New Books in Children's Literature

Harold Underdown is currently Executive Editor of Kane Press. In our candid and informative interview, Harold talks about the details of how he goes about looking for his next book/series acquisition, and gives sage wisdom to the 99+% of children's authors who haven't yet found a traditional publisher or literary agent.Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with prolific children's author Megan Hoyt on her new non-fiction picture book, The Greatest Song of All: How Isaac Stern United the World to save Carnegie Hall, published by Harper Collins Children's Books' new imprint, Quill Tree Books less than two weeks ago. Megan is also author of Bartali's Bicycle, published last year with the same publisher. Three more non-fiction picture books are forthcoming, also with Quill Tree: A Grand Idea: William Wilgus and his Grand Central Terminal, and Kati's Tiny Messengers: How Dr. Katalin Kariko Developed an mRNA Vaccine to Fight Covid 19.Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michelle Knudsen is the New York Times best-selling author of fifty books for young readers of all ages, including the award-winning picture book Library Lion and Marilyn's Monster (one of NPR's Best Books of 2015). In our interview we talk about her most recent publication, She Persisted: Nellie Bly (Philomel, 2021), a chapter book biography of the groundbreaking American journalist, and her path to becoming a highly acclaimed children's author. Her next book involves a giant spider who is mistaken for a kitten. Michelle teaches writing at Lesley University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here I talk to Rosemary Mosco about her career and brand new book, Flowers are Pretty . . . Weird (Tundra, 2022). Rosemary makes books, articles, cartoons and graphics that connect people with the natural world. Her nature comics were the subject of an award-winning museum exhibit and are collected in a book that was a 2019 ALA Great Graphic Novel for Teens. She co-wrote the New York Times bestseller The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid. Flowers are Pretty . . . Weird explores the science of flowers and shows that these plants are not always stereotypically pretty and harmless as we often think they are -- they are fascinating, disgusting, complicated and amazing.Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leah Henderson is the author of several critically acclaimed books for young readers including Daddy Speaks Love, A Day for Rememberin’, Together We March and The Magic in Changing Your Stars. Leah holds an MFA in Writing and is on faculty in Spalding University's graduate writing program.We talk about her new book Daddy Speaks Love (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2022).What does a daddy do? From day one, this daddy speaks love to his little one. And along with that love, his words and actions speak many other things, too: like truth, joy, comfort, and pride. Like many dads, he answers a million questions and tries to make sure that days are full of fun adventures, giggles, and hugs. Dads are good at scaring away imaginary monsters, and honest about how to confront the real ones too. They set an example for the future, speaking out for equality and justice, while sharing lessons from the past. But most of all, daddies encourage their young ones to fight for a better world, with the comfort of knowing their dads are right beside them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

n our interview we talk about modern retellings of a classic Yiddish folktale and celebrate Michal Babay's upcoming book The Incredible Shrinking Lunchroom (Charlesbridge, 2022),  illustrated by the late Paula CohenThe students at Parley Elementary have a hard time using the space in their lunchroom efficiently. When they get tired of shoving and arguing, they write a letter to their principal asking for help. She responds by moving all the science projects into the lunchroom. Now it’s even more crowded! Through a series of letters and increasingly hilarious scenarios, the lunchroom gets more and MORE chaotic. When the principal finally announces that the lunchroom is once again only to be used for lunch, the students are overjoyed with the result.Michal Babay is a former teacher and elementary school specialist. She is the author of I'm A Gluten-Sniffing Dog (Albert Whitman) and On Friday Afternoon... (Coming Fall 2023 from Charlesbridge). Michal lives in her own incredibly shrinking house in California with her husband, three kids, three dogs, one cat, and a bearded dragon named Gus Pirate Potato. www.michalbabay.comJoining us for the interview is Karen Rostoker-Gruber whose recent book, A Crowded Farmhouse Folktale, appeared in 2020 (Albert Whitman).Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Varchol Perron has written children's poetry for numerous anthologies and magazines (including Highlights Hello, High Five, The Caterpillar, Blast Off, and Countdown). Her debut picture book, Patterns Everywhere (Lerner/Millbrook), about patterns in nature, will be released next spring, and she has additional publications scheduled for 2023, 2024, and 2025. She often finds inspiration when exploring outdoors with her two children and husband, an earth and planetary scientist. With training in child and adolescent development and over fifteen years of experience as a mental health clinician, Lisa is passionate about creating books that spark curiosity and respect young readers' abilities to comprehend, learn, and grow.Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maira Kalman was born in Israel and moved to New York at the age of five where she fell in love with America (Coca Cola and the smells of street food, in particular). Maira is the author and illustrator of over thirty children's books (with three new ones coming out this year), starting with the iconic Staying Up Late in 1987.  Maira is currently working on an animated movie script. We talk about her career path and her thoughts on writing, illustrating and the life and calling of an author.Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alysson Foti Bourque began her career as a teacher and subsequently an attorney. After practicing law for six years, she traded in writing trial briefs for writing children’s books. Her new picture book, Alycat and the Cattywampus Wednesday is the fifth book of The Alycat Series, and was released by Arcadia Publishing/Pelican Publishing (2022).Mel Rosenberg is a professor 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 also the founder of Ourboox, a web platform that allows anyone to create and share awesome flipbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this interview we talk to Salma Hussain about her surprisingly candid and revealing middle grade book, The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan (Tundra Books, 2022). Mona Hasan is a young Muslim girl growing up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when the first Gulf War breaks out in 1991. The war isn’t what she expects — “We didn’t even get any days off school! Just my luck” — especially when the ground offensive is over so quickly and her family peels the masking tape off their windows. Her parents, however, fear there is no peace in the region, and it sparks a major change in their lives. Over the course of one year, Mona falls in love, speaks up to protect her younger sister, loses her best friend to the new girl at school, has summer adventures with her cousins in Pakistan, immigrates to Canada, and pursues her ambition to be a feminist and a poet.SALMA HUSSAIN, author, grew up in the U.A.E., and immigrated to Canada when she was thirteen years old. Her short stories and poems have been published in filling Station, West Coast Line, Other Voices, and in the anthology Homebound: Muslim Women Poetry Collection (Outburst Press). She lives with her family in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices