Michael Merschel is the first-time author of Revenge of the Star Survivors (Holiday House, 2017). From the promotional copy:
Middle school meets the Dark Side in this painfully funny survival story of social misfit Clark Sherman.
When Clark crash-lands on the inhospitable planet of Festus Middle School,
Continue Reading New Voice: Michael Merschel on Revenge of the Star Survivors »
While a well-published illustrator, Suzanne Del Rizzo celebrates her authorial debut with My Beautiful Birds, which she also illustrated (Pajama Press, March 2017). From the promotional copy:
Behind Sami, the Syrian skyline is full of smoke. The boy follows his family and all his neighbours in a long line,
Continue Reading New Voice: Author-Illustrator Suzanne Del Rizzo »
There are craft books on writing and parenting books galore, but nothing on how to be a “Writer Mama.”
I’ve watched many friends make the transition, somehow blurry-eyed making it to the page in between breast feeding and diaper changes.
I’ve witnessed my friends with kids in elementary school put in longer hours, Continue Reading Guest Post: Bethany Hegedus on Writer Mama Survival Guide »
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Children’s Author and Filmmaker, Dies at 51 by Sam Roberts from the New York Times. In addition to 28 children’s books and two memoirs, she also wrote many essays, including the recent You May Want to Marry My Husband, published just 10 days before her death.
By Cynthia Leitich Smith & Gayleen Rabakukk
How Jumanji Inspired Karuna Riazi’s Novel The Gauntlet by Nivea Serrao from Entertainment Weekly. Peek:”…as a Muslim author writing in this really horrible political climate where a lot of Muslim kids are not made to feel welcome or at home, or no longer have a physical home to turn to,
Congratulations on Color Wonder: Hooray for Spring! (Little Simon, 2016) This is your third novelty book.
Cynsations readers may remember your debut Raindrops: The Color of Showers (illustrated by by Viviana Garofoli, Sterling, 2010) and the creative process you described then.
Roberto Penas
Lee & Low Books recently announced Roberto Penas of Olathe, Kansas won the 17th annual New Voices Award.
His manuscript, “Pedro Flores: The Toymaker,” is a biography of the inventor of the modern yo-yo.
In the early 1900s,
Continue Reading Interview: Lee & Low New Voices Award Winners »
Note: This is the final installment of our series focusing on the SCBWI Europolitan Conference. Author Catherine Coe interviewed agent Penny Holroyde and her client author-illustrator Chris Mould.
Agent Penny Holroyde started her career in publishing over twenty years ago working in the rights department at Walker Books and selling picture book co-editions across the world.
Continue Reading 2017 Europolitan Con: Agent Penny Holroyde & Author-Illustrator Chris Mould »
Laurent Linn, Art Director for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, began his career as a puppet designer/builder in Jim Henson’s Muppet Workshop, creating characters for various productions, including the Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island films. With Henson for over a decade, he worked primarily on Sesame Street,
Continue Reading 2017 Europolitan Con: Art Director Laurent Linn of Simon & Schuster »
Compiled by Gayleen Rabakukk
Nancy Willard, Prolific Children’s Book Author, Dies at 80 by Sam Roberts from the New York Times. Peek: “‘Nancy Willard’s imagination — in verse or prose, for children or adults — builds castles stranger than any mad King of Bavaria ever built,’ the poet Donald Hall wrote in The New York Times Book Review in 1981.
