There's a whole series, right, around Don't Wake the Dragon. And it's insanely popular and it's been translated into a bunch of different languages.

20 by my research. And so I wanted to ask you two things. One is tell me about that book or that series. And then what do you think makes it resonate with children globally?

[00:10:33] Bianca: Yeah. So the first book in the series, it's an interactive picture book is, Don't Wake the Dragon. Completely inspired from a parenting moment. You know, bedtime happens daily for the whole span of your time raising your kids, right? And as parents, we know that bedtime can be sometimes beautiful and sometimes a complete challenge.

But the idea stemmed from I was on an airplane flight. We were really lucky and had taken a trip to Hawaii, but my son had gotten sick on day one and he was miserable our entire week in Hawaii. We get on the airplane to come home. It's a five hour flight, totally miserable. I have him on my lap and he finally fell asleep because, you know, you don't want to be that family on the airplane on a five hour flight with the screaming toddler.

He was 18 months at the time. So he finally falls asleep and my husband looks at my two daughters and says, whatever you do, don't wake the dragon. And so I'm there obviously holding this baby. I'm like, okay, I don't want to move. I'm not going to move. And so I had a lot of time to think, and I loved that saying don't wake the dragon.

And by the time I got off that airplane ride, I had this whole idea for a story. And I love interactive picture books because it just really involves the kids in the story. They get to participate. It's just joyful. And so I really wanted that bedtime moment to be a moment where you could kind of release and be a little bit silly and get some of those, you know, wiggles out and then at the end, just know that it's time for rest and peace, but not before we've had a lot of fun.

So that was the start of it. And now there's four published, there’s Who Loves the Dragon, Just Be Yourself Dragon, Tell the Truth Dragon. And then a New Friend for Dragon just came out. I have Sharing is Caring Dragon that releases on December 17, 2024. And then I have a Christmas book coming out with dragon next year.

Anyway, so I think essentially the reason it's resonating is because. Well, one, people love dragons, right? And dragons exist in so many cultures around the world. So I think that part really helps. But also, I like to really tap on those moments of, I guess, challenges for kids, challenges for parents, so that we can create books that do resonate with everybody because no matter where you live, what country you live in, you know, you've got to be able to share.

You've got to be able to tell the truth. You need to go to bed every night, right? So I mean, I'm kind of guessing, but I think that's why it's resonating. And I think that's why it's been picked up in other countries too.

[00:13:23] Adam: Yeah, that's awesome. Those universal themes, like every parent, no matter where you live, needs their kid to go to bed at some point in time. So I love that. I have two other thoughts on this. One is oh, can I ever appreciate like what, started this concept of the book series, my daughter on a plane one time was asleep and woke up into an immediate cry, like just woke up and was crying and it was just instantly angry. So that was the dragon moment. So that's one thing. And then the other thing is we also love dragon books in our household. And have you ever read Dragons Love Tacos?

[00:13:57] Bianca: Absolutely. And every time I do a story time, the kids always ask me that. And my kids love that story too. And in fact, my father in law, every time he sends a text message to my son, he says, you know, make sure you don't feed the dragons any spicy tacos. 

[00:14:15] Adam: That’s awesome. It's a very cute story. So, cool. So the other one that you wrote you wrote a book called 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up, which is, awesome. I love that concept. What was the inspiration for that book?

[00:14:31] Bianca: What's really fun about that book, so while I was working towards getting published with Don't Wake the Dragon, I was reached out by a publisher Walter Foster Jr. is an imprint of a bigger publishing company named Quarto, and they, I guess, were fans of the Children's Book Review, and so they reached out and asked me to write the book, when I saw the email come in, I thought for sure this was a hoax, like, you know, am I really going to get my first published book.

But it wasn't a hoax. It was real. And so essentially, I guess I had the idea for this book when I started the Children's Book Review. I just didn't know it was a book. And when they reached out to me, I was like, of course this is a book. And the thing I love about 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up.

And now I do have to say that book, I feel like it's kind of cool to be able to say I'm out of print. It came out in 2016 and it recently went out of print. So I feel proud of that because I feel like now I've been publishing for long enough that I'm out of print, but what's great is that we're doing a revised edition. I actually don't know if I'm supposed to announce it, but I'm just going to say it here!

[00:15:40] Adam: It’s okay. It's just between us.

[00:15:41] Bianca: Just between us and, you know, whoever's listening, don't tell anyone else. But it is going to come out, I think by the end of 2025. So we're not that far away.

 But what I love about 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up, that it's essentially about 404 books to read before you grow up because anybody that's a true book lover knows that when somebody says, what are your favorite books, it's an impossible thing to answer. And, you know, because it's really like, in what context, you know, is it my favorite fantasy book?

Is it my favorite memoir? Is it my favorite picture book? I mean, I have so many favorites. And so, of course, picking just 101 was still impossible for me. So I found that way to build in 404 by on every page where there's one of the 101 book recommendations. I added what to read next. And so if you loved that book, you can find four more books that you will probably enjoy, either because they're by the same author.

It's the same theme. It's the same kind of, you know, genre format. So that book was so fun. But yeah, it essentially landed in my lap and I felt like the luckiest writer in the world.

[00:16:50] Adam: Wow. And that was your very first published book too. Wow. So cool. All because of the Children's Book Review. Pretty awesome. But I could see how you would think at first it was like a hoax. You're like, well, this is surreal.

[00:17:02] Bianca: When you have a dream and sometimes we don't think we're worthy of our dreams. But when you put the work in, I really believe you can make it happen, right? And it may not happen in the way that you think it will happen, or when you want it to happen, but I do really believe that we can manifest our dreams, but I was in denial for a moment.

[00:17:25] Adam: I wanted to ask, so we have the holidays coming up and I mentioned, I've been asking dads, past guests of the show, about the books that they should or recommend for people for the holidays. And of course, like their answers are very personal to them. And I'm sure yours would be too, but you also have such a broad perspective on this because you see so many books with the Children's Book Review.

And so I am curious, with the holidays approaching, what are the best books that people should get for the holiday season and I'd love to just hear about maybe your top five. And then how would you recommend that? Like the age, you know, there's a lot of different ages of kids whose parents listened to this show.

And so if you could also caveat with an age range or general good age for the book, that would be awesome. 

[00:18:20] Bianca: Yeah for sure, well I’m going to just start with age range for books really quickly, because, you I always share like a rough age range, right? But we know that we've got precocious kids. We know that we've got kids that maybe don't have like a really large attention span, you know? So really it's up to the adults who are you know, buying these books to really know who their kids are and to know that maybe if you see an age recommendation reading the little book summary or the review may help guide you if, you know, maybe it says 10 and up, and maybe your kid's 11, but still, maybe it's not quite what they're going to be into. Or maybe you have a seven year old who has, you know, two older siblings and they're pretty mature. They've, you know, maybe watched some things on TV that like they're comfortable with because that's just the world that they're living in. So just know that with any age recommendation, they're usually just kind of a guideline.

So, I like to start there. Also just cause I don't want anybody to think, oh, well, this book's for a four year old that I'm 10 so I'm not going to read it. You might love that picture book. So why should you rule it out? So with that, I kind of want to start with Impossible Creatures, It's by Katherine Rundle.

Everybody is absolutely loving this book. It is for people who love Harry Potter. And I think people are saying they love it even more than Harry Potter. It's definitely like that mythical fantasy world. This is very dramatic. I will say that there's a murderer and, you know, but it's, they're hopping from island to island and rescuing all these mythical creatures.

I don't want to give any spoilers. But I will say another reason I want to share this one as a gift book is because the way the publisher has released this book. It's so beautiful. It's like a hardcover novel. It has the dust jacket. But when you take the dust jacket off, there's like a gold dragon like embossed on the actual book.

it's so beautifully done. And it just it's just like a great looking book to which I think is so nice on a bookshelf. I know that sounds cheesy, but it just makes a beautiful gift book. And it's an outstanding story. Like, if this isn't made into a movie at some point, I'll be really, really surprised.

So Impossible Creatures for anybody who loves fantasy and mythology. Okay, and then another one I want to recommend is Priya's Kitchen Adventures. And it's a cookbook for kids. So, I love cookbooks for kids because people maybe don't think of it as getting your reading in. But if you have a kid that maybe doesn't necessarily like to sit down but they like to use their hands and whatnot, you have to be able to read the recipe.

And can I just say that the author is Priya Krishna and she is a New York Times food journalist and she has grown up traveling around the world herself as a kid. And the book basically goes through a bunch of different countries with themed recipes and I have been cooking them with my kids and I'm a terrible cook just so everybody knows, they're so easy, but they are so delicious and the way she does corn in Mexico, in the Mexico chapter, I don't want to ever eat corn another way again.

And this is going to sound so silly, maybe other people know this, or maybe people will think, ew, gross but the cooking of the corn happens in the microwave. And it takes 2-3 minutes, and the corn comes out perfectly. And I don't think I ever want to boil corn ever again. It's like the best, anyway.

[00:22:00] Adam: I need this book. Cause I want to try corn that way.

[00:22:03] Bianca: Yeah. So, so it's Priya's Kitchen Adventures, a cookbook for kids. And again, it's a beautiful hardcover. There's photographs. There's great diagrams on how to cut the food. It's so good. I did want to recommend a picture book that I think has been one of my favorite picture books this year, because it's so stunning.

It's called The Yellow Bus, and it's by Lauren Long, and it's just this beautiful story of finding joy wherever you are. And so this yellow school bus is basically a retired school bus and you would think is just kind of left out in a parking lot to rust, right? But you see this yellow school bus go through a town into sort of different areas.

And no matter where the bus is, the bus is bringing joy to others. And in return, the bus is just happy to be there and have purpose. Anyway, for me, the artwork on this one is my favorite this year so far. It's like done in this black and white charcoal with just sort of pops of yellow for the bus and some color shows up in different spots.

No spoilers again, but it's so stunning. So if you're into a really beautiful picture book, The Yellow Bus by Lauren Long. Oh, and then I do have to say, I know this author. So it's like disclaimer, she is a friend of mine, Nyasha Williams Where Is Koketso? Is a search, seek, and find book.

And I loved Where's Waldo as a kid, although in Australia, it was Where's Wally.

it's just in that realm of search and find. Kids love it. It keeps them busy. You know, there is some reading in there, but then there's just lots of pouring over the artwork and finding all of these items and the artwork is just so beautiful.

I'm terrible. I'm totally blanking on the illustrator's name. Niasha did not do the illustrations but she did do the writing and come up with the items. But it is so beautiful. Again, it's a beautiful hard cover. I love a hard cover for a gift book. And then what I think is really fun with a book like this is that if you just flip through some of the pages and kind of look at some of the characters and the items, you could go to a gift store and find like a plush animal that kind of goes along with like maybe your favorite page. And I love pairing a picture book with like a little plushie or something like that.

I think that kids really enjoy that.

[00:24:30] Adam: I read the illustrator is Anna Abel maybe, or Ann Abel.

[00:24:34] Bianca: Yes. Thank you for doing that for me. Yes. I love to give everybody the right credit. And I had a total blank. And I would say that book is like a five and up, but you could probably get some precocious younger kids that really enjoy looking at the artwork. And then I would say for my fifth one, and I just wanted everybody to know that the books I picked specifically to share today because it's parenting and, you know, a lot of parents listening, I want you to know that these are the books that we're reading in my own house, like that my kids are picking up and that my kids are enjoying.

So this is like, even beyond just everything I read on the Children's Book Review, obviously my kids can't enjoy all of those. They don't have as much time to read as much as I do. So these are the books that they have been loving too. So there's a book that I absolutely loved. It came out in 2019 and it's The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart.

And it was one of my favorite novels, both my daughters absolutely loved it. Coyote is a female protagonist but I would not say that this is just for girls. Everybody could read this book and enjoy it. But basically there's a little sadness that takes place in The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise because she has lost her mom and she's living just with her dad.

So her dad is a single dad raising her. And he doesn't want to be anywhere near this town that they're in. That, you know, obviously they were living when with her mom and she also had two sisters. And so they take off and they travel around on this incredible adventure. There is a moment of closure that takes place, but no spoilers.

But if you can imagine a single dad and his daughter traveling around the United States in an old school bus. And I guess there's a bit of a school bus theme today. It's incredible, but what's great is in 2024, the follow up novel came out, which is Coyote Lost and Found. So. I'm kind of giving you a two in one here, because if anybody didn't read The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, you could go and get that book, and get Coyote Lost and Found, and give the two books at once.

Sometimes the follow ups can fall a bit short. But can I just tell you, I think I loved the follow up even more, which is a lot to say because I thought the first book was so incredible. And again, I hope that this is a series that does become a movie too. I'm not somebody who hates books turned into movies.

I love to see how other people imagine the stories. But if that gives you any idea, if I'm seeing it visually as a film, that's how good the writing was, it's just, you just feel like you're in the moment. And the characters, it's so character driven. There's these incredible characters and personalities that they encounter as they're traveling around.

So yeah, I would look for Coyote Lost and Found, which came out this year and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhardt. And my age recommendation is nine and up for that one.

[00:27:40] Adam: What a great set of recommendations. And like I mentioned earlier, I've read none of these books or my kids have read none of these books. So these are like all just. It's just amazing how many children's books there are. I love these recommendations. Thank you.

Bianca:You’re welcome.

Adam:  Are there any super new releases this year that you're particularly excited about?

I know there's a lot of best of lists at the end of the year, and maybe it's a little premature for that, or anything that you're looking forward to or anything like that.

[00:28:11] Bianca: So you know, I'm going to say that I think for next year, I'm really looking forward to the sequel to the Impossible Creatures that I just mentioned. So there's a sequel coming out that's The Impossible Creatures, the Poisoned King. So that's a book I'm most looking forward to. And then I am still finalizing my best of 2024 list.

So I'm going to give myself. Like my website, a little plug. But if you by the end of November, head on over to the Children's Book Review, I'm going to have my list of best of 2024 on there, and that's going to have everything from board books to teen novels. So I'm still kind of finalizing and getting my thoughts around it.

There's just so, so many books every year and it's so hard to just, you know, decide to say which ones are the best.

[00:29:00] Adam: Yeah, awesome. Well, I will make sure that people go there.

[00:29:03] Bianca: Thank you.

[00:29:04] Adam: In time for their holiday shopping. I did want to ask quick question, which is you worked in a bookstore. You're also an author yourself and you run the Children's Book Review. You know, I think the default for a lot of people when they buy books, it's like, oh, I'll go to Amazon because that's convenient.

