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Kids Need Mentors Organizer

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Tweets by JarrettLerner

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Kids Need Mentors

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Much of the past few weeks of my life has been spent staring at spreadsheets. No, I didn't suddenly become uber-organized. And no, I didn't take up accounting as a new hobby. I've been playing "matchmaker" for authors and educators, helping pair them up for the 2018-2019 school year as part of the #KidsNeedMentors program.

#KidsNeedMentors is a project that author Ann Braden, 5th grade teacher Kristin Crouch, 5th grade teacher Kristen Picone, and I launched back in May. The idea behind it is simple: instead of having authors visit a classroom (either virtually or in-person) for 30 minutes or an hour and then say goodbye, why not have them return on a regular basis and form a deeper - and more beneficial - connection with students.

I've been wanting to create such a program for a while now, both after watching a similar (though somewhat less ambitious) program get launched across in the Atlantic in the U.K., and after learning about the wonderful results of such a longterm connection between teacher librarian Carrie Davies and author/illustrator Aaron Zenz.

However, it wasn't until I'd met Ann Braden and worked with her on our #KidsNeedBooks project (in the process discovering that she is uber-organized, and that she can make spreadsheets like no other) that I thought launching such a program of our own might actually be possible. We discussed it a handful of times, including once up in Burlington, VT, at nErDcampVT, and then did so again one morning on Twitter. Kristin and Kristen - being the incredibly giving, creative, and student-focused individuals they are - immediately offered to be a part of the organizational team. We spent the rest of the morning hashing out ideas and talking about logistics, and after a few "Should we do this?" "We should do this." "Should we do this?" back-and-forths, we finally said, Let's do this.

The response blew us away. Within a couple of days, 300 educators had signed up, and nearly the same number of authors. We had to cap things there and start a waitlist just to make sure we could give our proper attention and support to those 500-something participants during the school year. The waitlist has been growing steadily since May, both on the educator and the author side - confirming that, yes, authors are eager to collaborate with teachers, librarians, and administrators in order to further connect with their young readers. For many of us authors, that's the best part of the job!

This weekend, 300 educator/author pairs are receiving e-mails that begin like this:

Now the fun starts. Those educator/author teams will work together to design experiences that will most benefit, excite, and inspire the students they'll work with. And several pairs have already hit the ground running! It's been thrilling to see e-mail exchanges in which authors lay out loads of great ideas - Erin Soderberg Downing and Nancy Churnin have plans to give the kids they'll be working with behind-the-scenes peeks at the book-making process, and are even willing to let them be a part of that process for books they have coming out during the upcoming school year. The possibilities are truly endless, and I cannot wait to see what these collaborations lead to.

Working with Ann, Kristin, and Kristen has been a dream (Go, TeamJAKK!). I'm beyond honored to call each of them a friend, and so excited to see where our collaboration takes us in the future.

. . .
To learn more about Carrie Davies and Aaron Zenz's collaboration, check out this post by them at the NerdyBookClub. To learn more about #KidsNeedMentors - and get yourself on the waitlist/included for next year! - check out this post on Ann Braden's site. And check out this recent #KidsNeedMentors profile Kara Yorio wrote for the School Library Journal! And if you want to see how #KidsNeedMentors unfolds in classrooms around the world - we've got educators based in the States, Canada, Africa, and Asia! - follow the hashtag on Twitter, where participants will be regularly tweeting about what they're up to.

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Much of the past few weeks of my life has been spent staring at spreadsheets. No, I didn't suddenly become uber-organized. And no, I didn't take up accounting as a new hobby. I've been playing "matchmaker" for authors and educators, helping pair them up for the 2018-2019 school year as part of the #KidsNeedMentors program....

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Authors who Skype for FREE

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Want to Skype with an author? Check out our visual listing of authors available to Skype or do a Google Hangout with your class, library group, or girl scout/boy scout troop for a FREE Q&A session.

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10 Tips for Hosting a Great Author Visit

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10 Tips for Hosting a Great Author Visit

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The Booking Biz

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Author visits at schools and libraries are special days for the children in your community. They show students they too can achieve their dreams. Author visits validate the lessons teachers and librarians like you tell to kids who are always skeptical. And author visits bring books and topics to life, like writing, art, science and civil rights.

All the authors and illustrators at The Booking Biz have been vetted by us to give the best presentations at schools and libraries. But what happens before the speaker arrives is also important to the success of an author visit. Here are 10 ways to make sure your next author will be the best.

And some of our authors have offered some of their best author visit moments, thanks to the wonderful teachers and librarians who organized them.
1) Time the Author Visit
Author visits are wonderful throughout the year. Some work with all subjects, like speakers focusing on writing or science. Others might fit well with a particular unit you're teaching.

When you're looking at your curriculum, see if you can schedule speakers that complement your lessons.
2) Do Paperwork Early
There's always paperwork for any school visitors. Getting it organized early will make sure there are no last-minute stresses on visit day. Here are some of the types of paperwork that could be required:

Background checks are required by many school districts.

Itineraries can be distributed to teachers, the principal, parents and, of course, the speaker, two weeks before the day.

W-9 from the speaker for processing the honorarium.

Getting the honorarium check cut so it's ready on the author visit day. Speakers spend a lot of time creating their presentations, often tailoring it to specific schools. J.K. Rowling aside, most authors and illustrators create books because they love it, but they don't get paid a lot. Sharing their knowledge with children in school visits is their primary job. (Get 21 Ways to Fund Author Visits.)

3) Coordinate With Your Local Bookstore
The primary objective for an author or illustrator during an author visit is NOT to promote or sell their books. The books are used as tools to inspire and teach children. However, having their own personal copy of a book and getting it signed in person by the author or illustrator is very special. It can turn any young skeptic into an excited reader.

Get book order forms from your local bookstore and send them home with your students.

Arrange for a local bookstore to sell the author or illustrator's books on the day.

Or you can sell books for the bookstore via consignment, sometimes with a portion of the sale going to your school.

4) Get Your Whole School Involved
The best author visits are ones when the children, staff and parents are involved in the event. Children who know about the author or illustrator are more excited about the visit, can get more out of the presentation and have questions ready to ask.

Here are some ways to get your students involved:

Ask your students to write a bio of the speaker. The children who write the best ones can read them to introduce the author or illustrator before the presentation.

Do art and craft projects around the author visit that fits the speaker's book or topic for the presentation. For example, students can create a welcome banner or glass case display.

Have your children write reviews of the speaker's book or books or draw a favorite scene or character and showcase them on the walls of their classroom.

If available, download the study guides for the speaker's book and do the exercises with your students. This will familiarize your children with the work, as well as help them create a list of questions to ask during the presentation.

Show parents how much you're doing for their children. Make a flier to send home with the children. Encourage parents to read the speaker's book or books with their students. If you include a link to the author or illustrator's website in PTA emails or on the school website, parents can learn about the speaker at home along with their children. This will make the event more exciting for the whole family.

5) Plan the Day Down to the Minute
Speakers usually have busy schedules when they come to schools and libraries. They often do two hour-long sessions in a half day, three or four in a full day, plus meetings with students and book signings. With a schedule as tight as this, you don't want any delays. Make sure everything will go smoothly by planning ahead.

Create an itinerary and share it with all the teachers, your school's principal and the speaker two weeks before the visit.

Give enough time between sessions for children to leave the presentation room and the next group to come in.

Also make sure to schedule enough time for those important book signings. These allow personal, one-on-one time between speaker and child, and every student will come away beaming. It's a moment they'll remember for the rest of their lives. Consider around 1 minute per child.

6) Check the Tech
Most speakers will need a screen and projector to show a presentation. To help preserve their voice throughout the day, they'll also need a microphone.

Test your screen, projector and microphone two weeks before. If something isn't working, that'll give you enough time to fix it. Set up the equipment an hour before your speaker is due to arrive and test it again to make sure nothing has broken.
7) Give Your Speaker Directions
Let's face it, not all GPS's are made equal. If your speaker hasn't been to your school before, give them the address and easy-to-use directions with landmarks so they won't spend time driving around. Schools and libraries often have multiple entrances, so tell your speaker where to enter the campus.

If you can, reserve a parking spot for your speaker close to the front desk and let them know how to find it. This will help them get inside quickly and have less distance to lug heavy books and/or props they might be bringing.

It's also a good idea to provide a contact for your speaker. Give your speaker the contact's cell number in case any problems arise. And have the contact meet your speaker at the door or front desk so they won't get lost in your school halls.
8) Food and Water
You teachers and librarians know how easy voices can get tired when you're keeping children inspired all day. When speakers are presenting to large or small groups back to back, it can be difficult to maintain the same energy throughout. Keep some bottled water on the speaker's table or podium. If they're with you all day, give them a healthy lunch to boost their energy for the afternoon.

Just like you need a break in the teacher's lounge occassionally, speakers can use that too. However, most authors and illustrators are also happy to have lunch with students. Ask your speaker ahead of time if they will need to be on their own at lunch or can eat with members of your staff and/or class. If they'd like to eat with students, you can offer a contest to see who gets to enjoy this fun honor.
9) Help the Speaker With Your Students
Experienced speakers, like the ones we represent at The Booking Biz, will be able to keep your children's interest throughout their presentation. However, no one can get their attention better than you because they know and interact with you every day in school or the library.

If you have a signal you use with your students when you want their attention, let the speaker know what it is so they can use it.

Don't leave the speaker alone with your students. If the author or illustrator needs help, they'll turn to you.

Keep an eye on your children while the speaker's presentation is going on. Again, you know them better, and you'll be able to see signs of unrest and nip them in the bud. The speaker will be concentrating on their presentation and could easily miss those signs.

10) ENJOY!
With all the organizing out of the way, you can enjoy the day of your author visit as much as your students. The teachers and librarians we talk to, say they get as much out of our speakers' presentations as their children do. At the end of the day, you can pat yourself on the back for continuing to inspire and educate your students.

Then start looking through our authors and illustrators for your next speaker.

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10 Tips For Amazing Author Visits - The Booking Biz

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Author visits at schools and libraries are special days for the children in your community. They show students they too can achieve their dreams. Author visits validate the lessons teachers and librarians like you tell to kids who are always skeptical. And author visits bring books and topics to life, like writing, art, science and civil rights.

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Kids Need Mentors Organizer

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Tweets by Kpteach5

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Kids Need Mentors Organizer

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Tweets by KCreadsALOT

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by Nikki Mancini, 5th grade teacher

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Flip is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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Article in School Library Journal

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After her successful #KidsNeedBooks campaign, author Ann Braden and partners are piloting #KidsNeedMentors to facilitate ongoing author/educator/child relationships.

It started simply. Author Ann Braden wanted to give a stack of books to a teacher. In the spring, she tweeted her donation proposal in search of an educator. She used the hashtag #KidsNeedBooks and suddenly a Twitter campaign was born. People inside the publishing world and those who are just avid readers joined in to donate piles of titles to teachers and school librarians in need-and continue to do so-via Twitter.

"It's fun to work with other people who are just as determined and workaholic as you are," says Braden, who spent much of her summer preparing for the September release of her debut middle grade novel, The Benefits of Being an Octopus, while organizing spreadsheets of educators and authors who were interested in the project, and coordinating with Lerner, Crouch, and Picone.

Crouch, who teachers at Van Rensselaer Elementary in Rensselaer, NY, wanted to be a part of #KidsNeedMentors after noticing her students saw authors as more of an abstract idea than an actual person. After a couple of Skype visits with authors and one in person visit from Kate Messner while on her Breakout book tour, Crouch noticed a difference in her class.

MATCHMAKERS
Crouch and Braden live a couple of hours from each other and will be partners for the year, building a relationship while documenting any issues that may arise during the process. Picone and Lerner will be paired with a different author and teacher, respectively, to get a perspective beyond that of the four founders.
MONITORING ISSUES AND IMPACT
"I want to know the impact and what the ripple effects are going to be," says Picone. "Which kids are going to become writers, which kids are going to become readers this year who didn't think they could do it before, or didn't have the inspiration, motivation, or confidence they may get from having this ongoing conversation and connection to a published author."

It doesn't have to be a visit from J.K. Rowling to inspire either. The lessons and inspiration are the same whether a writer is self-publishing a small print run or on the bestseller list.

Get Print. Get Digital. Get Both!

Libraries are always evolving. Stay ahead. Log In.

Kara Yorio

Kara Yorio (kyorio@mediasourceinc.com, @karayorio) is news editor at School Library Journal.

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#KidsNeedMentors Pairs Authors and Educators

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After her successful #KidsNeedBooks campaign, author Ann Braden and partners are piloting #KidsNeedMentors to facilitate ongoing author/educator/child relationships. It started simply. Author Ann Braden wanted to give a stack of books to a teacher. In the spring, she tweeted her donation proposal in search of an educator.

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by Nikki Mancini, 5th grade teacher

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Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs for FREE

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Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs for FREE

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Complied by Kate Messner

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Welcome to the Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs List! I'm Kate Messner, the children's author and educator who maintains this site. I started it because I've found that virtual author visits are a great way to connect authors and readers, and I realize that many schools facing budget troubles don't have the option of paid author visits. With that in mind, this is a list of authors who offer free 15-20-minute Q and A sessions with classes and book clubs that have finished reading one of their books. As an author, I offer Skype chats for all of my titles - check out the "Books" tab above for a list!

If you're interested in booking a "virtual visit" with me, please visit my author-Skype page for current availability and directions for requesting a visit!

How does a Skype virtual visit work? Click here to read a blog entry about my students' virtual visit with the fantastic Laurie Halse Anderson. It includes an overview of how a Skype chat with an author might work, as well as tips for teachers, librarians, & book club organizers to help your virtual visit run smoothly. You can click here to read my first School Library Journal technology feature on Skype author visits, called "Met Any Good Authors Lately? Classroom Visits Can Happen Via Skype" and this follow-up SLJ feature, "An Author in Every Classroom: Kids Connecting with Authors via Skype. It's the next best thing to being there." There's also an ever-growing list of authors who offer both free and paid Skype visits at the Skype An Author Network.
Important note for teachers & librarians: Please check with the author via email to be sure he or she still offers free Skype chats before you purchase books or make plans. (Some authors offer only a limited number of free Skype visits, and some who start out offering free visits begin to charge later on. I don't always get those updates right away.) And authors...if you're on this list but no longer offer free Skype visits, please let me know .

Authors Who Skype With Classes & Book Clubs (for free!)
(Also check out the authors listed above; middle grade & teen novels can be great book club selections!)

The following authors offer free 15-20-minute Skype chats with book clubs and classes that have read one of their books! (Many also offer more in-depth virtual visits for a fee.) To arrange a virtual visit, check out the authors' websites for book choices and contact information. Then ask for their books at your favorite bookstore or visit IndieBound to find a store near you!

For Picture Book & Young Chapter Book Readers

For Teen Readers (Also check out the list of adult authors below; many also work with teens.)

For Authors & Illustrators: If you're an author or illustrator of a traditionally published book who would like to be added, please email me (katemessner books at gmail dot com) with your name, website, and publisher, and whether you write picture books, MG, YA, or adult. For the sake of being clear, traditionally published means published in print by a widely recognized children's book publisher. I recognize that e-books and self-published titles are also part of the publishing world, but a list that encompasses all of those would simply be too overwhelming for me to maintain. If someone would like to start a list of ebook and self-published authors who Skype, I think that would be great, and I'll happily link to it here. So again...this is a list of traditionally published authors who offer FREE 15-20 minute Skype chats with classrooms & book clubs that have read one of their books.

If you're a bookseller or book club member, teacher, or librarian, thanks for stopping by - and feel free to comment with any questions!

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Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs (for free!)

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by Tara Lazar

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I've done several dozen classroom Skype visits and I keep refining my techniques. (Yes, I have actual techniques!) I found that many author friends were nervous about doing Skype visits and I'm here to tell you-they're the best thing since sliced smoked-meat knishes from Caplansky's! (What can I say, I'm hungry and I just saw them on Food Network.)

Skype visits allow you to stay at home while spreading the joy of reading all over the world! I've visited Sicily, Brazil, Kuala Lumpur, and yes-even Canada-from the comfort of my laptop.

Here are my best tips for planning a fun and memorable author Skype visit...

Create anticipation.
I love Skype visits because I don't have to get dressed up. I can stay in my jammies all day! I tell the kids as a children's book author, pajamas are my "office uniform." No suit and tie or fancy-schmancy pearl necklace for me!

I have several pairs of cute themed jammies and I let the class predict which ones I'll be wearing for their visit. Some teachers use this as a math exercise, plotting the results on a chart, like this Kindergarten:

Other classes have even worn jammies to school on the day of my visit!

Sometimes a teacher will read one of my other books prior to the Skype. Suggest something the class can do in advance to create anticipation! Goodie, goodie gumdrops!

Add magic and secrets.
Besides reading my book, I perform a magic trick during the visit, but I won't tell you what that is. A magician never reveals her secrets.

But, I promise to tell the children a secret about the book once we've read it. Every book has at least one. Mine typically have to do with the book's creation. For instance, I let the illustrator choose what kind of animal NORMAL NORMAN should be. I was giddy with glee when S.britt made Norman a purple orangutan! And the character "Mr. Scruffles" is named after my daughter's favorite stuffed animal. Speaking of stuffed animals...

Be spontaneous.
When I visited a school in Florida, it was snowing here and most of those children had never seen the fluffy white stuff. So guess what? I took my laptop outside! I threw a few snowballs at my husband's car. They loved it! (Husband, not so much.)

I've showed the kids my bookshelves, made popcorn and even interviewed my own children. There are a ton of fun things to do-you're only limited by your imagination. And if I know you, you have one outrageous imagination!

Ensure the teacher/class has the book you're reading.
It's difficult to hold up your book for the webcam. And if you display an electronic copy from your screen share, the kids aren't seeing YOU. (I make tons of funny faces while I read dramatically.)

It's preferable for the teacher to have a copy (or two or three for a large group) to show to the kids as you read aloud. Do character voices! Comment on the illustrations!

Back in the 70's when we viewed slide shows at school, the recording beeped, signaling the teacher to forward the slide. Now I beep for the teacher when it's time to turn the page! (Because sometimes I comment A LOT on the illustrations.) Plus, the kids get a kick out of it.

Have the kids participate.
I prompt the kids to knock when reading THE MONSTORE at the "knock five times fast" part, which happens twice. I also ask them to read the repetitive refrain with me. With LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD, I ask students to listen for the other nursery rhymes and fairy tales and count how many there are. Other authors have kids act out character parts. Create some way for the kids to interact with your story.

Have the class develop author questions prior to the visit.
I used to open the floor to questions at the end of the visit, but then I might have kids asking repetitive questions, or, with the preschool and Kinder-crowd, just making statements. (My favorite: "My grandpa has hair in his ears!") It works best for the class to arrange questions ahead of time. I ask them to come up with about 4-5. The teacher can pick students to ask the questions.

Reading my book, performing my schtick and answering five questions usually takes up the entire 20-minute time slot. (I've been known to go over!)

Provide a follow-up activity.
Email the teacher afterwards with a thank you and an activity sheet for the class to do following the visit. (Or you can email the activity in advance.) Some authors also send bookplates, bookmarks or other SWAG to the class.

Coordinate your visit with special days.
Is your book about doughnuts? Well, promote Skype visits on National Doughnut Day! Ninjas? International Ninja Day! Of course, there's also World Read Aloud Day and International Literacy Day for non-doughnut-and-ninja books. ("The Doughnut Ninja" should be my next project.)

Don't limit yourself to an age group or group size.
I write picture books but I've done Skype visits for middle schools and high schools. With older students, I share writing tips and talk about life as a children's book author. I adjust my presentation for the age group.

Many schools display the Skype session on a large screen or Smartboard, so you're really not limited to the size of group you can accommodate. All the kids can see you well. I've Skyped with over a hundred students at once and it's been no different from a class of 18.

Ask the teacher to share your info with parents and other teachers.
You'd like the parents to know that you visited, right? Ask the teacher to provide that info in their class newsletter or other missive. Some teachers will even send home a book flyer so the parents can purchase your books. Create one to have ready should they request it.

FOR TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS

I'm not the only author who will do Skype visits for free. Check out Kate Messner's list and education.microsoft.com for the Skype Education site. Subject matter experts are also available.

Have the book ready the day of the Skype visit.
Ask the author if you should read the book with the class in advance or not. I often have the teacher read one of my other books prior to the visit.

Test out your Skype connection in advance.
Many authors will visit via alternative services, like Facetime or Google Hangout. Just ask.

Create an activity the students can do prior to the visit and/or afterwards.
Ask the author if they have ready-made activities or suggestions.

If you enjoyed the visit, let others know.
Tell teacher friends, suggest that author for an in-person visit or a paid Skype seminar, write a testimonial or tell the parents about the visit. Do whatever feels right. Authors are taking time out of their day to do these visits and they appreciate the support.
So, do you want to Skype with me for free on World Read Aloud Day on February 24th? I'm available for any grade or preschool and can adjust my content to meet your needs. Just email me at tarakidlit at gmail dot com to schedule it! Should I run out of slots on the 24th, I'll gladly do a Skype visit another day that week. I also do more in-depth Skype sessions to teach writing concepts, for a nominal fee. If you have questions, suggestions or knish recommendations to add, please leave them in the comments. SKYPE ON!

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How to Plan an Author Skype Visit (Fun Tips for Authors, Teachers and Librarians)

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I've done several dozen classroom Skype visits and I keep refining my techniques. (Yes, I have actual techniques!) I found that many author friends were nervous about doing Skype visits and I'm here to tell you-they're the best thing since sliced smoked-meat knishes from Caplansky's!

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Read To Them

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One School One Book Reading Program - Read To Them

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The One School, One Book reading program gives each student in your school a copy of the book you select. This strategy reinforces reading instruction, increases parental involvement, bridges the home-school connection, and builds a true community of readers.

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Sponsored by Lit World

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is almost here, and we can't wait to share what we have in store this year! Mark your calendars for February 7th, 2024, and get ready to join us for a full day of excitement as we celebrate the joy of reading aloud.

Let's make this year's World Read Aloud Day the best one yet!

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One Book to Connect the World

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The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a truly global connection with milllions of students having participated.

What is it?

The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. While there are commonly used such as Skype, Twitter, Padlet, or Flipgrid, you choose the tools that will make the most sense for you. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year.

When is it?

Once a year, starting in early October and running through mid-November. Due to the time commitment, this is only a once a year project, however, two fantastic spin-off projects run at other times; the New Zealand Read Aloud and the French version of GRA, Ecouter Lire le Monde.

I have questions as a Participant

Please see " For Participants" to have all of your questions answered.

I have questions as an Author

Please see "For Authors" to have all of your questions answered.

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To see the blog with the latest news and ideas, go here. To join our Facebook Community, go here - this is how you sign up The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a...

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Debut Author Group

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The Soaring '20s hail from California to New York (and Canada!). Look for future announcements for a local event that might be in your neck of the woods. If we aren't nearby (and even if we are) sign-up for the newsletter and follow us on social media for news, giveaways, and fun times.

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The Soaring '20s hail from California to New York (and Canada!). Look for future announcements for a local event that might be in your neck of the woods. If we aren't nearby (and even if we are) sign-up for the newsletter and follow us on social media for news, giveaways, and fun times.

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Debut Author Group

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Elizabeth Brown grew up in Evanston, Illinois and Dorset, Vermont. When she wasn't practicing her violin, Elizabeth was reading books and writing stories. She earned two degrees in music and then went on to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Elizabeth is a college writing professor and professional violinist. She lives in the Chicago area with her family and two cats.

​Elizabeth's debut picture book, DANCING THROUGH FIELDS OF COLOR, illustrated by Aimee Sicuro, is a biography of abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler. It will be published by Abrams in Spring 2019. Connect with her online at www.elizabethmbrown.com or on Twitter: @ebrownbooks.
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spring 2019) (S&S/Beach Lane, fall 2019) (Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House, 2020). Hayley Barrett is the author of three upcoming picture books. BABYMOON encourages the slow and sensitive welcoming of a child to the world, illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal. (Candlewick Press , WHAT MISS MITCHELL SAW recounts Nantucket astronomer Maria Mitchell's amazing 1847 discovery of a telescopic comet and the subsequent international controversy, i llustrations by Diana Sudyka. a rollicking, STEM-based tale of teacups, peanuts, and the satisfying surprise of learning something new, i llustrations by Reneé Andriani. GIRL VERSUS SQUIRREL is

​Hayley lives outside of Boston with her husband John. Their two terrific kids have flown the coop. Find her online at hayleybarrett.com and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

and instagram @kcornellb. Kathleen Berman is a former teacher who taught in one of the most ethnically diverse schools in NYC, at a time when the arts flourished in the city schools. As the arts challenged her students, Kathy was inspired to pursue her interests in art and writing. After retiring from teaching, she joined SCBWI, participated in critiques groups, and attended conferences. Find her online on twitter @bermankathy website kathleencornellberman.com
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Kathy's debut picture book biography; BIRTH OF THE THE COOL: HOW JAZZ GREAT MILES DAVIS FOUND HIS SOUND to be published Spring 2019 Page Street Kids. It is an inspiring story about how Miles developed his unique sound on the trumpet.

Bea Birdsong is a former teacher whose time in the classroom left a lasting impression of the awesome power of books to educate, entertain, and empower. Her debut picture book, I WILL BE FIERCE, illustrated by Nidhi Chanani, will be published by Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan in spring 2019. Bea is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and Sisters in Crime. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and a rescue dog named Bilbo. She spends her free time reading, traveling, and searching for hidden doors to other worlds. Connect with Bea on Twitter: @BeaBirdsong.

I WILL BE FIERCE, written by Bea Birdsong and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani (Roaring Brook Press/spring 2019), is the story of a girl who tackles her day with courage and fortitude, much like the heroine in a fairy tale. Her fierce attitude serves her well as she answers the call to adventure, drives back the dragon, and charts her own course.

As an elementary school librarian, spends her days surrounded by books and children. The books she reads, as well as the kids in her library, provide her with daily doses of inspiration for writing. Cathy loves books that make her laugh. Therefore, her passion is to write fun, silly, and humorous picture books that will put a smile on kids' faces. Cathy lives in Central PA with her husband, Chuck. She is represented by Jenna Pocius of Red Fox Literary. Find her online at Cathy Breisacher www.cathybreisacher.com and follow her on twitter @CathyBreisacher
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Cavekid Birthday - Illustrated by Roland Garrigue. Two Stone Age friends barter for the perfect birthday present in this prehistoric twist on "The Gift of the Magi".

Chip and Curly -Illustrated by Joshua Heinsz. At the annual Spud City Sack Race, Chip's eyes are on the prize until Curly arrives with a spring in his step. Will Chip get this win in the bag or will his dreams of winning be mashed?​

Kim Chaffee holds the Guinness World Record for the largest game of pick-up sticks ever played. (It's true! Check out pg. 111 of the 2005 edition) She is a former second-grade teacher who loves coffee, chocolate, and writing picture books that kids will want to read again and again. Her debut picture book, Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer's Historic Boston Marathon, was inspired by her own journey with running. Kim is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and now lives not too far from there with her husband, two kids, and two cats. Find her online at www.KimChaffee.com or on Twitter at @kim_chaffee.

HER FEARLESS RUN: KATHRINE SWITZER'S HISTORIC BOSTON MARATHON, written by Kim Chaffee and illustrated by Ellen Rooney (Page Street Kids/April 2, 2019) , is a narrative biography that follows Kathrine from running laps as a girl in her backyard to becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with official race numbers in 1967. Her inspirational true story is for anyone willing to challenge the rules.

NOTHING WEE ABOUT ME (Page Street Kids/Spring 2019) takes readers on an imaginary adventure with a wee girl and her magical ladle as she hurries to save the day and be home in time for soup.

Nidhi Chanani was born in Kolkata, India, and raised in Southern California. She holds a degree in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She creates illustrations that capture the love in everyday moments. In 2012 she was honored by the Obama Administration as a Champion of Change for her art. Her illustrations are sold in boutiques along the West Coast and she's worked with companies like Disney and Hasbro. Nidhi lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband, daughter, and cat. Pashmina is her debut graphic novel, and it is currently available from First Second. Find her online at www.everydayloveart.com.

​ Her debut picture book as an illustrator, I WILL BE FIERCE, written by Bea Birdsong (Roaring Brook Press/spring 2019), is the story of a girl who tackles her day with courage and fortitude, much like the heroine in a fairy tale. Her fierce attitude serves her well as she answers the call to adventure, drives back the dragon, and charts her own course.

Former teacher. Wannabe chef. Debut author. Tami Charles writes picture books, middle grade, young adult, and nonfiction. Her middle grade novel, LIKE VANESSA, has earned Top 10 spots on the Indies Introduce and Spring Kids' Next lists, along with three starred reviews. Her picture book, FREEDOM SOUP, debuts with Candlewick Press in fall, 2019. She also has more books forthcoming with Capstone and Albert Whitman. Tami is represented by Lara Perkins, of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Find out more at www.tamiwrites.com.

An avid reader of fairy tales, Candice Marley Conner has to take turns with her seven and four year old on who gets to play the villian. Evil cackles have been mastered by all. She lives with her family at the bottom of Alabama where the antebellum lady rests her feet in the Gulf of Mexico. They love exploring any sort of watery, magical place, be it beaches, swamps, rivers, or even mud puddles. Find her on twitter @candice_marleyc

​Her debut picture book, SASSAFRAS AND HER TEENY, TINY TAIL is about a squirrel whose differences save the day. Candice has actually had a squirrel pee on her.

Jamie LB Deenihan was a first grade teacher and certified reading specialist in Western Massachusetts for over a decade. After her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2015, she took time away from her classroom to be home with her family, teach part-time, and focus on her writing. Jamie lives in Connecticut, near the family farm she grew up on, with her husband, two little boys, and a growing collection of pets, picture books, and lemon trees. She's a member of SCBWI and Julie Hedlund's 12X12 Picture Book Challenge. Connect with Jamie on Facebook, Twitter @jlbdeenihan, Instagram, and at www.jamiedeenihan.com

Her debut picture book, WHEN GRANDMA GIVES YOU A LEMON TREE, illustrated by Lorraine Rocha, will be published by Sterling in spring 2019. In the story, a child hopes for an electronic toy as a birthday gift, but receives an unexpected surprise instead.

Sheri Dillard has been a preschool teacher for several years, and storytime is her favorite part of the day. So when the preschool director offered her the spot of librarian, she happily took it! Sheri lives in Atlanta with her husband Mark, her three sons, and a 100-pound puppy named Captain. Connect with Sheri on Twitter at @sheridillard and at sheridillard.com
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Her debut picture book COWHIDE-AND-SEEK, illustrated by Jess Pauwels, features Bessie, a cow who is determined to be the winner of hide-and-seek, even though she's the only one playing. It will be published by Running Press Kids in Spring 2019.

, a site for parents raising multiracial children. Honeysmoke will be released by Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in January 2019. Monique Fields is the author of Honeysmoke, a new picture book about a biracial girl who discovers her color. Monique is the mother of two biracial girls who inspired her to write the book when they started asking questions about their racial identity. Her essays about race and identity have appeared on air, in print, and online, including NPR's All Things Considered, Ebony magazine, and TheRoot.com. Monique is the founder and editor of Honeysmoke.com

A young girl looks around her world to find her place in it. Her skin color is not like anyone else's; so what is her color? She finally chooses her own, and creates a new word: honeysmoke. For multicultural children, and for all children, this story offers a universal message that empowers young people to create their own identity.

Ashley received her M.A. from the University of Delaware in English Literature. She is a member of SCBWI and the Authors Guild. Arkansas is where she, her husband, and two young sons call home. You can find Ashley online at Ashley Franklin is an African-American Muslim writer, mother, and adjunct college professor. Her debut picture book, NOT QUITE SNOW WHITE, is a tender story of an African-American girl who must dispel doubts about her ability to play a traditionally non-minority princess, and will be published in Summer 2019 by Harper Collins.
​ www.ashleyfranklinwrites.com or on Twitter: @differentashley.

Kristin L. Gray is the author of two middle-grade novels, Vilonia Beebe Takes Charge and The Amelia Six (forthcoming), plus a funny picture book, KOALA IS NOT A BEAR, about a koala who wants to be a bear. School Library Journal called her debut middle grade "full of humor". Gray adores visting schools, in person or virtually, and considers Arkansas home. You can find her at her local library or online at kristinlgray.com.

Wendy Greenley's eclectic interests led her to be a dried flower artist, ice cream scooper, microbiologist, attorney, Cub Scout leader, Art Goes to School Volunteer and president of the local Friends of the Library. Now she writes full-time for children. She lived in NJ, DE, PA, England and TX before circling back to the Keystone State. She is represented by Stephanie Fretwell-Hill of Red Fox Literary. You can find Wendy at wendygreenley.com or on Twitter @wendygreenley.

​Her debut picture book, LOLA SHAPES THE SKY, illustrated by Paolo Domeniconi, encourages children to find the joy of being themselves.

Debbie Gonzales is a career educator, curriculum consultant, former school administrator and adjunct professor, and once served as a SCBWI RA for the Austin Chapter. Deb currently devotes her time to writing middle grade novels, crafting teacher guides and various other freelance projects. She's the author of six "transitional" readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge, and the forthcoming non-fiction picture book Girls with Guts: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records (Charlesbridge, 2019). A transplanted Texan, Debbie now calls beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan home where she lives with her husband John and spunky pup, Missy. Deb earned her MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Jenn Harney has illustrated the Hazy Bloom chapter book series by Jennifer Hamburg, as well as the picture books How to Become a Knight (In Ten Easy Lessons) by Todd Tarpley and Never Trumpet with a Crumpet by Amy Gibson, and countless pieces for Highlights Magazine. Underwear! is her debut as an author-illustrator. Jenn lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband, her daughter, a corgi named Steve, and the ghost of the oldest living goldfish in North America. Most importantly, she always wears clean underwear. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @jennharknee and see her full portfolio at UNDERWEAR! is the story of little bear's shenanigans as he gets out of the bath and ready for bed, much to big bear's chagrin.

, connect on Twitter @ioanahobai and Instagram @ioana.hobai Ioana Hobai grew up in Bucharest, Romania and spent a good part of her childhood painting and drawing in her uncle's art studio. She trained in architecture, but after several years of working as an architect both in the UK and the US, she decided to switch careers and return to her first love of children's book illustration. She is the illustrator for Before You Sleep by Annie Cronin Romano (2018, Page Street Kids). See Ioana's work at www.ioanahobai.com

​Her debut picture book as an author-illustrator, LENA'S SLIPPERS, is based on a childhood memory and follows a little girl who loves to dance and has to find the right slippers for her school recital. It will be published by Page Street Kids in Spring 2019.

When isn't writing, she can be found exploring rainy Portland with her husband, crocheting, baking, drinking coffee, and doing yoga (to recover from drinking coffee). She has worked with lots of awesome kids, in and out of the classroom, and currently as a nanny. Amanda graduated from Warner Pacific with a degree in Human Development. She is a member of SCBWI and the Authors Guild. Her debut picture book, MY SHAPE IS SAM (Fall 2019) will be illustrated by Lydia Nichols and released from Page Street Kids. You can find her on Twitter at @Amanda2Jackson or at AmandaJacksonBooks.com.

Sam the square longs to roll like a circle. He listens to his heart, takes a risk, and discovers his truest shape in MY SHAPE IS SAM.

is a picture book and middle grade writer born and raised in New York. Armed with a master's degree in Education and working from her home office, she spends her time perusing the internet for golden nuggets of information about children's writing and creating her own stories. She is the founder of the award winning website for writers, Elaine Kiely Kearns KIDLIT411. Her debut picture book, NOAH NOASAURUS, illustrated by Colin Jack (Albert Whitman) will be forthcoming Spring 2019. She is represented by Linda Epstein of The Emerald City Literary Agency.

Born and raised in the Midwest, Supriya Kelkar learned Hindi as a child by watching three Hindi movies a week. Winner of the 2015 New Visions Award for her middle grade novel AHIMSA, Supriya is the author of THE SANDALWOOD PYRE (forthcoming), and a screenwriter who has worked on the writing teams for several Hindi films and a Hollywood feature. THE MANY COLORS OF HARPREET SINGH is her picture book debut. Learn more at THE MANY COLORS OF HARPREET SINGH is about an Indian-American boy who expresses himself through colors. When he moves across the country, he uses his colors to navigate the various emotions he feels, from nervous, to shy, to finally feeling at home again.

Vivian Kirkfield is a reader forever and a writer for children. A former NYC kindergarten teacher, Vivian loves bringing history alive for young readers. Repped by the incredible Essie White, encouraged by an insane number of critique partners, and loved for the past 50 years by the same man, she writes every day ,dances every night, and smiles all the time. You can find her at her Picture Books Help Kids Soar website: www.viviankirkfield.com or connect with her on Twiiter @viviankirkfield or on Facebook. Vivian has three picture books debuting in 2019:

PIPPA'S PASSOVER PLATE (Holiday House, Spring 2019) illustrated by Jill Weber: Cats and owls and snakes make young Pippa Mouse quake, but she bravely confronts her natural enemies as she hunts for the missing Seder plate, determined to recover it before the sun sets and the Passover holiday begins.

FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK (Pomegranate Press, Spring 2019) illustrated by Mirka Hokkanen: Ten endangered animals visit a pristine mountain stream where river otters toboggan, dragonflies dance, and the character of the water changes as quickly as a young child's moods until the mountains swallow the sun and the pool waits quietly for a new day.

SWEET DREAMS, SARAH (Creston Books, Spring 2019) illustrated by Chris Ewald: With freedom in her pocket and dreams swirling in her head, former slave Sarah Goode moves to Chicago, opens a furniture store, and builds an innovative fold-out bed. But if she is to profit from her invention and succeed in her business, she must pursue the patent, no matter what the cost.

has always operated in a world of written words. When she became a mom and began to tell her kids bedtime stories, Lindsay connected the dots to children's literature. Lindsay graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and lives with her husband, two young boys, and two fur-beasts in Austin. Connect with Lindsay on Twitter at Lindsay Leslie -- a diary keeper, a journal writer, a journalism major, a public relations executive -- -- causing folks on the bluish-green planet to think creatively about how to get it back. @lleslie or online at lindsayleslie.com. Lindsay's PB debut releases Feb. 19, 2019, and is followed by two subsequent picture books.

​THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS (Page Street Kids/Feb. 19, 2019/illustrated by Alice Brereton): With suspense and humor, this wary and unadventurous book uses its five senses to try and figure out what kind of story might be on its pages. The reader and book navigate each page together, as the book becomes braver with every turn.

NOVA THE STAR EATER (Page Street Kids/May 21, 2019/illustrated by John Taesoo Kim): Nova, who is hungry for stars, slurps down the Earth's Sun

WANTED: DUSK RAIDERS (Page Street Kids/Spring 2020/illustrated by Ellen Rooney): In this lyrical ode to summertime, the search is on for tree climbers, firefly catchers, and hide-and-seekers to steal away to the outside world as dusk falls to night.

Claudia Guadalupe Martinez grew up in sunny El Paso, Texas where she learned that letters form words from reading the subtitles of old westerns with her father. She is now a mom who lives and writes in Chicago. Her award-winning middle-grade books include The Smell of Old Lady Perfume (Cinco Puntos, 2008) and Pig Park (Cinco Puntos, 2014).

NOT A BEAN is her debut picture book (Charlesbridge, 2019). The nonfiction picture book integrates English, Spanish, and a counting concept as it looks at the lifecycle of the Mexican jumping bean-which is not a bean at all.

Kevin Noble Maillard is a professor and journalist who lives with his family on the 13th floor of a 115-year old bank in the heart of Manhattan. He is a regular writer for the New York Times, and has interviewed politicians, writers, tribal leaders, and even some movie stars. When he was 13 years old, he won a fishing derby for catching 72 fish in two hours. Originally from Oklahoma, he is a member of the Seminole Nation, Mekusukey band. His debut picture book, FRY BREAD will publish from Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan in 2019.

Told in lyrical, spare, and powerful verse, FRY BREAD explores the culture, history, and impact of this Native staple, and how it brings together family and community through love and tradition.

HANDS UP! will release from Dial Books for Young Readers in Spring 2019. Find her online at Breanna J. McDaniel is an author and children's literature scholar. She holds an MA in children's literature from Simmons College and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Cambridge University, where her research focuses on representations of Black children in contemporary picture books. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA she currently lives in the United Kingdom. www.breannajmcdaniel.com.

Ishta (pronounced EEESH-ta) Mercurio is an author, actor, and lifelong environmental activist. Raised in the US, she has also lived in England and Scotland, and has visited Venice, Italy; Paris, France; and a range of beautiful places all over the United States. One day, she hopes to visit her relatives in Cebu. She now makes her home in Canada, where she homeschools her two sons and films and photographs plants and wildlife, from the tall to the small, in her backyard. Find Ishta at www.ishtamercurio.com or connect with her on twitter at @IshtaWrites.

​Her fiction debut, SMALL WORLD (illustrated by Jen Corace), is a STEM-concept picture book that explores a girl's journey of growing up in the world and discovering its beauty and marvel.

Yamile (pronounced sha-MEE-lay) Saied Méndez was born and raised in Rosario, Argentina to a family with roots from all over the world. She now lives in small mountain town in the United States with her Puerto Rican husband, five multi-cultural kids, two bilingual dogs, and a herd of deer that love to eat her flowers. She's a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Visit her at yamilesmendez.com.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM? In which a girl who is asked where she's really from turns to her abuelo for the answer.

Katrina Moore writes and teaches in New Jersey. Earning her M.A. in elementary education, she's been a teacher for almost a decade in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York. Her mission is to create books that children will hug for ages. When she is not writing or teaching kids in elementary school, she is cooking without a recipe, painting outside the lines, or snuggling up with her two kids, husband, pomapoo pup, and of course, a cozy book. Connect with her on twitter @kmoorebooks or at www.katrinamoorebooks.com ONE HUG, illustrated by the talented Julia Woolf, is a lyrical celebration of the different ways that hugs bring people together, forthcoming from HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books in 2019. The book follows an Asian-American boy as he and his family prepare to welcome their immigrant relatives.

Mikela Prevost is an illustrator that gravitates towards the overlooked and a writer that finds stories by asking questions of the mundane. While working on her master's degree in Illustration from California State University Fullerton, she managed to squeeze in some time to marry a wonderful man, Cameron Smith. Together, they live in the wild west of Arizona wrangling their kids Lily, Abby, Jude along with 1 dog, 2 desert tortoises and 2 air-conditioning units. Her debut picture as an author-illustrator LET'S HAVE A DOG PARTY! will be released by Viking, Spring 2019. You can find Mikela at mikelaprevost.com as well as on Twitter and Instagram at @mikelaprevost.

LET'S HAVE A DOG PARTY (Viking, Sp '19) Kate loves loves her dog Frank and wants to throw him a birthday party with help from her friends. But someone wishes they hadn't been invited - Frank.

Lisa Robinson (PIPPA'S NIGHT PARADE AND PIRATES DON'T GO TO KINDERGARTEN - TWO LIONS, Spring/Summer 2019) is a writer and a therapist and lives outside Boston with her family (which includes three cats, The Spice Cats). She teaches a course about creativity at Lesley University in their Writing for Young People MFA program. Recently, as a result of watching her daughters learn circus arts, she has taken up aerial silks and can be found flying through the air at her local circus gym. You can find her online at author-lisa-robinson.com PIPPA'S NIGHT PARADE, by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Lucy Fleming, is a book filled with villains and monsters and beasts! In this bedtime romp, a little girl uses her wits and design skills to overcome her fears about the creatures coming out of her storybooks at night. (Two Lions).

PIRATES DON'T GO TO KINDERGARTEN! by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Eda Kaban. Rough, tough Pirate Emma worries that kindergarten won't be smooth sailing like preschool; with the help of her loving teachers, she learns that kindergarten might take her to the moon and back - if she will give it a chance. (Two Lions).

Lisa Rogers began her writing career by publishing The Daily Blab, a newspaper with a circulation of 6, when she was 10. She later worked as a daily newspaper reporter and editor and is now an elementary school librarian. A native of the Jersey shore, Lisa lives with her family and stubborn coonhound near the halfway point of the Boston Marathon, which she's run three times. Her picture book, 16 WORDS: WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS AND THE RED WHEELBARROW won the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. Find her online at www.lisarogerswrites.com or on twitter: @LisaLJRogers.

16 WORDS; WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS AND THE RED WHEELBARROW, written by Lisa Rogers and illustrated by Chuck Groenink (Schwartz & Wade, spring 2019) explores the inspiration for one of America's most memorable poems, "The Red Wheelbarrow." William Carlos Williams, a doctor as well as a poet, formed a friendship with neighbor and patient, Thaddeus Marshall. This book is a celebration of the respect they had for each other and work that each did for their community: Mr. Marshall with his wheelbarrow filled with home-grown vegetables, and Williams with his doctoring.

(K-Fai Steele author-illustrator debut, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Childrens, Summer 2019) celebrates all our differences while questioning the idea that there is only one way to be "normal." K-Fai Steele grew up in a house built in the 1700s with a printing press her father bought from a magician. She's been writing and drawing stories and books ever since. K-Fai co-founded a STEM program in libraries across Philadelphia, and is the 2018 recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Collection Memorial Fellowship. A NORMAL PIG (Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins) is her author/illustrator debut (Summer 2019). She's illustrating NOODLEPHANT by Jacob Kramer (Enchanted Lion Books, January 2019) and OLD MACDONALD HAD A BABY by Emily Snape (Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, Fall 2019). Connect with K-Fai at www.k-faisteele.com and on Instagram @areyouokfai Connect with K-Fai at Pip is a normal pig who does normal stuff; cooking, painting, and dreaming of what she'll be when she grows up. But one day a new pig comes to school and starts pointing out all the ways in which Pip is different. Suddenly she doesn't like any of the same things she used to... the things that made her Pip. A NORMAL PIG

NOODLEPHANT (by Jacob Kramer, illustrated by K-Fai Steele, Enchanted Lion Books, January 2019) is a story about an elephant and her friends who band together to overthrow the kangaroos that run their town. It's about noodles and resistance, laws and lasagna. Noodlephant shows us that laws are not set in stone; like pasta, laws are just another thing that people make.

Follow Jonathan on twitter: Jonathon Stutzman is a writer of picture books, filmmaker, book hoarder, and daring explorer of 24-hour diners. He grew up by the beach in Virginia, surrounded by sunshine. Now he lives in Pennsylvania, surrounded by cows. He isn't sure where his life went wrong. Jonathan studied film in college and grad school. His short films have screened around the world and on television, and he has writing credits on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Emmy-winning variety show HitRECord on TV. ​ @dustdancestoo and on instagram: @thedustdancestoo. If you ever meet him in person, he will probably-maybe share his french fries.

He has four picture books arriving in 2019, including three with illustrator Heather Fox, they are: LLAMA DESTROYS THE WORLD (Holt/Macmillan, Spring 2019), BUTTS ARE EVERYWHERE (Putnam/Penguin, Fall 2019), and one more untitled book (Holt/Macmillan, Fall 2019). Also releasing, book #1 of a series with illustrator Jay Fleck: TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG (Chronicle, Spring 2019).

Sandra Sutter lives among the beautiful Kentucky horse farms with her husband and two young children. Having grown up in Colorado, she left a piece of her heart in the Rocky Mountains and often daydreams of permanently returning one day. Her upcoming debut picture book, The REAL Farmer in the Dell, was in part inspired by a love for the West. A former attorney and therapist turned children's book author, Sandra is grateful to be on this amazing journey. When not writing or researching a new project, Sandra is likely planning fun adventures with her family. It almost always involves mountain biking, skiing, hiking, or water. Although a trip to the big city is often in order! She is fueled by coffee and enjoys really good chocolate chip cookies. Find out more about Sandra at www.sdsutter.com or follow her on Twitter @sandradsutter.

Everyone knows the song, The Farmer in the Dell. But no one knows the REAL story. Find out the truth from a little mouse who was actually there. Prepare for a modern twist that turns the original stereotypes upside down and empowers girls and boys to imagine new possibilities. Filled with humor and fun retro-rodeo illustrations by Chantelle and Burgen Thorne!

Kim Tomsic was the "new girl" at 8 different schools where she played four square, volleyball, and the flute. She never learned to play the guitar, but she likes to brag that she's the mother of a guitarist! Kim lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, two children, and two dogs. She believes in miracles, magic, and music. Beyond writing, she is also a yoga teacher, a pet wrangler, and the Co-Regional advisor of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Kim's debut novel, The 11:11 Wish released with Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins in February 2018.

Little Lester Polsfuss's music teacher told him he'd never be musical. She was wrong! Guitar Genius, How Les Paul Engineered the Solid Body Electric Guitar and Rocked the World! (April 9, 2019 Chronicle Books) , is a perseverance story centered on National Inventors Hall of Fame legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icon, Les Paul. Les faced ridicule, hardships, and struggles as he worked to engineer devices and recording techniques that proved to be revolutionary in the music industry.

Michelle Vattula is Boston born but grew up in Erie, PA. After receiving her Bachelor degree from Miami University of Ohio (1999), she returned to Boston for her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Northeastern University (2001). Even though she still dabbles in Speech Pathology, her main focus is on her family and writing. Currently, she lives in the beautiful rolling hills of North Pittsburgh with her Finnish husband, two beautiful boys and Beagle who are her true inspiration for writing. When she is not writing, or thinking about writing she can be found being chauffeur to her two little boys or dancing Zumba. Michelle is an active member of the Western Pennsylvania (SCBWI) and enjoys collaborating with fellow writers as much as her time permits. Her debut picture book, THE STALKING SEAGULLS, will be available in Spring 2019 through MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing.

One boy. One sandwich. A flock of sneaky seagulls with one mission: to steal Alec's sandwich. Alec must foil their plan or lunch will be ruined. Armed with his beastly beach balls and bucket blockade, Alec has high hopes for a successful mission. In this battle of wits, one clever counterattack stands between Alec and a peaceful day at the beach. THE STALKING SEAGULLSengages the reader in the playful power struggle between boy and bird with an outcome neither side anticipate.

Stephanie Ward is the author of two picture books scheduled for release in 2019. (It's all under wraps at the moment, but stay tuned for details!) To date, her stories have appeared in the Creative Kids Tales Anthology and the CJ Dennis Poetry Anthology. Due to ever-present wanderlust, Stephanie has traveled to all seven continents, lived in four countries and holds three passports. Currently, she lives in London, England with her husband and young son. No matter where she is, you can always find her on www.stephaniemward.com.

Mia Wenjen started blogging on education and children's books eight years ago at PragmaticMom.com before wading into writing books more recently. She's also the co-creator of Multicultural Children's Book Day which celebrates diversity in children's books. Her first book, HOW TO COACH GIRLS, was co-authored with Alison Foley, Boston College's Women's Soccer Head Coach. Find her @PragmaticMom on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. She's also Mia Wenjen on Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Adrienne Wright grew up in South Africa, and studied at The College of Art & Design in Johannesburg. She worked as an Art Director and Graphic Designer in advertising agencies there and then in Washington D.C. and the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region, where she now lives with her wonderful husband, daughter and two cats. Adrienne is a member of The Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and, until recently, served as the Illustrator Coordinator for the Eastern Pennsylvania region. She won the SCBWI WOOP (Work of Outstanding Progress) Award in 2015 for the book that is to be published with Page Street Kids next year! She was runner-up in the Tomie dePaola Illustration Award in 2014 and 2015. Connect with Adrienne Wright at http://www.adriennewright.com.

HECTOR: A BOY, A PROTEST AND THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT CHANGED APARTHEID: The nonfiction graphic novel-style picture book details the story and people behind Sam Nzima's powerful photo from the South African Soweto youth uprising of June 16, 1976.

Ashley Yazdani is an illustrator, traveler, and nature lover. She holds an MFA in Illustration Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and a BFA in Illustration from California College of the Arts. She lives in Baltimore, where she teaches undergraduate illustration courses at MICA.

​Ashley is currently finishing up her debut picture book about the creation of New York City's Central Park, A Green Place to Be, due out in spring of 2019 from Candlewick Press.

Her tools of the trade are watercolors, colored pencils, and Photoshop, and she is excited to now be branching out into embroidery and screen printing. When not pushing pigment or pixels around, Ashley can be found reading, knitting, or running around in the great outdoors. You can follow Ashley on Instagram under the handle @ashleytree

, comes out Fall 2019. When she isn't writing novels, she spends her free time scribbling poetry, taking photographs, and climbing atop things she shouldn't. You can learn about her travels, literary and otherwise, at Kat Zhang loves traveling to places both real and fictional-the former have better souvenirs, but the latter allow for dragons, so it's a tough pick. She's the author of the Young Adult Hybrid Chronicles trilogy, as well as two Middle Grades novels, The Emperor's Riddle and The Memory of Forgotten Things. Her debut picture book, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao KatZhangWriter.com.

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Elizabeth Brown grew up in Evanston, Illinois and Dorset, Vermont. When she wasn't practicing her violin, Elizabeth was reading books and writing stories. She earned two degrees in music and then went on to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Elizabeth is a college writing professor and professional violinist.

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Debut Author Group

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The countdown is on for the launch Richard Ho's gorgeous book, RED ROVER: Curiosity on Mars! Before the exciting day, let's find out a bit more about Rich, the writer... Notable19: Let's go back in time for this first question. What is the first piece of creative writing you remember writing?
Rich: I was a late bloomer. Many authors have memories of crafting poems or short stories or epic novels in verse while attending elementary school, but I didn't seriously entertain thoughts of creative writing until much later.

I believe I was 15 or 16. I was a huge Star Trek fan, and I teamed up with a good buddy of mine to co-write a spec script for an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. I would pay good money to find a copy of that script. I desperately want to re-read it after all these years. I think it was written on an ancient IBM computer and never backed up to disk, and I can't find a printed copy anywhere. I do remember that we titled the episode "Ambivalence," and since all that remains is the memory, I will say that it was spectacular.
Notable19: We are positive it was spectacular. How could it not be with you writing and ST:V involved? ;) Now that you are officially writing, what is your writing implement of choice?
Rich: Back when I was a magazine writer, I carried a little spiral notebook and a pen everywhere I went, like an old-timey reporter (no fedora, though). That was good for jotting down notes and transcribing interviews, but not much else. When I started to get into long-form creative writing, I abandoned the analog tools and went with the smallest laptop I could find (for affordability and portability). My current writing laptop is a Dell-every picture book manuscript I've written has been tapped into existence through its keys!

​ Notable19: Laptops have been a boon to writers! Sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov used to lug his heavy old manual typewriter to the beach when he was forced to take a vacation. Can you imagine? And where is your favorite place to write?

​Rich: Thanks to my day job and my dad responsibilities, nearly all of my writing is accomplished on the train to and from work (a.k.a. Writing Office #1) or at my local Starbucks (a.k.a. Writing Office #2). I have a very hard time getting into writing mode at home, even after the kids are asleep. Probably because my couch emits a siren-like call that reliably overwhelms my exhausted and pitiful attempts at productivity. I try to make it to Writing Office #2 at least once a week, post-kiddo-bedtime, to get in a solid block of writing. The baristas know me by now, but I've never told them what I do when I sit there for hours on my laptop. They'll find out when I gift them a signed copy of RED ROVER in a few weeks!

​ Notable19: We have all heard the siren call of the couch! Besides resisting the call, what is hardest for you about writing? Easiest?

Rich: Easiest: Starting. Hardest: Finishing.

Starting a new manuscript is so much fun and so exciting. Your story is bursting out of your brain, demanding to be told, and you might have all of it figured out or you might have only the initial spark of an idea, but it's flowing whether you're ready or not.

And then reality sets in, and you realize you need to put in hours and hours more of hard work and sweat and tears and doubt and self-loathing and despair, and with every failed plot twist or bland story obstacle or useless supporting character or drab line of dialogue the ending recedes farther and farther into the distance, and you fear that you will never finish.

The caveat? When you DO finish, there are few experiences that are more euphoric and satisfying. But then, revisions...

Notable19: Ah, the joy of finishing a draft, and the scary prospect of facing the revision process. Speaking of scary, what is your ultimate writer nightmare?

Rich: Finishing a story that I adore and believe will sell in a multi-house auction with an astronomical advance and pre-emptive consideration for all major awards...

... only to see a Publishers Weekly deal announcement THAT VERY DAY for essentially the same exact story.

Notable19: That is truly a writer's nightmare. Conversely, what is your ultimate writer fantasy?

Rich: The above, but without the last part!

No, but seriously... just to receive a letter from a reader who tells me how one of my books made a difference in their life for the better. That would be my writerly dream-come-true.

Notable19: To have touched a reader's life is the way to achieve immortality. And finally, in one sentence, what does being a writer mean to you?

