-
Obituary: Jean Craighead George
Distinguished children's book author and noted naturalist Jean Craighead George died on May 15. She was 92. Best known for the Newbery-winning novel Julie of the Wolves and the Newbery Honor title My Side of the Mountain, George penned more than 100 books for young people.
-
Every Picture Tells a Story
In Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter: Conversations with 21 of the World’s Most Celebrated Illustrators, children’s literature historian Leonard S. Marcus interviews a diverse group of artists about everything from their own childhoods to the mechanics of their craft.
-
PW Talks With Garth Nix
In his rollicking new novel, the space opera A Confusion of Princes, Australian writer Garth Nix, author of the classic Abhorsen Chronicles and the recent Keys to the Kingdom series, introduces a galaxy-spanning empire ostensibly run by the 10 million princes of the title, all working under the rule of a mysterious emperor but, as the protagonist gradually discovers, things are not at all what they seem.
-
Brian Selznick and David Levithan Talk Shop at the PEN World Voices Festival
Onstage at a Saturday, May 5 afternoon session during the week-long PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York City, David Levithan and Brian Selznick had freewheeling discussion that careened from Selznick’s work specifically to film and literature in general, with plenty of laughs in between.
-
Tracking Amazon: Sendak's Sales Skyrocket
The day following his death, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are has jumped to #14 from #204 on the Amazon bestseller list.
-
Obituary: Maurice Sendak Dead at 83
Legendary author and illustrator Maurice Sendak died in Connecticut on Tuesday, May 8, following a stroke. He was 83.
-
Q & A with Paolo Bacigalupi
Paolo Bacigalupi's first novel for young adults, Ship Breaker, won the Printz Award and placed him firmly on the radar of the YA world. He returns to the post-cataclysmic realm of Ship Breaker with The Drowned Cities. The author spoke with PW about the differences between writing for adults and for teens, and the distinction he draws between dystopias and science fiction.
-
YA or Bust! Hits the Road
How do authors know when romance is working in a novel? Gayle Forman answered that question bluntly: "When I want to have sex with my male character more than my husband," quipped the author of bestselling novels If I Stay and Where She Went.
-
Q & A with Barry Lyga
Barry Lyga’s latest novel, I Hunt Killers, tells the story of Jazz, the son of the world's greatest serial killer. Going beyond the usual tropes of the thriller genre, Lyga explores the effect of murder on the family of the killer and on the community as a whole.
-
Q & A with Alyson Noel
Alyson Noel has hit her stride in both the YA and middle grade arenas. In the former, the six-book The Immortals series from St. Martin’s Griffin has more than eight million copies in print worldwide. The author’s first foray into middle grade fiction, the Riley Bloom paperback series, has more than 800,000 copies in print, and Square Fish will release the fourth installment, Whisper, on April 24. Noël further expands her reach into the YA market with Fated (St. Martin’s Griffin), the debut novel in her new series, The Soul Seekers.
-
Q & A with Patricia McCormick
National Book Award finalist Patricia McCormick's new book, Never Fall Down, is a haunting but hopeful YA novel about a boy who survives the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge by joining a band in prison camp. It is based on the true story of Arn Chorn Pond — who survived the Cambodian Revolution in the late 1970s and now works as an activist, musician, and speaker.
-
Godine Bio Sheds New Light on Arthur Ransome
Best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of lighthearted adventures for children, penned in the 1930s and ’40s, Arthur Ransome is thought by many to have been a mild-mannered Englishman who lived a placid life in the Lake District. Roland Chambers offers a vastly different portrayal of the author in The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome, due from David R. Godine on April 22.
-
The Publishing Veteran Behind Debut Novel 'Wonder'
Workman Publishing creative director Raquel Jaramillo is celebrating as her debut middle-grade novel, Wonder (Knopf), published under the pseudonym R.J. Palacio, just hit the New York Times chapter-book list.
-
Obituary: Thomas Locker
Author and artist Thomas Locker, who illustrated more than 30 children’s books, died in Albany, N.Y. on Friday, March 9. He was 74.
-
Fat Kid Rules the Cinema?
There was plenty of buzz at last week’s opening of the SXSW Film Festival about the film adaptation of K.L. Going’s Fat Kid Rules the World, a 2004 Printz Honor book. Going attended two screenings, including the premiere, but gave up her seat at the third…
-
Author Kate Messner to Give TED Talk
Kate Messner has been selected as the only children’s book author to give a TED Talk this year; she’s one of nine speakers at her session, chosen from more than 800 applicants to the non profit foundation's 2012 Full Spectrum conference.
-
Q & A with Jane O'Connor
Speaking to Bookshelf from her office at Penguin Books for Young Readers, where she is editor-at-large, Jane O’Connor discussed Fancy Nancy’s success and new incarnation as a Nancy Drew wannabe in a chapter book, Jane O’Connor’s Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth,illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.
-
Obituary: Jan Berenstain
Jan Berenstain, co-creator of the Berenstain Bears series, died on February 24 at the age of 88, after a stroke.
-
Illustrator Magoon Runs for Charity
Meet Scott Magoon, art director at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children who has launched his Book It to Beat Cancer campaign, to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, qualify for the Boston marathon, and raise awareness for his books.
-
Can Jon Klassen Top 'Hat'?
A lot of things astonished Jon Klassen about the reception given his first picture book, I Want My Hat Back: hearing Daniel Pinkwater read it aloud on NPR, being invited to talk about it with Martha Stewart on TV, learning it had become an Internet meme.
Browse archive by date:
