Welcome back to the Book Friends Forever Q&A session Part 2! Grace and Alvina answer some great listener questions that will help you learn about these two book friends even more!

As usual, the episode begins with a little catching on their busy lives. Grace re-caps the Grand Opening of her art show that she co-curated at the Eric Carl Museum with Jarrett J. Krosoczka! (It’s still up and running until May 10th, so head to the museum if you get the chance and check out the “Now & Then” exhibit!) In the morning there was a sketch-a-thon with all the visiting artists!

Alvina has been busy wrapping up some fun holiday work parties and is getting excited to go on vacation. She also got her email inbox cleared up so that was a thrilling goal to achieve!

QUESTIONS! Round 2:

For starters, Grace wanted to make a note about the upcoming Mulan novel since there was so many questions regarding that: There will be a SEPARATE episode answering only Mulan novel questions and it will air sometime around the release date in February. Stay tuned!

Here are the questions!

Here are some clues to some of their answers, but for complete responses, tune into episode #45!

What are you grateful for?

Grace: Grateful for all the artists who came to the Eric Carle Museum to celebrate the “Now & Then” exhibit grand opening. It was such a diverse group. They are the future of diverse books! Her daughter had a fun time requesting duck drawings with her book signings.

Alvina: Grateful for the holiday break and balancing out life. She rarely has time to be bored and she is grateful for the luxury of having nothing to do. They both agreed that this is when creativity can be nurtured.

2-Minute Book Review-Alison Morris:

“The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read”- By Rita Lorraine Hubbard

Alison Morris is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal. She previously served as Senior Editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, Children's Book Buyer for Wellesley Booksmith and The Dartmouth Bookstore, and was the founding blogger of the ShelfTalker children’s book blog for Publishers Weekly. She'll be joining us from her home near Washington, DC where she spends LOTS of time discussing books with her husband, illustrator and graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.