New Books in Children's Literature

Savannah Brooks started her agenting career as an intern with the Jennifer De Chiara team in 2017, moving to associate agent in 2018. In 2022, she joined the KT Literary as an agent, where she now works full-time representing all of kid lit and most adult fiction. She’s especially interested in stories that teach her something new, add to a larger sociopolitical conversation, and highlight underrepresented identities and cultures. In our wonderful and candid conversation, we talk about her life, career and her thoughts on agenting and children's literature in general. Oh yes, and what she is looking for these days.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

Award-winning author Laurie Wallmark writes mostly picture book biographies of women in STEM. Her titles include Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars; Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code; and Hedy Lamarr's Double Life. In our discussion, we discuss her brand new book, Rivka's Presents (Random House Studio, 2023)), a heartwarming fictional story of a young Jewish girl living on the Lower East Side who can't start school because her father is sick, so she makes a trade with her neighbors: chores for lessons.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

Lisa M. Bolt Simons has published over 60 children's nonfiction books, with many more in preparation. In our conversation we talk about two of her recent "Curious About" books, but focus on her recent historical fiction graphic novel The Vanished Northwest Passage Arctic Expedition (Capstone, 2022), illustrated by Eugene Smith Both and published by Capstone Press. Lisa talks about her childhood, her outstanding success as an educational writer, and the challenges of publishing the stories of her heart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I speak to the wonderful Leslie Kimmelman, as we celebrate her brand new picture book, Ready, Set, Run!: The Amazing New York City Marathon, published by Random House Studio, (and also A Book about Bupkes, published by Kar-Ben). Both books launched on August 1st! Leslie is author of over forty picture books under her own name and many more written under a pseudonym (revealed in our conversation!). She was also an editor at Sesame Workshop so she knows how to get to Sesame Street. Join us for a fun, animated conversation about her career, her books, and her thoughts on children's literature.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

Anna Olswanger is an award-winning children's author and highly regarded literary agent, with clients include the New York Times best-selling author Michael Hall and the Newbery Honor Book winner Vince Vawter. Anna's middle grade novel Greenhorn (2012) is based on the true story of a young Holocaust survivor that she heard from Rabbi Rafael Grossman. Anna is also the author of Shlemiel Crooks (2005), a Sydney Taylor Honor Book and PJ Library Book, and a graphic novel titled A Visit to Moscow (2022). Anna is also curator of her dad's (Berl Olswanger's) jazz career and music, all wonderful reasons to interview her about her careers and life.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

Elizabeth Law has worked in the publishing field her whole life, first as an Editor at Viking Children’s Books and Puffin Books, as Associate Publisher at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, then later as Publisher at Egmont USA, and more recently as the backlist and special projects editor at Holiday House Books for Young Readers. Elizabeth has also works as a professional consultant with writers and artists. In this wonderful follow-up interview, we talk about the advantages (and tribulations) of traditional publication, to those of self-publishing. You are welcome to contact Elizabeth at ElawReads.com, and Twitter, @ElawReads. And if you find the 'mistake' in Bemelman's Madeline, don't tell me. I'm not sure I want to know.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 interview, Sarah Sassoon celebrates the success of her award-winning children's book, Shoham's Bangle, published by Kar-Ben (2022), and discusses her life journey and career from Australia to South Africa and now as an author and poet in Jerusalem. 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 Shelli R. Johannes, who is the author of 18 books with more due out in 2024. She is the co-author (with Kimberly Derting) of the popular Cece Loves Science series and Penny (An Engineering Tale of the Fourth Pig). In addition to her tween and teen novels, she is also the author of the Theo Thesaurus series and Shine Like a Unicorn. In our interview we talk about her new chapter book Florence Nightingale which just came out in in Chelsea Clinton’s “She Persisted” series (Philomel Books, 2023)). We also discuss the questions of whether authors should 'write for the market' and whether independent publishing is a viable option to traditional publishing.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

Today I get to interview one of my favorite children's book authors, Ariel Bernstein, and celebrate her new book, You Go First, which was published only two weeks ago by Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (June 13, 2023). We talk about her rapid rise from anonymity to international success and acclaim starting with her first picture book, I Have a Balloon. Ariel shares her thoughts about writing for young children and her sage 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 funny, engaging and candid interview Lili Rosenstreich talks about her career leading up to her current role as founder, publisher, and creative director at Kalaniot Books, an up-and-coming US-based publisher of books for Jewish children. We discuss her wishlist for manuscripts, and her thoughts on the publishing industry. Prior to founding Kalaniot Books, Lili was the design director of Children’s Books at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and has designed and art directed books for HarperCollins, Macmillan, Henry Holt, Charlesbridge, and Holiday House. She has had the honor of collaborating with such widely recognized talent such as Jon Agee, Siona Benjamin, Alice Blumenthal McGinty, Menahem Halberstadt, Rashin Kheiriyeh, Shoshana Nambi, Eric Rohmann, Peter Sis, David Small, Chana Stiefel, Liza Wiemer, and Ed Young.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