New Books in Children's Literature

Holly Hatam is illustrator of several dozen children's books, published by Random House, Harper Collins and others. She is also author-illustrator of Unicorns are Real and several other board books. In our lively and candid conversation, we discuss her career, her breakthrough, her thoughts as an illustrator, her illustration process and advice for aspiring writers and illustrators. Holly is the illustrator of the recent book A Good Deed Can Grow by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman and published by Christy Ottaviano Books in 2023.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our wonderful conversation, Anne Roos Kleiss, a Dutch author-illustrator based in Rotterdam, and I talk about her new book, When a Friend Needs a Friend (which just launched in February, 2023 (Scholastic). Her pen name, which is the name appearing on her children's books is Roozeboos. We talk about how she was discovered at an exhibition featuring her work as an MA student in the Children’s Book Illustration of the Cambridge School of Art (Angela Ruskin), her process as an author-illustrator and her tips for aspiring authors and illustrators.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my second interview with the wonderful children's author Anna Lazowski, this time celebrating the launch of her new picture book Dark Cloud, published last month by Kids Can Press. Anna Lazowski wrote her first picture book for a class assignment in the sixth grade and has been creating stories ever since. Now an award-winning radio producer whose journalistic work has been published in various newspapers and magazines, Anna is also the author of T. Rexes Can’t Tie Their Shoes. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with her husband, kids and dogs.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our animated discussion, Martin Lemelman and I discuss his latest graphic novel, The Miracle Seed (Eerdmans Young Readers, 2023), which was published only two months ago. It is the thrilling true story of an ancient plant, wonderfully reborn in the modern era through the hard work of two female scientists. It is a Junior Library Guild, as well as, a PJ Library Selection.Martin Lemelman, the child of Holocaust survivors, is the author of two award winning graphic memoirs. His first, Mendel’s Daughter (Free Press/ Simon & Schuster) was ranked by Entertainment Weekly as number eight in their 10 Greatest Graphic Novels. His graphic memoir, Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood (Bloomsbury USA) was selected as one of the best memoirs of 2010 by Kirkus Reviews and was a winner of the 2010-2011 New York City Book Award. Martin is retired from the Communication Design Department at Kutztown University where he was Full Professor. He lives in Florida with his wife Monica. They are the proud parents of four sons and nine grandchildren. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hanoch Piven is an Israeli collage artist whose colorful and witty portraits have appeared over the last 30 years on both sides of the Atlantic: in most major American magazines and newspapers such as Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone and in many European publications.Piven has written and illustrated eight award-winning books for children, as well as Apps, TV programs and exhibitions. He received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators of New York and Parent’s Choice Award for his iPad App, Faces iMake, Right Brain Creativity. In our interview, Hanoch talks about his latest book for children Dream Big, Laugh Often (FSG Books for Young Readers, 2023) authored with Shira Hecht-Koller, his philosophy and how he came upon his unique artistic language which has made him internationally famous. His methods for creating art and fostering creativity have been implemented in many kindergartens and schools.Piven’s art, made with everyday found objects, stimulates the viewer to look at the world in a playful new way, to engage in active participation and practice the basic principles of creativity, which can later be implemented in any art form or pursuit.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since Sophia Gholz’s highly successful debut book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, appeared four years ago, she has published with several exceptional picture books for children, notably her two recent books from 2022, Bug on the Rug (Sleeping Bear) and A History of Toilet Paper (and Other Potty Tools) (from Running Press Kids). In our interview we talk about her career, how she broke into the traditional publishing world, her insistence on writing both nonfiction and fiction ("it's the story that counts") and her advice for aspiring authors.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this interview we celebrate Lee Wardlaw's writing career, over thirty books ranging from board books to YA, with over a million copies sold! We focus on two of her many books, Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku (Henry Holt, 2015) and First Steps (Harperfestival, 1999). We discuss her new award for children's books in which cats play a role, and her sage advice for authors hoping to get their stories published.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our conversation, award-winning author Jennifer Swanson’s talks about her love for communicating science through award-winning children's books (almost fifty, and counting!). We celebrate her most recent book, Footprints Across the Planet (Reycraft, 2022) and get a sneak preview of her upcoming book Space Care. Jennifer shares her path to becoming a highly successful children's author, and provides excellent tips for the up-and-coming.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this wonderful interview with Jennifer Berne we celebrate the launch of her epic picture book How the Sea Came to Be: (And All the Creatures In It), published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers in 2023, which amazingly covers the four plus billion years from the beginning of the oceans to the present day." Jennifer talks about her love for dance, music poetry, advertising and science and how all these interests merged when she decided to pursue a career as a children's book author. Jennifer has written many award-winning picture books, including On a Beam of Light, Manfish, On Wings of Words (all Chronicle), and Look Up with Me (Katherine Tegen Books). She has been fascinated by the ocean since her childhood, and "How the Sea Came to Be" is based on her countless hours of research about evolution and the undersea world. Jennifer lives in countryside and spends her summers sailing. Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katey Howes is a highly successful, multiple-award winning picture book author, doing things her way. She writes books in meticulous rhyme. She writes stories with clear messages. In our illuminating interview, we talk not only about her new multi-starred book, Woven of the World (Chronicle, 2023), which sold out in two months, but also about her life story as a 'science nerd' who originally wanted to publish a single children's book and call it a day, and her advice for aspiring authors.Mel Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of microbiology (Tel Aviv University, emeritus) who fell in love with children's books as a small child and now writes his own. He is co-founder of Ourboox, a web platform with some 240,000 ebooks that allows anyone to create and share flipbooks comprising text, pictures and videos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices