New Books in Children's Literature

Joni Sussman talks about her love for children's books and for everything Jewish and how she found her life's mission combining these passions as publisher of Kar-Ben, (part of Lerner Publishing Group), which is dedicated to creating great children's books related to Judaism for Jewish and non-Jewish children in North America and beyond. Now publishing over 20 titles a year, Joni shows us several of her upcoming books and gives excellent tips for writers who wish to submit picture book manuscripts. There is also a bonus for authors who want to submit manuscripts for publication to Kar-Ben, after listening to our interview!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

Ned Bustard is the author of a new children’s book, Saint Patrick the Forgiver: The History and Legends of Ireland's Bishop (InterVarsity, 2023). We talked about the book, the life of St. Patrick, and the conversion of Ireland. The day after the interview, during his Ash Wednesday homily, Pope Francis said, “the Gospel is not an idea, the Gospel is not an ideology: the Gospel is a proclamation that touches your heart and makes you change your heart.” That’s exactly what St Patrick showed by returning to pagan Ireland where he’d been a slave for six years. When a slave, he had been a shepherd. Now free, he became the shepherd of a nation. IVP Kids imprint webpage. Square Halo Books webpage. World End Images webpage. St. Patrick’s writings, the Confessio and the Epistola, in English and Latin. EWTN Ireland documentary, Discovering St. Patrick Pope Francis’s homily on Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year I interviewed the amazing author Kirsten Larson on her picture books Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane, illus. Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, 2020) and True Wonder: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything, illus Katy Wu (Clarion, 2021).Today, we talked about her new picture book, just out, entitled, The Fire of the Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars are Made Of, illus. Katherine Roy (Chronicle, 2023). We also discussed the makings of a scientist vs. the makings of an author, the respective roles of the author and illustrator, the importance of art notes, and the concept that fiction writers seek an emotional truth. I can't wait to interview next year for her upcoming This is How You Know, illus. Cornelia Li (Little, Brown, 2024).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

Emma Bland Smith is the award-winning author of Journey: Based on the True Story of OR7, the Most Famous Wolf in the West, as well as many other fiction and nonfiction books for children. In our interview we talk about her life and writing career and celebrate her recent book, Mr. McCloskey's Marvelous Mallards: The Making of Make Way for Ducklings (Calkins Creek, 2022).While writing and illustrating the beloved picture book Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey brings a flock of ducklings into his tiny New York City apartment. But an artist + a bunch of ducklings in his apartment = chaos! There are ducklings in the bathtub and ducklings in the kitchen, quacking at dawn and sitting on his desk. Can he learn to draw them just right before they grow too big?This glimpse into the creation of a much-loved story for kids is a must-read for fans of children's books, or for anyone who is interested in the creative process and the importance of persistence.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

James McGowan is literary agent at Bookends, where he represents many award-winning authors and illustrators. He focuses on illustrated projects for young readers (board books, picture books, chapter books, and middle grade) as well as adult nonfiction and mystery/suspense novels. In addition to being an agent, James is a children’s author. His debut picture book Good Night, Oppy! (Astra Young Readers, 2021) launched from Astra BFYR in 2021. In our lively conversation we talk about his life and career as both author and agent, his new book, the realities of publishing for children, and his tips for aspiring writers.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

Racism is resilient, duplicitous, and endlessly adaptable, so it is no surprise that America is again in a period of civil rights activism. A significant reason racism endures is because it is structural: it's embedded in culture and in institutions. One of the places that racism hides-and thus perhaps the best place to oppose it-is books for young people.Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books (Oxford UP, 2017) presents five serious critiques of the history and current state of children's literature tempestuous relationship with both implicit and explicit forms of racism. The book fearlessly examines topics both vivid-such as The Cat in the Hat's roots in blackface minstrelsy-and more opaque, like how the children's book industry can perpetuate structural racism via whitewashed covers even while making efforts to increase diversity. Rooted in research yet written with a lively, crackling touch, Nel delves into years of literary criticism and recent sociological data in order to show a better way forward. Though much of what is proposed here could be endlessly argued, the knowledge that what we learn in childhood imparts both subtle and explicit lessons about whose lives matter is not debatable. The text concludes with a short and stark proposal of actions everyone-reader, author, publisher, scholar, citizen- can take to fight the biases and prejudices that infect children's literature. While Was the Cat in the Hat Black? does not assume it has all the answers to such a deeply systemic problem, its audacity should stimulate discussion and activism.Philip Nel is University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. His many books include Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children's Literature (UP Mississippi, 2012), Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature (NYU Press, 2008, co-edited with Julia Mickenberg), The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats (Random House, 2007), and Dr. Seuss: American Icon (Continuum, 2004).Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jean Reidy’s best-selling and award-winning picture books have earned their spots as favorites among readers and listeners of all ages and from all over the world. She is honored to be a three-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, a Parent’s Choice Gold Award Winner, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor winner and recognized on “Best of” lists by School Library Journal, the New York Times, NPR and Amazon.Originally from Highland Park, Illinois, Jean earned a BBA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from New York University. She spent the first years of her professional career in Chicago, New York and Denver before leaving the business world to raise her family and to write. Jean has four children, five grandchildren and hordes of nieces and nephews who provide her endless inspiration. And over several years, she also had four foster children filling both her home and her heart.In our conversation we talk about her 'not run of the mill' path to being a highly successful picture book author, and celebrate her newest books, including ‎ A Grand Day, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (July 5, 2022).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

Born in Los Angeles to a Japanese mom and American Jewish dad, Debbie Bibo grew up in a sleepy suburb of Northern California. After earning a degree in Political Science at the University of California in San Diego, and working at a language school in San Francisco, she moved to Italy to teach English in 1992. After twelve years of publishing and two years of project management for a design studio, she founded the Debbie Bibo Agency in 2011. The agency represents leading children's books illustrators and authors, and has sold titles to publishers in numerous countries. In our interview we talk about her career and vision in selecting those selected books and illustrators which she is excited to represent.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

Tammi Sauer is a full-time picture book author who has sold 35 picture books to major publishing houses (Bloomsbury, Disney, Hyperion, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Sterling) and spoken at hundreds of schools and conferences. In our conversation, we celebrate her new picture book, The Underpants (Scholastic Press, 2022), and talk about as many of her wonderful books as possible, including Wordy Birdy, The Bear Came Back, her new book No Bunnies Here and her very first book, Cowboy Camp. Tammi shares her road to success, with tips for authors at different stages of their journeys.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

We shouldn’t be dismissive of the popularity of children’s literature among adults, as it is often in these works of fiction that powerful themes such as death, love, and virtue are most deeply and imaginatively explored.Guests Christina Phillips Mattson, Scholar of Children’s Literature Casper ter Kuile, Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and co-host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text MG Prezioso, Contributing writer for Harvard Political Review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices