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 …
As you may have figured out from my earlier posts, I’m a huge fan of picture book biographies (which is probably why I write them.) This month I’d like to share a picture book biography gem, Muhammad Ali, Champion of the World (2007) by Jonah Winter (illustrated by Francois Roca.) If I …
How do you take something unwieldy, complex, and often painful to look at—like, say, the history of voting rights in America—and turn it into a picture book that is engaging, relatable, and understandable to kids? Beats me. But here’s my guess: (1) Make it personal; (2) Tell it in a …
Jonah Winter’s first picture book biography came out around 20 years ago. He has done another fine book in Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio illustrated by the great James E. Ransome. Winter breaks the “rule” of staying under 1000 words (I quickly counted between 1300-1500, plus an author’s note.) Why? To tell a …