Children’s book editor Frances Foster with author Barbara O’Connor

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Obituary: Frances Foster by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “Editor Frances Foster, whose celebrated tutelage of numerous award-winning authors and illustrators earned her placement in the top echelon of children’s book industry luminaries, died on Sunday, June 8. She was 83. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where Foster led her eponymous imprint beginning in 1995….”

Beloved Children’s Book Editor Frances Foster Dies at 83 by Mahnaz Dar from School Library Journal. Peek: “Foster went on to work with authors such as Kate Banks, Roald Dahl, Helen Frost, David Klass, Louis Sachar, Phillip Pullman, Barbara McClintock, and Peter Sís, among others.”

SLJ Talks to Legendary Book Editor Frances Foster by Rocco Staino from School Library Journal. Peek: “When I got my first publishing job, we used manual typewriters. The electric typewriter represented a big advancement and introduced more speed and efficiency.”

An Interview with Frances Foster by Leonard S. Marcus from The Horn Book. Peek: “She looked somewhat surprised when I told her why I was there, and I was waiting for her to say, ‘You can’t just walk in off the street and get a job.’ Instead, she said, ‘An angel must have sent you,’ and went on to explain that only that morning her assistant had announced that she was pregnant and would soon be leaving. She hired me on the spot.”

For Frances by Barbara O’Connor from Greetings From Nowhere. Peek: “It was my honor and privilege to have worked with her on ten books during those years. She was smart, funny, gracious and wise.”

Cynsational Note

From Publishers Weekly: “The family requests that any donations in her memory go to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst, Mass. 01002…”

By John Phelan