The reason I love writing picture books so much is because of…the PICTURES! Seriously, working with a variety of amazing artists has taught me so much about leaving room for the illustrator’s ideas and feelings about our topic. It’s a true partnership and I treasure each relationship. Sometimes it seems …
I do not possess an MFA. I can count on one hand the number of formal writing workshops or classes I’ve attended as a student. I’m sometimes confused on the more complex parts of speech and still can’t easily spout the definition of “second person.” I’m a voracious reader of …
A few weeks back, I was fortunate to interview Katherine Roy, author and illustrator of the Sibert Honor Book Neighborhood Sharks and her title from this past spring, How To Be An Elephant. And also (lucky me!) my partner as illustrator of our upcoming picture book Otis & Will Discover the …
I’ve wrestled with my fair share of picture book manuscripts. A “brilliant” idea at 9 a.m. that falls apart by noon. That wonderful first sentence that pops up while making coffee, only to fade to confusion an hour later in the shower. An entire book theme that carries through perfectly, …
When I guest post here on Picture Book Builders, I tend to use the space to bring you some of my favorite people, editors! I guess it’s because picture book editors possess the most control over the many parts of the publishing process. As a certified control freak I’ve always …
The last in a 4 part series featuring editors that run their own imprints. If you write picture books with a historical bent, it’s important that you get to know Carolyn Yoder’s work. Carolyn P. Yoder is the senior editor of Calkins Creek Books, the U.S. history imprint of Boyds Mills …
The third in a four-part series interviewing editors that run their own imprints. Allyn Johnston began her children’s book career as a marketing assistant at Clarion Books and then spent 22 years at Harcourt Children’s Books in San Diego, where she started as an editorial assistant and ended up as Editor-in-Chief. She …
The second in a four-part series interviewing editors that run their own imprints. Anne Schwartz is an editor extraordinaire! In her distinguished 35-year career, she has worked for many top publishers. Anne was publisher of Apple Soup Books at Random House, spent a decade at Simon & Schuster, where she started …
Hello again, it’s Barb Rosenstock. PBB asked me to return to fill-in for Pat Zietlow Miller for a few months. I decided to develop a series of posts on picture book editors by interviewing the style-makers and award-winners—the folks who run their own imprints. I hope you learn as much …
It’s killing me, it’s genius…Patricia MacLachlan wrote a perfect nonfiction picture book using only one sentence. Well, technically there’s two question marks, but still…The Iridescence of Birds is a biography of Henri Matisse that manages to convey most of his childhood environment, his relationship with his mother, his interests, his personality …