And that's how Amazon started. But where do you recommend? We know that we should always recommend people go to a local bookstore to buy their stuff. But if you don't have the ability to get to a local bookstore, is there a place online that you think is better to buy because maybe it supports the local bookstore or it more goes to the author or something like that?

Like, where would you recommend people buy these books if they're going out to do that?

[00:29:44] Bianca: Yeah. I mean, some authors will sell signed copies directly through their website. That's rare. But if you see that, you could do that. Always your local bookstore first so that we can support our local businesses. And then I would say for online, the order that I do it is bookshop.org because bookshop.org is giving back to local bookstores through every purchase that's made. And you can even select your favorite local bookstore so that the percentage of your sale will go directly to your choice of a bookstore. So I always like to say, start with bookshop.org. I think Barnes and Noble is still a great choice.

So after bookshop.org, I'd recommend going online at Barnes and Noble. And I can't say that I never order a book off of Amazon. Sometimes you just need it fast, right? So in that case, when I need something right now I'm really lucky. I'm surrounded by bookstores where I live. I live in Colorado. I live right between Boulder and Denver and we have so many amazing bookstores.

It's wonderful. And like, I think right close to me, I have three different Barnes and Nobles, so it's easy for me to run out. And if I, you know, need something, I can just go straight to the bookstore, but sometimes they don't have it in stock. And you know, sometimes it's for my daughter. Like they just had to read The Outsiders for school and she wanted her own copy and she wanted it tomorrow, so.

So I'm like, okay, well obviously the choice there, we're going to do Amazon right now can't go out tonight. It's going to be here tomorrow. So I say for those moments, Amazon's fine. Don't beat yourself up. We all use it, but if you can start with bookshop.org.

[00:31:30] Adam: Awesome. Also, I love The Outsiders. I haven't read, I mean, I think I probably read that book in middle school, so, amazing. Because it is the holidays, do you have any classic holiday books that every family should have in their collection?

[00:31:46] Bianca: Yeah. So I'm just going to go with two of my favorites and they're not new ones. So one is Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. So we actually have a copy of that from, My husband's childhood. I think his grandparents gave it to him. And they've got like, you know, that nice old school cursive writing that says for Eric Schulze like whatever year it was 1970 something.

And anyway it's illustrated by Tasha Tudor. It's like a real classic. It's starting to fall apart. And we read that every Christmas Eve without fail. We all gather together right before everybody goes to bed. So for me, it's that, I guess, creating that moment that happens every single year that we look forward to.

And for us, it's that book. And then my other just favorite, that’s more contemporary is The Stickman by Julia Donaldson. And if people haven't read Julia Donaldson's books, she writes rhyming picture books. And she in my opinion, is the best at it. So not everybody is really great at writing rhyming picture books, but Julia Donaldson is the absolute master of it.

And Stickman is what I look forward to reading every single Christmas.

[00:33:03] Adam: Cool. Cannot wait. I obviously have Twas The Night Before Christmas, but I've never heard of Stickman. So I'll have to check that out. When you choose books for different age groups, cause obviously the children's book review runs the full gamut from, you know, books that kids are like putting in their mouth and chewing on all the way up to chapter books that, you know, teenagers are reading.

How do you choose books for different age groups from toddlers to young adults?

[00:33:30] Bianca: How I receive books, I have the submission guidelines. And so people send them to me and then through those books. I'm always looking for the books that, you know, they do have to be beautifully presented because if there's any artwork whatsoever, I definitely, I don't have a specific look I'm looking for.

I don't think any of the contributors on our website have a specific look, but we know it when we see it. I know that sounds so vague, but when you look at some artwork. You just know whether you're feeling it or not. So it does need to be a beautifully presented book. It could be paperback.

It can be hardcover, but just if that does have art, we're looking for something that just speaks to you. It's well done. And then ultimately, so I'm always looking for books, not just that suit my own tastes. You know, what are the books that I think people need to hear? What are the books that they're going to want to hear?

What are the serious books, the nonfiction books, the books on fact checking, right? What about a fantasy book? What about a memoir? What about a mystery? So I'm always looking for a variety. And when I find that variety, I'm looking for then something that touches my heart, so something that makes me feel something, believe it or not, even nonfiction when it's well written can really make you feel something.

There's so many great, even nonfiction biographies out there right now for kids that like make you feel empowered. They make you feel inspired. They make you want to try experiments, right? So I guess like the easiest answer to say there, I do want a book to be beautifully presented. But I want to make sure whatever the content is, and I'm always looking for a wide variety.

I want to make sure it makes me feel something. And that feeling can be anything from laughing to crying. So, you know, it just needs to make you feel.

[00:35:27] Adam: That's a really good criteria. How can parents and educators best use something like the Children's Book Review as a resource?

[00:35:37] Bianca: Yeah. So if you head to the website and you're on the homepage, or even you land there through a Google search, somehow, whatever page you land on, got the menu at the top. And I always say, you know, start with searching by a book topic. And we might touch on this a little bit more. I'm not sure, but having your kids choose a book based on a topic they like is kind of a really great way to keep them reading because they're intrigued by that topic.

So in the menu, you can look at the books by subject, click on that link, and I've got tons of books sorted into different subject categories. You can look by age. We've got a little favorites tab, so if you don't know where to start, you can look at some of our favorites. Right on the homepage, we're always kind of you know, a couple of times a week, making sure that's gotten fresh titles to look at.

And by fresh titles, I don't always just mean new titles, because as I said, so many books come out every year and you might've missed something from 2014. That's actually amazing. Right. And it's kind of whatever's going on in the world, maybe relevance. And so we've tried to cycle books old and new so that there's something fresh to look at, but we have the editor's picks on that homepage. So if you don't know where to start, you might go, you know, look through the editor's picks and take a look there. So yeah, that's, I always say start with subject, look at age, and then look at what other people's favorites are. So.

[00:36:59] Adam: Okay. Subject, age, and then other's favorites. That's an awesome selection process. What are some of the trends that you're seeing in children's literature right now?

[00:37:10] Bianca: Yeah, so I am loving how many illustrated chapter books are out. So, so you know, I don't know how old you are. I'm guessing we're somewhere similar, but when I was a kid, at least, you know. We kind of jumped from picture books, maybe a couple of basic easy readers that maybe had a couple of illustrations, but then it was novels and there was not really a whole lot in between.

And so if you weren’t a really strong reader and I was not, there was sort of nothing filling that void. And so I didn't consider myself a reader as a kid. You know, once I officially learned to read until I was a bit older and actually could handle a more substantial novel. So what I'm loving is how many illustrated chapter books between like 40 pages and 96 pages even up to the like 200 pages, they're filling them with so many great pieces of artwork.

If you think about Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I'm sure you've heard of Diary of the Wimpy Kid?

Adam: Oh yes, we have them all.

Bianca:Right. So people think of that as a graphic novel, but it's actually a highly illustrated chapter book because it's not necessarily in that comic format. Right. So I feel like that was a great sort of shove in this direction where kids were really eating it up and Dog Man by Dave Pilkey and things like this.

And so everybody has realized that like, this is the bridge. This is how we bridge readers between that beginner reader to taking on a more substantial novel. And so I'm just loving how many illustrated chapter books and more graphic novels that are coming out. That's making me really happy.

[00:38:45] Adam: That's great. Yeah. Anything I feel like that gets kids excited doesn't quite matter, you know, if there's pictures or I think a lot of people like, oh, no, that's a comic book, but even we've had teachers say if your kid wants to read a graphic novel, like let them read a graphic novel. That's still reading, you know, they're still learning.

So, on that topic, I do hear from a lot of parents that they're struggling to get their kids to enjoy reading. And as we all know, as parents pushing your kids just a little bit harder, probably not the answer. So how have you seen, or what have you seen be successful in parents encouraging a love of reading in their kids?

[00:39:25] Bianca: Yeah. For some reason, my brain is going first to a what not to do.

[00:39:30] Adam: That's also good.

[00:39:31] Bianca: So, you know, we saw this when, so my oldest is 18, and when she was in first grade there was a teacher, now I love teachers, so this is not a critique of teachers, but I think it was a substitute, and there was some kids misbehaving, and their punishment was a timeout in a corner to go and read a book, and in my mind, I was like, well, no, you've just connected reading as like a punishment or as a negative moment.

So, so don't do that. Don't do that. I feel like we want reading to be fun. So here's what I do with my kids right from the get go as babies. We read every single day. So if you're a parent at the beginning of the stage. Build that in, have books around lots of books around that you can, go to your library, get your library card.

Kids love visiting the library. You can get at my library, 50 books at a time, and we all each have our own cards. So, you know, however many family members, times 50, you could have books in every single room just available, right? So have books accessible, try and read to them like right before nap time or right at bedtime, so that's at the beginning, and establish that as your routine right up front, so that feels comforting to them, that picking up a book and reading feels comforting, and it says, this is peaceful time and I'm going to enjoy this, right?

But I think also making sure like that you build in fun visits to the library as they get older. I mean, my kids get excited when I say, hey, we're going to go to the library and they love to go pick out books that they're choosing on the topics that they want. Now, you know, I'm not into banning books at all.

I don't think banning books should exist at all, but you're the parent, you get to decide. So find out which of the zones and the areas in your library that you want to take your kids and say, have at it, like pick anything from here. And then it doesn't hurt to like swing by and get like a McFlurry or like a Sonic milkshake on the way home just to like, really like add the icing on the cake if you haven’t sort of, had that as part of your, you know, maybe it's your summer reading ritual where you go to the library once a week. Maybe you haven't been doing that. So how do you make it a little more fun? Like maybe add some ice cream on the end, right. I think going to the bookstores, going to the library, making sure that they get their choices and just establishing that beautiful routine where you connect with them. Now you don't have to necessarily read the book to them. You don't need to read it with them. You can just sit alongside them and read your own book while they're reading and you're modeling reading to them. And then I also mentioned before, like the cookbook as one of the holiday gifts. If you have a reluctant reader, but you have someone that loves to cook or be in the kitchen, go grab some cookbooks and have them read through those.

