I am excited to announce a new picture book with Red Comet Press. We Sing from the Heart: How The Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court is a picture book biography about Simon Tam and his battle to claim the name of his band, which he won in a landmark Supreme Court Decision. Illustrated by Victor Bizar Gomez and written by Mia Wenjen, the book releases Fall of 2024.
Food for the Future selected by dPICTUS for 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023!

I’m excited to share that Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World was selected by dPICTUS for their list of 100 Outstanding Picturebooks of 2023! dPICTUS is an online platform used by publishers to promote their titles, secure foreign rights deals, discover emerging talent, and make new publishing connections to meet at book fairs.
Guest curators (international picture book and illustration specialists) choose titles from the entire platform for their 100 Outstanding Picturebook showcase to be featured on dPICTUS and at international book fairs.
As a dPICTUS curated selection, Food For the Future will be featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair!
Food for the Future is a Junior Library Guild Selection!
I’m thrilled to announce my first children’s book award ever! My book even gets a gold sticker!
For those who are not familiar with Junior Library Guild, they are a curating subscription service for libraries. Their team of expert librarians reads children’s books before they are published to pick “award-worthy and award-winning titles for libraries across the country. They have a track record to back this up.
95% of JLG Gold Standard Selections go on to earn starred or favorable reviews and industry honors and awards.
It is a great honor to be chosen. On behalf of the team at Barefoot Books, Robert and I would like to give our heartfelt thanks to Junior Library Guild for this distinction!
To examine any book more closely at Indiebound or Amazon, please click on image of book.
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BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
Changing the Game … is now part of Scholastic!

Scholastic Purchased my Kickstarter book, CHANGING THE GAME: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FEMALE ATHLETES!
This is what Scholastic said:
“I’m pleased to say that we are interested in school market paperback reprint rights to Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes.
We are working on a new classroom program entitled Rising Voices: Amplifying AANHPI Narratives (the latest in our line of Rising Voices libraries, which have covered African American and Latino Boys, Girls of Color, and Latino Stories), and we think this title would make a great addition.”
CHANGING THE GAME will be available in June of 2023 through Scholastic Book Fairs and flyers.
Food for the Future COVER REVEAL!

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng releases Spring of 2023 through Barefoot Books.
This is a rhyming picture book featuring twelve unusual farms around the world. From vertical gardens in Singapore to ancient terrace farms in Chile, humans have innovated with sustainable farms throughout history. How do we feed our planet? Here are 12 ways we can grow food while caring for our planet! [picture book, ages 3 and up]
Announcing my newest picture book … BOXER BABY!

Happy News! I have a new picture book coming out with Eifrig Publishing in the Spring of 2024, just in time for the Paris Olympics! Is the timing a coincidence? 🙂
Boxer Baby will be illustrated by Kai Gietzen. He’s a new incredible talent, freshly graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in illustration. Check out his portfolio here.
Boxer Baby by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Kai Gietzen
Mom is counting on Dad to get Boxer Baby down for her nap but Boxer Baby is the G.O.A.T. of sleep avoidance. This hilarious face-off mimics a three-round boxing match as Boxer Baby is no lightweight when it comes to staying awake. Dad has a few tricks up his sleeve but will it be enough in this epic battle against naptime?
Boxer Baby is a 479-word humorous picture book that depicts naptime struggles as a three-round boxing match. Boxing idioms sprinkled throughout, demonstrate how boxing terms are part of everyday English.
[picture book, ages 4 and up] Releasing Spring 2024
I am excited to share my boxing picture book with you and the world!
p.s. Related posts:
Picture Book Announcement! Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
Book Announcement! Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist
Sumo Joe makes Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year list!
My FREE Sumo Joe Virtual Classroom Visit
Thank you everyone! SUMO JOE on 2nd printing!!!
Sumo Joe listed on 25 #OwnVoices Books for Kids!
Readers’ Favorite reviews CHANGING THE GAME: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FEMALE ATHLETES
To examine any book more closely at Indiebound or Amazon, please click on image of book.
As an Amazon and IndieBound Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
Book Announcement: Postcards from Malcolm X!

I am thrilled to be making a picture book biography with Red Comet Press! Keith Henry Brown will illustrate!
Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Keith Henry Brown. Publication is slated for 2024.
New Book Announcement! Food for the Future, a picture book about sustainable farms!

I’m thrilled to announce that I have a new picture book coming out through Barefoot Books spring of 2023!
Robert Sae-Heng is the illustrator. Lisa Rosinsky and Autumn Allen are the editors. Lary Rosenblatt at 22MediaWorks represented me. Jess Lomas at Inkling Illustration represented the illustrator.
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng
This is a rhyming picture book featuring twelve unusual farms around the world. From vertical gardens in Singapore to ancient terrace farms in Chile, humans have innovated with sustainable farms throughout history. How do we feed our planet? Here are 12 ways we can grow food while caring for our planet!
I’m thrilled to be working with Lisa and Autumn at Barefoot Books and blown away by the illustrations that I’ve seen so far from Robert Sae-Heng.
Please look for Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World in Spring of 2023!
What You Need to Know about IBSN Numbers

This is from Becky Flansburg, author of Sissy Goes Tiny:
“You can buy one (or 10) ISBNs from Bowkers (www.myidentifiers.org) and they are 100% yours. Buying 10 enables you to have 10 in a sequential series (helpful if you intend to be a publisher or write more books). BUT, there is another option too: when you upload your book to Amazon, you can choose to get a free ISBN through them. The downside is that Amazon owns your ISBN number, not you. If you use Amazon KDP’s free ISBN, they will be listed as your “publisher.” So, if you have a business set up and want your business to be noted as your “publisher,” then buy an ISBN from Bowker.
Kindle Direct Printing vs IngramSpark?

I printed Changing the Game with Kindle Direct Printing (KDP) because I didn’t research my options. That was a mistake!
I will write a separate post on ISBN numbers and how that affects selling your book on Amazon, but I made the mistake of thinking that printing through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Printing would at least allow me to run ads on Amazon to sell my book. Nothing could be further from the truth!
If I could do it over again, I would print using IngramSpark instead of KDP.
Here’s a post on that from Old Mate Media. They have a different conclusion but have a ton of useful information.
Image from Damoza