New Books in Children's Literature

What do children love most about books? Leaving their mark on inviting white spaces? Or that enchanting feeling when a book marks them as its own, taking them off to where the wild things are? Back in 2021, Elizabeth and John invited illustrious and illuminating book historian Leah Price to decode childhood reading past and present. The conversation explores the tactile and textual properties of g...

I'm talking with Robyn McGrath about her new picture book, Dolly!: The Story of Dolly Parton and Her Big Dream (Little Brown, 2022) which launched Jun 7, 2022. Robyn spent her career working with children as a dance and yoga instructor, reading teacher, school counselor, play therapist, and now . . . children’s author. Whether she’s writing fiction or nonfiction, Robyn believes that books help us...

Elaine Kachala is a strategic thinker and writer with over twenty-five years of healthcare experience with governments, agencies, and associations. She is also a children's book author. Her nonfiction book for middle-grade readers, Superpower? The Wearable-Tech Revolution, will debut with Orca Book Publishers on October 18, 2022. In her illuminating book young readers discover how technological we...

Meira Firon is an award-winning Israeli children's author, publisher, translator, editor, and most recently, owner of a flagship bookstore on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv. In 2004 she established Tal-May, a traditional publishing house which publishes 10-15 children's books in Hebrew each year, including both locally-written books, as well as translated classics such as "The Paper Bag Princess". Mei...

Debra Kempf Shumaker is author of three children's books. In this, our second interview (our first was almost two years ago with release of Freaky, Funky Fish) we talk about her new book, Peculiar Primates: Fun Facts About These Curious Creatures (Running Press Kids, 2022) which is launches on October 11. We talk about her life, writing journey, her initiative to help agents discover authors (pbpi...

Elizabeth Law has worked in the publishing field her whole life, first as an Editor at Viking Children’s Books and Puffin Books, as Associate Publisher at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, then later as Publisher at Egmont USA, and most recently as the backlist and special projects editor at Holiday House Books for Young Readers. Elizabeth has also works as a professional consultant with...

In today's interview we welcome Rosie J. Pova to talk about her latest picture book The School of Failure: A Story about Success (Yeehoo Press, 2022) which is available in both China and the USA. Rosie shares her journey from Bulgarian immigrant to multi-published and award-winning author, talking about the importance of grit, persistence, and learning from mistakes and multiple (116) rejections. ...

Rena Rossner is a literary agent at The Deborah Harris Agency, based in Jerusalem, Israel, which represents Israeli, Palestinian and other Internationally-based authors. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars Program, studied at Trinity College, Dublin and holds an MA in History from McGill University. She is the author of the cookbook Eating the Bible (Skyhorse, 2014) an...

Hannah Holt is a children's author with a civil engineering degree. Her picture books weave together her love of literature and lifelong learning. They include The Diamond and the Boy (HarperCollins) and A Father's Love (Penguin). In our interview we talk about her brand new pun-derful book, A History of Underwear with Professor Chicken (Roaring Brook, 2022). Her writings have been selected for Do...

Sylvia Liu grew up with books and daydreams in Caracas, Venezuela. Once an environmental attorney protecting the oceans, she now spins stories for children, inspired by high tech, ghost crabs, and strong girls. She is also co-founder of KidLit411, an informational website and FB group with over 15,000 writers and illustrators. In our interview we celebrate her new brand new sci-fi middle grade boo...

Harold Underdown is currently Executive Editor of Kane Press. In our candid and informative interview, Harold talks about the details of how he goes about looking for his next book/series acquisition, and gives sage wisdom to the 99+% of children's authors who haven't yet found a traditional publisher or literary agent. Mel Rosenberg is a professor of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) w...

I talk with prolific children's author Megan Hoyt on her new non-fiction picture book, The Greatest Song of All: How Isaac Stern United the World to save Carnegie Hall, published by Harper Collins Children's Books' new imprint, Quill Tree Books less than two weeks ago. Megan is also author of Bartali's Bicycle, published last year with the same publisher. Three more non-fiction picture books are f...

Michelle Knudsen is the New York Times best-selling author of fifty books for young readers of all ages, including the award-winning picture book Library Lion and Marilyn's Monster (one of NPR's Best Books of 2015). In our interview we talk about her most recent publication, She Persisted: Nellie Bly (Philomel, 2021), a chapter book biography of the groundbreaking American journalist, and her path...

Here I talk to Rosemary Mosco about her career and brand new book, Flowers are Pretty . . . Weird (Tundra, 2022). Rosemary makes books, articles, cartoons and graphics that connect people with the natural world. Her nature comics were the subject of an award-winning museum exhibit and are collected in a book that was a 2019 ALA Great Graphic Novel for Teens. She co-wrote the New York Times bestsel...

Leah Henderson is the author of several critically acclaimed books for young readers including Daddy Speaks Love, A Day for Rememberin’, Together We March and The Magic in Changing Your Stars. Leah holds an MFA in Writing and is on faculty in Spalding University's graduate writing program. We talk about her new book Daddy Speaks Love (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2022). What does a daddy do? From day one,...

n our interview we talk about modern retellings of a classic Yiddish folktale and celebrate Michal Babay's upcoming book The Incredible Shrinking Lunchroom (Charlesbridge, 2022),  illustrated by the late Paula Cohen The students at Parley Elementary have a hard time using the space in their lunchroom efficiently. When they get tired of shoving and arguing, they write a letter to their principal as...

Lisa Varchol Perron has written children's poetry for numerous anthologies and magazines (including Highlights Hello, High Five, The Caterpillar, Blast Off, and Countdown). Her debut picture book, Patterns Everywhere (Lerner/Millbrook), about patterns in nature, will be released next spring, and she has additional publications scheduled for 2023, 2024, and 2025. She often finds inspiration when ex...

Maira Kalman was born in Israel and moved to New York at the age of five where she fell in love with America (Coca Cola and the smells of street food, in particular). Maira is the author and illustrator of over thirty children's books (with three new ones coming out this year), starting with the iconic Staying Up Late in 1987.  Maira is currently working on an animated movie script. We talk about...

Alysson Foti Bourque began her career as a teacher and subsequently an attorney. After practicing law for six years, she traded in writing trial briefs for writing children’s books. Her new picture book, Alycat and the Cattywampus Wednesday is the fifth book of The Alycat Series, and was released by Arcadia Publishing/Pelican Publishing (2022). Mel Rosenberg is a professor of microbiology (Tel Avi...

In this interview we talk to Salma Hussain about her surprisingly candid and revealing middle grade book, The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan (Tundra Books, 2022). Mona Hasan is a young Muslim girl growing up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when the first Gulf War breaks out in 1991. The war isn’t what she expects — “We didn’t even get any days off school! Just my luck” — especially when the ground off...

Cindy Williams Schrauben lives in Michigan where she writes stories for kids that range from the truly serious to the seriously silly. Before embarking on this path, she held positions as a preschool administrator, teacher, and assistant director of a children’s museum -- always striving to empower kids. When not writing or honing her craft, Cindy might be found dissecting her grandsons’ shenaniga...

Helen H. Wu is a children’s book author, illustrator, and translator. She is the author of TOFU TAKES TIME, illustrated by Julie Jarema (Beaming Books, 2022) and LONG GOES TO DRAGON SCHOOL, illustrated by Mae Besom (Yeehoo Press, 2023). Helen is the Associate Publisher of Yeehoo Press, a San Diego based children’s book publisher. Being fascinated by the differences and similarities between culture...

Jennifer Wolf Kam has been writing since she could hold a crayon. Today she holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her young adult supernatural novel, Devin Rhodes is Dead, winner of the NAESP Award, was published by Charlesbridge and nominated to Voya Magazine's Top Shelf for Middle School Fiction. Jennifer’s debut picture book, Until the Blueberries Grow, will be published by PJ Library...

Today I talked to James Michael Thibeault, the author of the lovely children's book Melanie and the Box (2021). Melanie wants to be just like her mother: someone who wears a giant box whenever they go out. In fact, everyone wears a giant box when they are old enough. Now that Melanie is the appropriate age to start wearing a box, what design will she pick and does she even want to wear one? Learn...

In our interview Pat Zietlow Miller and I talk about her path to fame and fortune as a children's author, the story behind her classic (and premier) children's book, Sophie's Squash, and her advice to aspiring writers. We are also celebrating the very recent (three weeks ago) launch of her new book, In our Garden (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2022) is an uplifting classroom tale about students who create a...