There's science experiment books, read through the science experiment books, or you have a kid that loves Legos. There's a great publisher DK and they're always doing these great nonfiction books and they, you can get one all on mini Lego minifigures and they can read up about every single minifigures or Pokemon cards, like if, get them a collector's Pokemon card.

So you see what I'm saying is like, what are they interested in? Feed them with those books, go to the library, make it fun. Have a bookstore as an outing. Right. So those are the things that I like to do.

[00:42:51] Adam: I love that. So it sounds like, you know, some, if I could summarize some of the tips, it's like, try to create that positive association. So that's the milkshake right after the trip to the library. Give the kids, choice, like let them choose, let them drive, not the car to the library, but, you know, drive when they're in the library.

And you know, any topic. You know, there really no off limits topics as long as you're comfortable with it as a parent, but like from Pokemon to my son's very into soccer and he just got a book about Lionel Messi and like, just loves to read that all about Messi. So, yeah, and I think one of the other things I think you had mentioned in your prep is the pairing of the book in the movie.

We've done that quite a bit. We did that with a Harry Potter series in the beginning, although the movies get kind of scary and dark but we're doing that right now in our house with the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And so, it sounds like that was another tip that you had was like, for us, we were, hey, the reward for finishing the reading is we'll watch the movie of the book. And then eventually we didn't have to do the movie anymore, which was pretty awesome.

[00:44:01] Bianca: Absolutely. And there's, so many books that have been converted. And if you're a real book nerd like me, you can read the book and then watch the movie right after and then have a whole discussion about like, what did you like better? What was worse? What did you notice any differences? Cause there's always differences, right?

I love that. Watch the movies. Don't be afraid to do that. I think it's so fun.

[00:44:22] Adam: Cool. I wanted to switch topics for a little bit and just ask you a little bit about diversity and representation in children's literature. And the reason I ask you about this is because this wasn't really a topic that we thought about when I think we were younger and when our parents were picking out books for us just wasn't something that was part of the discussion or part of culture.

And so how do you think about that now? How important is diversity and representation in Children's literature? And is that a growing trend that you're seeing?

[00:44:53] Bianca: Yeah, it's absolutely so important. I think, you know, no matter who you are, to be able to see yourself in a story, it tells you that you belong. It tells you that you're going to be okay. Right? So I think we need to be able to see ourselves in our story and know that we belong here. If you can't see yourself in a story you can sort of feel like an outsider, right?

So we want everybody to feel like they're insiders in everything that we do. So absolutely think it's important. I also would say that, you know, I'm a white woman. Everybody in my family is white. Our neighborhood has some diversity, but not a lot. And I want my kids to feel cultured and know that other kinds of families exist that don't look the same as us or eat the same food. So I think it's so important that we make sure not only we're showing books of what our own families look like, but that we're showing books of what other people look around the world or what our next door neighbors may be eating at the table. Like, this is how everybody knows that we're all connected, that we're all going to be okay. And that we do have differences and those differences aren't something to be afraid of, those differences are something to celebrate. Right. And. I just think I'm someone who loves to travel and to experience other cultures and to eat other foods and listen to amazing different kinds of music. And so books is another way to get to experience that. Cause we don't all have budgets to go, you know, visit every country around the world, but you can experience that through a book and then read that book and then listen to some music and then make a meal together and really enjoy that. So I think books allow us to do all of that. They allow us to be seen and they allow us to see others.

[00:46:43] Adam: Such a great perspective. Thank you. You also have a podcast that gets called the Growing Readers podcast, which

I love that name. Tell us about your podcast.

[00:46:52] Bianca: Yeah. So the podcast for me is like the heart. It's like, sorry. And I feel like I need to put on my American accent. Cause sometimes when I say the word hot, people don't know what I'm saying. So the heart of the Children's Book Review, it's like this moment of joy for me, where you get to go behind the story and find out who the author is and the why did they write it and the how did they write it?

And, you know, for me, that really just fills my personal heart. But I think from a reader's perspective and a listener's perspective is just getting to understand the story behind the story. It's just so joyful and it gives you this you know, greater knowledge. And especially, I always try to do like, we just talked about diversity.

I'm always trying to select guests to come on. I put a episode out every two weeks and I really like to have a variety of the kinds of books, so young adult books, sometimes we're talking about a picture book. Sometimes we're talking about an illustrated chapter book. And I love to have authors with different backgrounds on.

And so through all of that, I just think it's a really enriching experience.

[00:48:05] Adam: Awesome. I'll have to give it a listen. It sounds like maybe there's some tips for budding writers too, in the mix, which I'm excited about. Not that I have any plans to write a book anytime soon, but.

[00:48:15] Bianca: Yes. But anybody else that does, like, it's so great. Like a really famous author for children's books, Kate DiCamillo, I mean, she comes on and she just drops these amazing sort of, she writes more from a place of intuition versus plotting. And then we get other authors that are complete plotters and like just getting this variety of how people write.

If you are a writer, you can, you know, leave those episodes with some really great tips.

[00:48:43] Adam: That's so cool. So what's next for you and the Children's Book Review? You sound very busy and you mentioned all these new books that are coming out. What's it looking like in the future for you and the Children's Book Review?

[00:48:56] Bianca: Yeah. So, I mean, there's so many things that, I just have a busy brain, Adam, like I have a really busy brain and I really love to help people. And so I have a few ideas. I'm not going to share them yet because they're just not fully baked yet. But let's just say I'm feeling the call to be more helpful.

And I don't know how that's going to show up and look yet, but I just, I feel like I want to connect more and I want to provide help to other authors even more than I have been, and to provide even more resources for educators to pair with books and things like that. So I don't know if you have any ideas, though, feel free to share them.

[00:49:38] Adam: I will do that. Not on this podcast. I am not the one who dispenses advice here. So, but maybe separately we'll chat about it. Last question for you, as someone who, you know, has balanced a career in literature and writing with being a parent with running the Children's Book Review. That's a lot.

Do you have any advice for other working parents on how to do the juggle or the balance?

[00:50:07] Bianca: Yes. Although I'm not very good at taking it myself.

[00:50:12] Adam: Isn't that the truth?

[00:50:14] Bianca: The first word that just came to my mind was breathe, you're going to be okay, be kind and patient with yourself. I feel like there are so many different stages and seasons that we go through with our kids. I think what's so fun for me personally is having a nine year old, a 12 year old and an 18 year old, having an 18 year old that has just now left the house and is at college.

You get this perspective that, it is just seasons and what feels really hard right now when you get to the other side of it, it's just going to be more like a memory and maybe you look at that memory with fondness. Maybe you look at it with like, thank goodness that's over, but they are just seasons.

And then, of course, you get these beautiful, blissful moments and then you get to the next crazy season, the next hurricane seasons coming, right? So having that perspective now has made it really easy for me to parent my second middle schooler is just knowing to breathe, to be kind and patient to myself.

And you know, this too shall pass, but I will say on a business side, you know, I built this business, this small business, the Children's Book Review as, you know, a part time worker and a stay at home mom. And then I ended up doing this full time from home while also raising kids.

So I always coined myself as a hybrid parent. So I'm not a stay at home mom, but I'm not a work out of the home mom and this hybrid parent, there was a time where I felt completely overwhelmed because I felt like I wasn't doing anything good enough. I was like, I feel like I want to be doing better here on the Children's Book Review.

There's so much more I want to do with it, but I also want to be with my kids and finding that balance was more about listening to myself and realizing that I'm uncomfortable with how it's going and I have the choice to make this be what I want it to be. And luckily I had that luxury. I had that long runway to be able to build this the way I wanted to.

My husband is working full time and. So it was just about being patient with myself and noticing discomfort within myself and then figuring out how do I make this all work for me and my family. And I will say that once I created boundaries for myself and making sure that I took time to care for myself.

And when I say care, I don't always mean like self care, that does count, but also making sure I'm finding time to do things that bring me joy for who I am, because when I was doing things that bring me joy, I felt more joyful around the rest of my family. So I feel like I gave you like a couple of different answers, all built into one there.

The simple one is just breathe. This too shall pass. And the second one is just create time for yourself and you have to block it out in your calendar and you have to make sure that you keep a little sacred spot for you.

[00:53:30] Adam: Yeah. Love that. Thank you. That's excellent parting advice. Do you have some time for our lightning round? I have some great questions for you.

[00:53:40] Bianca: I would love to.

[00:53:42] Adam: Here we go. The rules of lightning round are simple. I ask you a question and as quickly as possible, you say an answer and then we move on.

[00:53:50] Bianca: Okay. Go.

[00:53:50] Adam: What is the most indispensable parenting product that you have ever purchased?

[00:53:56] Bianca: Noise canceling headphones.

[00:53:59] Adam: Strong supporter of those. Now do you have a most useless parenting product that you've ever purchased?

[00:54:05] Bianca: I, probably a gazillion, but none that's coming to my mind.

[00:54:09] Adam: Okay. What is the ideal day with your kids or what activity is featured in the ideal day with your kids?

[00:54:17] Bianca: It's going to sound cliche, but snuggling together and reading a book.

[00:54:21] Adam: Awesome. Which one of your kids is your favorite? 

[00:54:25] Bianca: How do I answer that question? I think whoever is not being a pain right now.

[00:54:32] Adam: Awesome. Now, this is a book one. How many parenting books do you have in your house?

[00:54:39] Bianca: I, too many to count. I love parenting books.

[00:54:42] Adam: Oh, well, then my next question is going to be how many of you read cover to cover?

[00:54:46] Bianca: Probably half of them.

[00:54:47] Adam: Awesome. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. What is the favorite ages for your kids?

[00:54:54] Bianca: I think any age that they're in. I love all the ages.

[00:54:59] Adam: And what is your least favorite age?

[00:55:02] Bianca: I guess I don't have one.

[00:55:03] Adam: Okay. All right. Have you ever pretended to be asleep to avoid a middle of the night wake up.

[00:55:12] Bianca: Of course I have. And I learned it from my husband how to do that. And I wished I'd learned it sooner.

[00:55:19] Adam: Because you have two, well you have one almost teenage and one teenage daughter. The answer to this could be everything. What is the most embarrassing thing that you've ever done in front of your kids or the thing that they've told you was embarrassing and ruined their life?

[00:55:34] Bianca: I honestly, this is so crazy because it's probably like everything I do. I yeah. I'm not allowed to sing. I'm not allowed to dance. I'm not allowed to do a lot of things, but I do them anyway.

[00:55:46] Adam: The most recent one in our household was cheering at the sporting event. Not allowed to do that.

Bianca:Yes. Yeah. Don't do that.

Adam: Yes. Can't do that. Have you ever secretly thrown away a piece of your kid's artwork?

[00:56:00] Bianca: Yes. And I've been caught. Whoops. 

Adam:Oh no. What is your favorite kid's movie?

Bianca:I love Inside Out, same thing I said about books. I like things that make me feel, and Inside Out, oh my gosh, when, I'm not gonna give a spoiler, but there's a Bing Bong scene, if anybody's watched it, the character Bing Bong,

I, that might be the most embarrassing thing I've done, is like, I cried hysterically about Bing Bong.

[00:56:29] Adam: I'm not sure I know anyone who hasn't cried at the bing bong scene. So that's a good one. Now. Have you seen the sequel?

[00:56:35] Bianca: I have. The first one is still my favorite, but the second one was outstanding.

[00:56:39] Adam: Yes. Okay. What is the worst experience that you've ever had assembling a kid's toy or a piece of furniture?

[00:56:48] Bianca: So it's not a specific piece, but I would say having to assemble anything on Christmas Eve is awful. I just want to go to bed.

[00:56:57] Adam: That's right. And it always ends up taking like four hours.

[00:57:00] Bianca: Yes. And there's always a missing screw or something.

[00:57:03] Adam: That's right. Have you ever accidentally mixed up your kids' names?

[00:57:08] Bianca: Yeah. I do it all the time. And we also have a dog and sometimes like, you know, the dog's name gets mixed in there

[00:57:14] Adam: Yes. How long can a piece of food sit on the floor in your house and you will still eat it?

[00:57:20] Bianca: It really depends what the food is and it depends what the floor is looking like.

[00:57:25] Adam: I love that. What is a nostalgic movie that you just cannot wait to force your kids to watch with you?

[00:57:33] Bianca: Okay, so our kids love watching nostalgic movies, so we haven't had to do any forcing, and we've watched a lot of really great 80s movies, but nobody has watched Edward Scissorhands with me, and I love Edward Scissorhands. Nobody has said they want to watch it, so I might have to do the forcing.

[00:57:49] Adam: Yeah, I think that's a great one. So, gonna have to do it. And finally, well, maybe I have one more for you after this, but how many times have you said, go ask your father this week?

[00:58:03] Bianca: Probably every day.

[00:58:05] Adam: Awesome. Last question. Three kids living in the wilds of Colorado. What is your take on minivans?

[00:58:15] Bianca: Right. What's my take on minivans? So I had one. And then I traded it in.

[00:58:21] Adam: Okay.

[00:58:22] Bianca: Does that answer your question?

[00:58:24] Adam: It does. It does. It does. You're no longer on team minivan. I get it.

[00:58:29] Bianca: No I did like the sliding door. That was handy when I had like a little like the, you know, the how heavy the baby car seats are. It was handy during that stage.

[00:58:38] Adam: Yes. Okay. Good for the particular season of life, as you might say. All right. Well, Bianca, thank you so much for joining me today on Startup Dad. This was an amazing conversation. Hopefully. It will be super valuable to the listeners of the show, and I wish you all the best for a wonderful holiday season and good luck getting that best of 2024 list out the door.

[00:59:03] Bianca: Yeah. Thanks so much, Adam. I so appreciate you having me today and thanks to everybody for listening.

[00:59:09] Adam Fishman: Thank you for listening to today's conversation with Bianca Schulze. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, share, and leave me a review on Apple or Spotify. It'll help other people find this podcast. Startup Dad is a Fishman AF production with editing support from Tommy Harron.

You can join a community of 11,000 subscribers and stay up to date on my thoughts on growth, product, and business. and parenting by subscribing to the Fishman AF newsletter at www.fishmanafnewsletter.com. Thanks for listening, and see you next week.