​Rich: This answer changes by the second, but right now, being a writer means:

Spending countless hours alone, toiling in solitude to imprint your soul on a collection of words that will hopefully serve as a conduit between you and the rest of humanity.

by James Serafino

Writing a story is incredibly difficult. Illustrating a story is incredibly difficult. Why not do both and have twice the fun!? ​

When you are both the author and illustrator of your story you get all of the credit, but you also get all of the work and that work is complicated. Things will get messy; a whole story can fall apart right before your eyes and it can only be your fault. Here are some of my thoughts on trying, and mostly failing to, write and illustrate picture books.

The big problem when you are dealing with both halves of a story is it can be easy for the writer to interfere with the artist and the artist to want to ignore the writer. The only thing to do is separate these two quarreling brats for as long as possible. It won't be easy and you won't always be successful and I wish I had a third, positive thing to add, but I don't. This will be a nightmare, you have chosen poorly.

However a story begins, I usually start with a drawing of a character or image in mind, it will have to be written out into the real world at some point. When you first begin to write don't worry about grammar or sentences or story arc or character development. Just write down everything that this story is and wants to be and don't stop writing until you know what this story of yours is actually about.

Then repeat the process for the art. What do the characters look like, what medium will be used? Draw and paint and experiment and brainstorm until you discover what the art can bring to and say about this story of yours. I first came to children's books through picture making, so I focus on this aspect the most. I like to try to find a way for the art to impact the story somehow and when I find that path I know it is time to write a first draft.

Once you start a draft don't give up on it until it's done, always try to get to the end of the story because figuring out the end will influence the beginning and each draft will be come stronger one after another. Now that you have a nice story written with a beginning, middle and end-- this may take weeks, months or years--take time to play with the art in context of your now written story. Are there parts of the story that could be better as art than words? What if that character was a coconut instead? The rule of thumb you'll hear is show, don't tell, and that is a good rule, but can be hard to follow because if you are like me, you like fun and silly words and listing as many of them as you can. Art can be a great storytelling tool, but sadly words may have to pay the price sometimes

It is so easy to get half way through a dummy when the illustrator half will have some great flash of inspiration that requires a total rewrite of the text by the writer and you are left with nothing but a shell of a book and not much else, seemingly back at square one.

My trick, for the first dummy draft, is to pretend that your script was written by someone else and came from your editor. You can't change it and it is your job to illustrate the story as best you can. By forcing your way to the end, like in writing, you discover the parts that don't work and know where to focus your editing. What text is better replaced by an image, what words are essential? Repeat this process as needed or until insanity takes you.

Now is the fun/scary part. You gotta stop separating them and let the artist and writer fight it out like the two great titans they are; because the two halves working together is what makes author/illustrated stories so unique and powerful. You can use art and images to tell some of the story leaving room for text to explore deeper into your character and the story's meaning. There is no need to waste your precious word count on explaining a character's mood when you are in charge of that character's expression in the art. You can set up a joke with one half and deliver the punch line with the other. These kinds of back and forth bits are the real juice of self author/illustrated books and they aren't really available anywhere else. They are also the most fun, exciting, difficult, challenging, mystifying and satisfying bits to work on and always worth the effort.

I believe that by both writing and illustrating a story you can lay down deep and powerful roots that can grow into a tale that is greater than the sum of its parts and has real meaning and value to those lucky enough to appreciate all of your hard work.

Be sure to follow James on Instagram and Facebook!

by Sara Shacter

​​Ah, social media.

A mere fifteen minutes on Twitter whips my insecurity demon into action:

"Someone who's not you just signed a multi-book contract and won a prestigious award and hit the best seller's list with a debut title!!" (Demon rolls eyes.) "Loser."

In our heads, we all know that people trumpet their successes, not their struggles, on the Internet. But still our hearts ache.

Well, ache no more!

I give you...(drum roll, please)

The Social Media Antidote: my 2019 picture book Just So Willow.

The story of this book spans millennia. Literally!

(Screen goes dark. Light comes up on a much younger Sara...)

Just So Willow began as The Just So Hippo, featuring Greta the hippo instead of Willow the polar bear. It was the tale of a type-A hippo, trying to play in clean, freshly fallen snow without "ruining" it. I brought an initial draft to my critique group, made revisions, and was gifted with a stuffed hippo, as inspiration:

Several versions later, during a professional workshop, an editor expressed interest. Wow! Would this be my first contract?

Uh, no. The editor's Editorial Director sort of hated Greta.

Oof.

I regrouped and considered the feedback I'd received. Revisions followed: I honed my word choice, sharpened the opening, and changed the format. I started to submit (via SNAIL MAIL - eek!).

In 1999 (note all the work I'd done before this date!) an editor sent me a lovely letter, asking for revisions. Woo hoo! I knew how rare it was to get an editorial letter - she must really love Greta, right? To address her comments, I gave Greta brothers and sisters, amped up the humor, and changed the ending. I turned it around in only a month.

Big mistake.

I was under the faulty impression that the editor was sitting by her mailbox, waiting for my brilliant revision. So I rushed.

Another no.

​Cue years of revising and submitting. Greta gained parents, lost parents, then lost her siblings. Word count rose and fell. I made dummies to get a feel for page turns. Yet, the stack of revisions and rejections grew:

Finally, in 2014 (yes, 2014!!), I received a critique from editor Brett Duquette at SCBWI-Illinois' annual conference, inviting me to revise and resubmit. His comments echoed some I had heard before: the manuscript was too quiet; Greta needed to interact with other characters; the ending didn't quite work. But this time, I received a brilliant nugget: the ending didn't work because it didn't match the beginning in tone. The opening was funnier and punchier.

Epiphany!

​I battened down the hatches and dove in, deleting everything but the first four lines - the strongest lines of the manuscript. I did not rush. My next version - substantially different from all the rest - took over four months.

I did two more revisions for Brett, during which Greta became Willow, and in 2016 (note: two years after the conference) Brett offered me a contract with Sterling.

Finally, finally, my story was a book.

To summarize:

20+ years

32 distinct drafts

More than a few gray hairs

If you saw my Twitter feed, with news leading up to Willow's launch, it might seem like she rolled out of my imagination, fully formed.
Hardly.

There's a story behind every story. It's likely full of struggle and failure and frustration. That's the story that matters. It's what makes us better writers and what makes our stories shine.

​You are not alone. Don't let the Internet fool you.
Be sure to follow Sara on Twitter and Facebook!

by Teresa Robeson

​​That may be the motto on Galaxy Quest (one of my favorite movies) but it's also a good motto for writers and illustrators trying to get into publishing because everything takes forever in the business and you will very likely want to throw in the towel at least several times a year if not twice every hour.

I know this from personal experience. Just how long did it take to get my first book published?

Well, six years elapsed between the first draft to the release date. But, if you start from when I made the decision to be a writer, then I'd say it took me about three decades!

The year was 1990. My husband was having a blast doing his Ph.D. and I was stuck in a mind-numbingly dull job. I tried taking up creative hobbies to compensate: I developed an interest in origami...

​and I signed up for a "fine arts for non-majors" class.

​Both were fun, but something still felt like it was missing. I mulled this over while I was reading stacks of picture books and middle-grade novels.

Waaaaitaminit!

What had I been doing on almost a daily basis since I learned English in third grade after immigrating from Hong Kong to Canada?

Eat good food?

​Yes, that, too. But the answer was creative writing. Growing up, I wrote poetry, and jokes, and puzzles for my little sister to solve. And, in 1990, I wrote many, many letters to West Coast friends back home because I was stuck on the East Coast in that mind-numbingly dull job.

Letters were all right, but I needed more. As Isaac Asimov said, and I paraphrase, to have your writing published is the only good way to leave your legacy. So how does one become a published writer? I started reading Writer's Digest magazine to find out and stumbled across an ad for The Institute of Children's Literature.

BINGO!

​Right after taking the class, I sent one piece I wrote for an assignment out to a couple of magazines, and received a call from Paula Morrow, then editor of Ladybug, asking if they could buy the story.

A sale! On my first try! I held it together long enough to finish the call and then screamed for joy.

When I made some more sales in the next few years I thought I was motoring along reasonably well in my publishing career. But then a dry spell hit. Between homeschooling my kids (my second child had special needs) and getting more rejections than acceptances, I cut back on writing. Drastically. I felt defeated and exhausted.

I tried to fill the empty feeling of not writing by doing other creative endeavors again. With kids in tow this time, I made paper (and some photography)

​and dabbled in soap-making.

​I also ate more good food (thanks to hubby who is as excellent a cook as he is a scientist).

But none of that satisfied the itch for something greater and more meaningful (my foodie self is incredulous, "What could be more meaningful than gastronomic delights??"). So, in 2010, I dove back in with greater determination.

I took more classes, for writing and for illustrating, and I took more chances, applying to any and all grants and opportunities that I qualified for, and joining critique groups where I had to bare my writing soul but, in return, got tons of good feedback that made my writing stronger. I still received a lot of NOs, but I also had some successes because I put myself out there.

Some of the lucky breaks include winning or placing in (runner-up, honorable mentions) a few writing contests, which boosted my confidence, signing with an agent (though she quit after we were together for just one year), and getting picked by Jane Yolen as a nonfiction mentee in the We Need Diverse Books Mentorship Program. The story Jane worked with me on caught an editor's interest, and with that interest, I signed with my second agent who has gone on to sell another book for me.

I'm not an overnight success, that's for sure, but there are almost no overnight success stories. But I followed a path to success that anyone can take, and here are the 4 easy steps. Hah.

1) Learn the craft of writing. If you're writing picture books, also learn the craft of illustrating or how a picture book is put together. Read as many how-to books as you can and take courses. Some of my favorite classes are listed on the Resources page of my website.

2) Start submitting. Bylines in magazines and smaller publications are a great way to build a resume and experience. Winning writing contests (go for the free ones unless you have money to spare) can help your self-confidence and also look good in a query letter.

3) Join a community. SCBWI provides great resources and support. My first ever illustration sale was to their Bulletin (with a lovely acceptance letter from Steven Mooser). Be a part of a critique group, or three, or at least get one critique partner. Your local SCBWI chapter can help you or you can join other organizations, free and paying, that can also connect you with creative, e.g. Kidlit411, Sub It Club, and 12x12 Picture Book Challenge. These places will also help you learn more about the business side of publishing.

4) Settle in comfortably for the long haul. The old song goes, "You can't hurry love." Turns out, this is twice as true for the writing world. Take a break if you need to when you get too down about it, like I did, but be sure to jump back in...because getting published is a lot about "right time, right place" and you never know when that will be for you.
Follow Teresa on Twitter and Instagram!

by Stephanie Lucianovic
​True to writerly form, I agonized for days and weeks over what to write for this post.

I asked my Twitter.

I asked my cats.

I asked my kids.

Inspiration did not strike.

Then today my oldest son asked permission to read my book while he ate his lunch. It's the first book I ever wrote. And it's about death.

​This is a book that only recently reappeared in my life when my mom sent it with a bunch of other stuff from my bedroom in Minneapolis.

I had totally forgotten that I wrote it when I took a bookmaking class at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 1985.

I had therefore totally forgotten that I wrote a story about a murderous doll who killed everyone in the story. When I was 12.

​Given my mother's love for all things dark and creepy, it's not all that surprising that I wrote dark and creepy story as a kid. In fact, writing a story about a killer doll that I clearly ripped off from an old Twilight Zone episode is not even close to the craziest way my childhood as an amateur author intersects with my adulthood as a professional author.

But we'll get to that.

If you follow me on Twitter or read my cover reveal interview with Mr. Schu, you will be familiar with my banging on about how much I adore the Edward Gorey-inspired font used in The End of Something Wonderful. I bang on about that font because along with her collection of Charles Addams books, my dark and creepy mother also has every Edward Gorey book ever written.

And this is where a strange story gets even stranger, Irene Vandervoort - who designed The End of Something Wonderful and is therefore responsible for the font used in it - has NEVER MET ME.

Dun dun DUN!

It's totally true. Irene and I haven't ever spoken or emailed or anything. She didn't know about my dark and creepy childhood, full of Ouija boards, seances, voodoo dolls, and Edward Gorey books, and she certainly didn't know I authored the 1985 thriller Family Deaths of 1984 (or Neptune).

And yet somehow she knew.

I think this is the true brilliance of illustrators, art directors, and book designers. They take a text and make these amazing decisions and choices that delicately pull elements out of the story - elements that possibly even the writer didn't know or remember were there or could be pulled out.

Take the endpapers for The End of Something Wonderful:

​Reader, I literally burst into happy, hysterical tears when I saw those endpapers.

They are the endpapers I didn't know I wanted.

They are the endpapers I didn't know the book needed to finely highlight all that is darkly funny and yet emotionally affecting about the text and illustrations.

Those endpapers are the icing on the funereal cake.

The choice of a font or the design of endpapers are subtle, almost invisible forces that add so much to the overall feeling a reader will end up gleaning from that book. As a reader, you should look for them, notice them, think about how and why they were chosen. Because they were chosen for a reason and they were chosen to make the book even better than it was when it started out as an embryonic Word document on someone's laptop.

So here is my advice to text-only picture book authors: if you like the way your book looks - and not just the illustrations but all of it - ask your editor for the name and social media handles of whoever designed it.

Then thank them.

Give them shout outs when you talk about the book.

Tag them when others say great things about the book so they can see it too.

Because they are working from a source a genius that I, mere word pusher, cannot comprehend and therefore stand in complete awe of.

They are also the people who will create an Edward Gorey-ish font because somehow they divined that when you were 12 years old you wrote a book about a murderous doll and that you "dedecated" that book to Edward Gorey.

We are so excited to feature Marcie F. Atkins, author of Wait, Rest, Pause: Dormancy in Nature, on our interview today!

Notable19: As the Do-Re-Mi song goes, "Let's start at the very beginning": are you a first born/middle/family baby/only child? Do you think that has affected your creative life at all?

Marcie: I'm a first born and have lots of first born characteristics--fiercely independent, Type A, overachiever, etc. It has definitely affected my creative life. I'm always fascinated with getting work done, being efficient, and I'm not afraid to just go do something. I can also have trouble relaxing, so that is often hard on my creative life.

Notable19: You were probably every parent's dream as a kid, what with wanting to get things done and not waiting until the last minute. So, thinking about your childhood, what is a moment from growing up that is crystal clear in your mind?

Marcie: Sitting on the steps of my very first house, not wanting to go downstairs in the dark to get something for my mom. Why? Well, because the Incredible Hulk lived in the bathroom down there.
Notable19: The Incredible Hulk?! That's a bit of an odd fear for a little kid. Speaking of odd, growing up, what was the weirdest job you ever had?
Marcie: I shredded medical records one summer in a closet with a ginormous shredder that could have eaten my arm. It was mind-numbing. I wish podcasts had been around back then. We had walkmans and headphones, but they had cords, and I didn't want them to be eaten up by the machine.
Notable19: The thought of being chewed up by a giant shredder probably helped keep you awake even though the job was mind-numbingly dull. Now that the shredder is no longer a threat, what keeps you from falling asleep these days, and what do you think about when that happens?
Marcie: Usually, I'm blaming myself for having too much caffeine, but I've often had books keep me awake at night. I had the beginning of a middle grade novel come to me late at night. I managed to write it down in the dark. It was my first novel and will likely never be published, but I did love the way it started.
Notable19: Many writers definitely think about their manuscripts while lying in bed. Besides in bed in the middle of night (LOL!), where is your favorite place to write?

Marcie: My favorite place to write is my office. You can often find me there at 5:00am, sipping green tea, and sitting on my exercise ball, trying to get the words to come. I'm very lucky to have a dedicated space.

However, I really can write just about anywhere. In the summer, I love writing on my porch. On Saturday mornings, you can often find me at a coffee shop with two friends for our mostly-weekly write-ins. I also carry a writing bag with me just about everywhere I go. With two active kids, I often find myself with 10-15 minutes to write in a parking lot somewhere.

Notable19: Those all sound like great places to write! But what happens when you get writer's block or something? Do you have a surefire way to get past the blank page, such as writing exercises or prompts?
Marcie: Morning pages à la Julia Cameron. There was a time when I'd lost a number of people who were dear to me. I struggled to write at all. I stared at my computer every morning and nothing. I decided to do morning pages and not worry if I got anything else done. Looking back on it, I realize that's how handled my grief, though I couldn't name it at the time. Now, when I'm stuck, I realize that doing morning pages can help me process some of what I'm trying to figure out.

Notable19: Besides having writer's block, what is hardest for you about writing? Easiest?

Marcie: Getting words down on the page is the hardest for me. I subscribe to the mantra, "Get it down, then fix it up," but that doesn't mean getting it down is easy. The easiest thing is getting excited about new ideas.
Notable19: When you're not writing, or if it's just a blah, rainy sort of day, what do you like to do?
Marcie: I love sitting on my front porch with a good book.
Notable19: Of course! Any author worth her salt is always reading. Stepping beyond your front porch, if you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
Marcie: I'd likely go back to Thailand, where I grew up.
Notable19: How very cool that you grew up in Thailand! We can probably guess what your answer might be to the next question, then: what is a food you couldn't live without?

Marcie: Thai food. I live in a place that has lots and lots of Thai restaurants. One of my friends from boarding school in Malaysia lives about 20 minutes away from me now (it's a small world...), we try out a new Thai restaurant each time we go out. There seems to be an endless supply, but we have our favorites. I'm especially fond of Thai street food, most especially Khao Soy, a Northern Thai dish.

Notable19: Maybe you need to create a blog reviewing and recommending Thai restaurants you've been to! One last fun one to finish up: what's the most well known book you've never read?
Marcie: I'm pretty sure I've never read any Jane Austen books. But I did read my way around the library as a kid. With no TV, I read a book a day during my elementary and middle school years.
Notable19: We bet you still do read your way around every library you live near. Thanks for sharing with our readers a bit about yourself today! Bet you got most of us hungry for Thai food now. Follow Marcie on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Also check out our Books page to see where you can preorder Wait, Rest, Pause: Dormancy in Nature!

by Hannah Stark

​Have you ever considered creating an educator's guide or activity to go along with your book? There are so many audiences to consider; teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, parents, caregivers, and kids and there are so many possibilities when it comes to what you might make!

For the last fifteen years I've been teaching elementary school. I've received tons of educator guides to go with books and often search online for activities to supplement a lesson or text. While some publishing houses create educator guides or coloring pages, I've noticed some authors and illustrators also create their own. These are posted on professional websites, handed out at school events, distributed at book events, or emailed with newsletters. This post aims to help authors and illustrators come up with ideas to best supplement their book.
The Fun Stuff

Some of the easiest things you can create are printables that are purely for fun. These include mazes, unscramble the word puzzles, word searches, coloring pages, and simple games. I think of these as universal activities because everyone pretty much knows what to do when they see them. While they don't serve that much educational purpose, they do work our brains in different ways. Here is a simple set of cards I made for a game of memory. Adults just need to print them and kids can help cut them out. Teachers like print and use activities. If there is too much prep work they might steer clear but a game like memory can become an easy classroom center after reading a book aloud.

​ Arts and Crafts

As an educator and a mom, my Pinterest feed is stock full of "craftivities." Craftivities are art-based activities that tend to be SUPER cute. These hands on projects can do great things for book promotion, especially with eye-catching photos on Pinterest or Instagram. Educators like to put art projects up on bulletin boards and homeschoolers are always looking for hands on projects to break up the day.

Craftivities can be super simple like making a mask or a puppet of a character from your book. They might be a simple origami activity or what teachers call "foldables." An example of this might be a fortune-teller. Consider projects that include reuse of materials to keep supply costs down. To create a craftivity you just need to supply directions and some photos of the process or product.
Academic Minded
Creating supplements that can be used for deeper thinking about your book can feel daunting! Am I being developmentally appropriate? What grade level teaches this content? Is this how teachers would do it? My first piece of advice would be to talk to teachers that work with the age group your book is aimed towards. Get a sense of what kids can handle academically. Ask a teacher to help you develop an idea or ask for feedback about how to word things more clearly. Teachers are helpers and we love to share our knowledge.

It is also helpful to think about what subject(s) you'd like to create for. Maybe you can tie in some math or a science experiment? It is helpful to take a look at the Common Core Standards for you're the grade level of your readers. While not all states follow the Common Core, they can give a sense of what is generally expected for kids at a certain age. For example, Kindergarteners are expected to be able to count by tens. This is a page I made using my main character Trucker that aligns with this standard.

​There are also many ways to integrate literacy skills. You might create a list of discussion questions. Since my story is for ages 3-6 I created a list of questions to prompt discussion on my website. These include images of trucks and trains from a Pinterest board and it is intended to help develop a young child's verbal skills.

​In the classroom, the list of discussion questions below can monitor comprehension and develop key skills for young learners. This includes sequencing events, cause and effect, character and setting, problem and solution, and message. These are all foundational skills in the Kindergarten to Grade 4 classrooms.

​One other idea is to write a paired text to go with your book. Paired texts are generally thought of as fiction and non-fiction texts that can be somehow paired because they connect around a topic. I could write an informational piece about trucks or trains or junctions to go with my book. This provides educators with another way to engage your book in the classroom. For a Kindergarten class doing a unit on transportation, these resources support curriculum, save educators some time and energy looking for another resource, and help develop students as narrative and informative readers.

I hope this post has helped my fellow authors and illustrators become inspired to create resources to supplement their books. If you'd like to see more of the printables I've created for TRUCKER AND TRAIN please visit my webpage https://www.hannahcarinastark.com/ .

We are JUST SO delighted to showcase Notable19 member Sara Shacter, author of JUST SO WILLOW! Notable 19s: From the cover, Willow looks to be the cutest polar bear...friendly enough to be a pet, which leads us to ask: did you have a pet growing up, and has it made its way into any of your stories?
Sara: My only pet was a goldfish named Marilyn, after Marilyn Monroe. The name was my mom's idea - Marilyn Monroe had very expressive lips, and my mom likened them to a fish's mouth opening and closing. I know. A bit of a stretch.

Sadly, Marilyn was rather mean-spirited. When I bought her a friend, she ate it. Yet what she lacked in manners, she made up for in fortitude. I was a terrible pet owner. I wouldn't clean her tank until the water became somewhat opaque. Occasionally I forgot to feed her. But she lived for 13 years.

Marilyn has not appeared in any of my stories, but (spoiler alert...) I thought of her while reading Ryan T. Higgins' We Don't Eat Our Classmates. That book is hilarious.
Notable19s: Cannibal fish and being eaten by classmates sound like the stuff of nightmares and would make a person have trouble falling asleep. LOL! What do you think about when you have trouble falling asleep?
Sara: For better or for worse, I often think about my Work In Progress. The peace and quiet lets me ponder plot points and turn phrases in my head. On the upside, I often get inspired and scribble deep thoughts on the notepad that resides on my nightstand. On the downside, I get so involved in my thoughts that I don't fall asleep! Bit of a vicious cycle.

Notable19s: Warm milk might help with falling asleep; sadly, the tryptophan in turkey does not help with sleep. Now that we've got everyone hungry, what is a food you could not live without?

Sara ​: Bread. Warm, crusty bread with buttery deliciousness melting on top. My husband calls me "Gluten Girl." I'd make a good medieval prisoner at the top of a crumbling castle tower, eating nothing but bread and water. But it would have to be high-quality bread. No mass marketed white bread for me.

Notable19s: Now that we know what your favorite food is, how about your favorite TV show as a kid?

Sara​: I didn't really have a favorite, but I watched a ridiculous amount of The Brady Bunch. (This may reveal my approximate age...) I logged so many hours that my mom could be in different room, hear the introductory lines of dialogue, and yell, "Isn't this the one where Marcia gets hit in the nose with a football?" I should really apologize to my mom.

Notable19s: Too funny! One final question for you, so we will ask about the craft. What is the hardest for you about writing? The easiest?
I'm not sure the words "hardest" and "easiest" really apply. When an aspect of craft is difficult, it's also challenging and exciting. When an aspect of craft seems "easy," I think it's more a matter of it feeling joyful than actually being "easy."

That said, what I struggle with most is the blank page. There are SO many ways to tell a story! I'm a tad type-A, so it can feel overwhelming to seek the "right" beginning. I try to remind myself that none of my words are etched into anyone's soul. Revision is good! In fact, that is what I enjoy most - revising. Shaping a draft until it sings is incredibly gratifying.
Notable19s: There certainly are many ways to tell a story, and we're so glad you told yours!
Please be sure to follow Sara on Twitter or Facebook and visit her website for updates and be the first to find out when JUST SO WILLOW is available for preorder!

By Brooke Boynton-Hughes
You sold your picture book manuscript! Huzzah! And now it will become a BOOK! With illustrations! But, will the illustrator capture your vision? Will they draw your characters just as you hoped they would? And what's taking so long, anyway?!

My author/illustrator debut, BRAVE MOLLY (Chronicle), came out earlier this year, and while it is the first book that I've authored, it's the 9th book (out of 10) that I've illustrated. I've heard from author friends that they can sometimes feel a bit in the dark about what exactly is going on with their manuscript once it has been picked up by an editor.

While I can't speak to what exactly is happening on the publisher's end, I'm hoping I can shed a little light on what's happening on the illustrator side of things while you're waiting for months, or years, for your manuscript to become a real-life illustrated book.

While I'm sure my process shares similarities with other illustrators, every illustrator has their own way of working. Please take what follows with a grain of salt.

Step 1: To Illustrate, or Not to Illustrate!
My agent sends me an email with the good news that an editor has a manuscript that they'd like me to illustrate. Occasionally an editor or art director will ask an illustrator to do a sample illustration before officially offering the illustrator the job, sort of like an actor auditioning for a part.

If I'm excited enough about the story to want to spend at least a year of my life with it, then I usually say, "Yes!" Sometimes an illustrator just doesn't connect with a story, although, there are a lot of reasons why an illustrator might pass on a manuscript: scheduling conflicts, already juggling too many projects, stuff going in their personal life, etc. etc.

Step 2: Hello, Publishing Folks!
Before starting a book, I talk with the editor and/or art director about the vision for the book. Sometimes this conversation is short and sweet and sometimes it's more involved and covers things like color palette, age and gender of characters, or any other number of things that might be relevant to the story. At the very least, technicalities like trim size and page count are discussed at this stage.

Step 3: The Layout!
I start each book by creating thumbnail layouts. Thumbnail layouts are small, rough sketches of every spread in the book. Creating tiny, rough layouts helps get me thinking about what I want to convey without getting too caught up with the details.

At this stage, I'm thinking about how the illustrations can add to the story without just restating visually what the text says with words. I'm also thinking about how the visual pacing of the story works with the pacing of the plot and trying to decide which moments of the story should be double page spreads, single spreads, or vignettes.

Sometimes an editor has already paginated the text, and sometimes I work out the pagination. It depends on the editor and on the story.

​ Step 4: More Layouts!
Once I have a rough thumbnail layout that I like, I re-draw it more clearly and at a larger size. The new, cleaner sketches give a good sense of the composition of each spread and of the visual storytelling that's taking place throughout the book.

​ Step 5: Character sketches!
It usually takes a while to figure out what a character looks like, which for me starts by drawing lots of heads. I have pages and pages of drawings of just heads (I'm pretty sure this isn't normal...? But it works for me).

None of the picture book manuscripts I've illustrated contained any indication of what the characters looked like (other than age), which left lots of room for me to play and explore. Once I feel I have the characters figured out, I'll re-draw them side by side and do a digital color study in Photoshop. (In reality, I'm often going back and forth between working on the character sketches and the layout).

​ Step 6: Waiting!
This is when I email everything to the art director and wait. Sometimes the wait can be a week or two, and sometimes it can be a few months. The process of illustrating a picture book is collaborative and each party needs time to do their part of the job. This is usually when I catch up on personal projects, or if I'm juggling more than one book at a time, I'll switch over to the other project.

Step 7: Notes!
The editor and/or art director will send notes on the layout and character sketches. I make revisions based on their feedback and email them the new version. Rinse and repeat.

Step 8: Full-size Drawings! (My favorite step!)
Once the editor and art director have approved the layout and the character design, I start on full-size drawings. I work directly on my final watercolor paper. (Some illustrators do their full-size sketches on tracing paper and then transfer the drawing to their final support. Also, I want to mention again that every illustrator's process is different. This is just how I do things.)

​ Step 9: More waiting!
I scan the finished drawings, email them to the art director, and wait for feedback. I think this is usually when the editor or art director will send the images to the author for review (but don't quote me on that).

Step 10: More Notes! More revisions!
Since I've worked out most of the bigger visual problems in the layout stage, there usually aren't too many revisions at this stage. But sometimes, for one reason or another, things need to be adjusted and there might be a lot of back and forth: revise something, re-send it to the art director, wait for notes, revise it again, etc.

Step 11: Stuff happens!
Twice while in the midst of illustrating picture books (and both times with the same, very patient publisher) I had to have surgery rather unexpectedly, which meant that the books had to be pushed back a few months. If your book is pushed back a list, it might be that the illustrator has to deal with life stuff. (Or it might just be because your illustrator is slow. Sometimes we can be slow.)

Step 12: Final Art!
Once I've received approval on the full size pencil drawings, I ink all of the line work and then paint all of the images one by one. Instead of painting the illustrations in order from beginning to end, I jump around so that if the way I paint changes slightly as I go, the progression won't be noticeable. I also jump around so that I can tackle the more complicated images at the beginning when I'm feeling fresh and save the more straightforward images for the end when I'm often battling drawing-hand fatigue.

​ Step 13: Fingers Crossed!
I scan the final images, email them off, and hope that I get the go-ahead to send the original art via snail mail. Sometimes changes need to be made, and since I work with traditional media (instead of working digitally), this sometimes means that I have to re-do an illustration completely. Sometimes I'll repaint just a small section of an image and ask the art director to Photoshop it into the rest of the illustration.

Step 14: Proofs!
Once the publisher has my finished art, they make scans of the images and the art director lays in all of the text and works their art director magic. Then the publisher has proofs made which they send to the illustrator for approval (I think they usually send proofs to the author, too). Sometimes colors need to be adjusted, or errors are caught and fixed.

​ Step 15: We made a book! Together!
Once everyone approves the proofs, the book is off to the printer! Hooray!

I imagine that it would be incredibly nerve-wracking to hand your manuscript over to an illustrator who may not envision things the same way you do. But, just as an author wouldn't want someone standing over their shoulder telling them which words to use where, an illustrator wouldn't want someone telling them exactly how something should look. An illustrator's job is not to re-create exactly what the author has envisioned, but rather, to bring their own, unique vision and voice to a story.

So be patient and trust that the illustrator of your picture book loves your manuscript just as much as you do and is doing everything they can to help bring your story to life. And together we'll make a beautiful book!

by Cathy Ballou Mealey

Whoops, I misunderstood! I thought my assignment was to write post- LUNCH tips for debut picture book writers, illustrators and creators. Nonetheless, let's see what can be salvaged from this post. In no particular order:

1. Thank your companions. Whether you lunched or launched, thank those who joined you for the event, especially the parents and caretakers who brought their little ones with strollers and diaper bags in tow. Hand out bookmarks or coloring pages and thank them for being great listeners. I'm sending a special shout-out to two critique partners, Carrie and Hayley, who surprised me at my library while I was reading WHEN A TREE GROWS for toddler storytime.

2. Tip your server. If you lunched, please tip your waitperson with cash, currency, money or moola! If you launched, consider thanking the store manager, librarian, teacher or event organizer with a special item. I've donated copies of my book, mailed small swag gifts, delivered snacks and sent handwritten notes on book-themed stationery. Surely an illustrator's sketch would also be a very special, one-of-a-kind thank you.

3. Write a review. If you lunched, post your praise on Open Table or Yelp! If you launched, share an event tip or special highlight on social media. Promote an upcoming event at the venue that might interest other authors or fellow book lovers.My last tip is not lunch-related, but is helpful pre and post launch. Double check your links and social media profiles to make sure they are current and correct. Update your blog or SCBWI profile so your book info says "Now Available" instead of "Preorder Here." Does Goodreads have your current book cover in view? Make sure your WorldCat, NetGalley or Edelweiss+ entry is up-to-date and accurate. Check outside links maintained by your publisher, literary agency, professional organizations, etc. to make sure your book information is just a click away.

Now take a deep breath, a nap, a stroll outdoors, whatever helps you to recharge your creative drive in your new post-lunch, post-launch life! Because someone has surely asked "What are you working on next?"

Written by Cathy Ballou Mealey
Illustrated by Kasia Nowowiejska
Sterling Children's Books, April 2, 2019
Fiction, ages 3-7
WHEN A TREE GROWS is a rollicking read-aloud that follows a zany chain of events triggered by a broken tree, a cranky Bear, a nut-loving Squirrel and his loyal friend Moose.

Cathy Ballou Mealey lives with her family north of Boston, where she delights in watching silly squirrel antics and is waiting patiently for a moose to appear. Her favorite nut is the hazelnut and her favorite cupcake is cardamom crème.

Website: https://cathyballoumealey.wordpress.com/about/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatBallouMealey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cathy.mealey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catballoumealey/
​​

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The countdown is on for the launch Richard Ho's gorgeous book, RED ROVER: Curiosity on Mars! Before the exciting day, let's find out a bit more about Rich, the writer... Notable19: Let's go back in time for this first question. What is the first piece of creative writing you remember writing?

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Debut Author Group

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Welcome!

The Roaring Twenties is comprised of Middle Grade and Young Adult authors who are debuting in 2020. This group exists for us to support each other during our debut year.
Please note that the views of one member do not reflect the views of the group. We appreciate your support!

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Welcome! The Roaring Twenties is comprised of Middle Grade and Young Adult authors who are debuting in 2020. This group exists for us to support each other during our debut year. Please note that the views of one member do not reflect the views of the group. We appreciate your support!

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Debut Author Group

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The Novel Nineteens is a group of MG and YA authors debuting in 2019.

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on YouTube

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A space of learning and fun for young readers and the grown-ups who inspire and nurture them

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The Home Page of Children's Author Victoria J. Coe

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The Home Page of Children's Author Victoria J. Coe