In the past few decades, the children’s book publishing world has been gradually leaning away from their historic place. Then a few years ago, a seismic shift happened, tearing them apart from the norm, and pushing them into areas of social agendas over strong literature. The children’s books that are being published now are mostly focused on portrayals of social ills, not the values that generations of kids have enjoyed. What do parents do if they don’t trust modern books, but their kids struggle to engage with the classics? How can parents find middle grade novels that are clean, and portray values of family, personal responsibility, and positive outcomes? In this workshop, children’s book publisher and editor Kiri Jorgensen will teach you about the kidlit world, how authors are still writing strong stories, why modern kids need ‘new traditional’ literature, and give you tools to find books you trust that your kids will learn from and love.