Angela Marie Morton

As someone who has spent her entire life steeped in children’s literature, in one way or another, and as a strong advocate for encouraging reading, I truly enjoy sharing what I have learned with others. In addition to spending a large portion of my former bookstore career running children"s departments for many years, I also had an opportunity to deepen my knowledge of children's literature in an academic setting, which provided me with a historic perspective, specifically in regards to picture books. In order to complete my degrees in sociology and social science, during my senior year of college, I was required to take a research course, which was a semester-long group project. The class was broken into small groups, and we were given parameters and requirements for the project itself, as well as for the paper and presentation we would need to complete by the end of the term. Our group chose to research and analyze the evolution of gender roles in the Caldecott Award  winner...

  Bean burgers, of any variety, are such an easy and cheap dinner option, which is especially important in these difficult economic times. As someone who eats a vegan diet, and is on a limited budget, these chickpea burgers are a regular go-to for my household. I’ve written the recipe for how I typically make them, though you can use it as a template, and switch up the veggies, spices, and quantities to your liking. Cheap Chickpea Burgers Ingredients (I typically use frozen vegetables, but fresh and canned are also fine. I also always use dried beans, as they are extremely cost effective.) *½ cup dried chickpeas, cooked (or 1 can. A ½ cup dried chickpeas equals about a can when cooked. See instructions at the end for how to prep and cook them.) Handful of kale Handful of corn Handful of cauliflower Handful of chopped or sliced carrots A tablespoon or so of all-purpose flour for each burger Vegetable oil (to coat the bottom of the pan) Spices (all optional) Garlic salt Nutritional ...

Since the beginning of 2024, I have been  steadily pursuing a personal project. While I do not want to give too much of it away, since it is still very much a work-in-progress, I have been enjoying the process so much, and it has been such a focus of my creative energy for nearly 2 years, I decided it was time to write about it.  I am working on my first picture book! I came up with the initial concept in 2020, when I had a lot of time on my hands due to being laid off from my job as an assistant manager in a bookstore at the start of the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19, and needed a focus. I spent months on what I now consider to be the first draft of the current book, though both the story and illustrations are quite different now than they were 5 years ago. At the end of that spectacularly awful year, I put the drawings in a cupboard and they have been there ever since. Even though that version has been scrapped, the essence of the story remained with me, and ended up being th...