What Gives Matthew Cordell Hope

More hope. From the kidlit community, to you.  

No matter where you are. No matter what’s going on around you. No matter what is pulling your attention or competing for space in your mind. May these next few minutes offer you rest, peace, and hope.

Hope - March 28, 2026

Matthew Cordell, author illustrator of 102 (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), shares what is giving him hope today: being around a younger generation.

Listen along:

About the Book:  102 by Matthew Cordell. Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

From Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell comes a cozy, magical nighttime adventure, where a child discovers the mysterious, miniature world beyond his bedroom walls. ​

Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son.

Delightfully sweet as it is fantastic, 102 seamlessly explores the values of curiosity, kindness, and generosity. The simple yet profound conclusion shares a clever wink with readers, encouraging them to believe the unbelievable.

More:

Visit Matthew Cordell online at www.matthewcordell.com 

Learn more about Boyds Mills and their upcoming programs by visiting boydsmills.org. 

Transcript:

Matthew: "That's a good question 'cause it is a kind of... it's a tough time for a lot of us, a lot of people in different ways really. But I think, in the work that I do, my audience, and even my family really watching my kids grow up. What gives me hope is being around a younger generation, I it inspires me so much to go into a school and not just to meet and speak with the kids who are just bursting with creativity and promise and curiosity, but also the educators who are there to support that and to cultivate it.

And and help it to grow and only become better. And schools to me are the perfect microcosm of the way we should all work. It's kinda like everybody's there not to, not just to better themselves, but to better everyone in that environment. And every time I. Go into a school and leave that day.

At the end of the day it's, it gives me so much hope because when I'm amongst even by myself, I work a lot in solitude. But if I'm amongst my fellow, my contemporaries, my fellow adults it's hard not to get. Pulled down into negativity and on social media, it's like there's so much gloom and doom and that it's not unwarranted by any means.

But I feel like there's so much more. Happening in the world than that. And sometimes we lose sight of that. And it always shakes me by the shoulders and wakes me up when I go into a school and I'm like, wow, this is happening every day. And this is a, this is a positive force, and this isn't going away. No matter the voices in my head, the conspiracy theories and all that stuff are saying it.

It may not go on eternally, but I feel like schools are just amazing places and the kids in them and the educators and the support, the staff everyone in the school system, it's just, it's amazing, and so much of our world our contemporary adult world is about getting bigger and better and richer and more powerful. And schools are very. Not, it's just the goodness of humanity. It's not about trying to, stuff your pockets and do everything for yourself. It's a, like I said it's just a perfect working community and so it gives me hope to be inside a school."