NHBF Author: Lita Judge

Author and illustrator Lita Judge has written over 35 nonfiction and fiction books, including Old Blue is My Home, Mary’s Monster, Red Sled, Flight School, and DOGS, A History of Our Best Friends. Awards for her books include the International Reading Association Award, ALA Notable, NCTE Notable Book, Kirkus Best Book, and the Jane Addams Honor. Mary’s Monster received nominations for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medal, the UK’s most prestigious children’s books awards. Her book, Flight School, was adapted into an off-Broadway musical,
playing in NYC, China, and touring across the country. She makes her home in Peterborough, New Hampshire. 

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 3-4, 2025. 

2025 Ladybug Voting Guide

The 2025 Ladybug Picture Book Award Voting Guide is now available. 

The guide includes information and activities for each nominated title and is a printable pdf.

New Hampshire children, from preschool to third grade, will select the winning picture book when they vote in November 2025. The deadline for sending in votes is Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 4:30 pm.

Voting materials, including ballots and a link to the online tally sheet, are available on the Ladybug web page. 

NHBF Author: Christine Murphy

Born and raised in New Hampshire, Christine Murphy has lived, worked, and traveled in more than one hundred countries, including living for eleven months in a tent across the African continent, and a year as a resident in a Buddhist nunnery in the Himalayas. A trained Buddhologist, Murphy has a PhD in Religious Studies. Notes on Surviving the Fire is her first novel.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 3-4, 2025. 

NHBF Author: Tori Anne Martin

Tori Anne Martin is the USA Today bestselling author of This Spells Disaster, as well as romance and fantasy under other (not-so-secret) names. She lives in New England where she collects pen names, tattoos, and hoodies in shades of gray and black. Previously, she collected degrees, including a doctorate in psychology where she studied interpersonal power, consent, and sexual assault. She much prefers writing romance. If you can’t find her online, it’s because she’s lost in the woods

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 3-4, 2025. 

Book of the Week (8/25/2025)

Float by Larry Daley (Bookling Media, 2026)

Dive into the fun as first grader Rosie leaps into action to retrieve her soggy snacks from a stealing seagull! Enjoy the many colorful creatures swimming in this wild aquarium adventure. Spot Bubbles the octopus sneaking through the pages as she plans her escape, find the twenty sea turtles hidden in the artwork, and explore the back pages to learn what these animals love to eat! You might even uncover a few new facts before your next trip to your favorite aquarium.

Larry Daley creates an immersive story about anticipation, frustration, and the power of pausing when things get tough. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Larry Daley spent fifteen years as both an Art Director and Editor at DC Comics Entertainment and Warner Bros. Studios, helping to develop DC's library of characters for media development and licensed products. His work with characters like BATMAN and SUPERMAN has appeared in several feature films & television series, as well as toys, video games, licensed publishing, custom comics, theme parks, corporate branding and global promotions. Today, Larry dedicates his efforts illustrating full-time at his studio on the New Hampshire seacoast.

NHBF Author: Robert Baird

Robert P. Baird grew up in Northern California, studied mechanical engineering and human biology at Stanford, and earned a PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has worked as an editor at The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Paris Review, Chicago Review, and Esquire and has published journalism, essays, and reviews in those magazines and other outlets. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and children. The Nimbus is his first novel. 

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 3-4, 2025. 

NHBF Author: Paula Munier

Paula Munier is a literary agent and the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and named the Dogwise Book of the Year. Blind Search was inspired by the real-life rescue of a little boy with autism. The Hiding Place debuted in March 2021. Paula credits the hero dogs of Mission K9 Rescue, her own rescue dogs, and a love of New England, where she lives, as her series’ major influences.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 3-4, 2025.