2013-08-20



Andew Arnold

Andrew Arnold is one of the co-authors of the Adventures in Cartooning series and moonlights [during the day] as a book designer for a children’s book publisher. His work has appeared in several publications, including Nickelodeon Magazine, Cambridge University Press, and Roaring Brook Press. Originally from Houston, TX, Andrew currently lives in New York City.

Andrew Arnold



Avi

Avi is part of a family of writers extending back into the 19th century. Born in 1937 and raised in New York City, Avi was educated in local schools, before going to the Midwest and then back to NYC to complete his education.

His first book was Things That Sometimes Happen, published in 1970, and recently reissued. Since then he has published seventy books. Winner of many awards, including the 2003 Newbery Award for Crispin: the Cross of Lead (Hyperion), two Newbery Honors, two Horn Book awards, and an O’Dell Award, as well as many children’s choice awards, he frequently travels to schools around the country to talk to his readers.

Among his most popular books are Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing but the Truth, the Poppy books, Midnight Magic, and The Fighting Ground.…Read more »

Sudipta Bardhan Quallan

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is an award-winning children’s book author whose books include Chicks Run Wild, Pirate Princess, Hampire!, and Quackenstein Hatches a Family. She visits schools around the country to talk about the craft of writing to children of all ages. Sudipta graduated from Washington Township High School in New Jersey in 1994 and then attended the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, where she received both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree…Read more »

Sophie Blackall

Sophie Blackall is a Brooklyn-based Australian artist who has illustrated over thirty books for children, including the Ezra Jack Keats Award-winning Ruby’s Wish, Meet Wild Boars, which won a Founder’s Award from the Society of Illustrators and a BCCB Blue Ribbon Award, Big Red Lollipop, which was a New York Times Top Ten Picture Book for 2010, Pecan Pie Baby, which won a Horn Book Honor in 2011, and the New York Times bestselling series, Ivy and Bean.

Blackall’s first book for adults, Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found

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Nick Bruel

Nick Bruel is the author and illustrator of the phenomenally successful Bad Kitty picture books and chapter books, as well as other popular books for young readers. He has received the 2012 CBC Children’s Choice Book Award, as well as other popular books for young readers. He has received the 2012 CBC Children’s Choice Book Award, as well as several major state awards for his work.

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Jen Bryant

Jen Bryant writes novels, biographies and poems for readers of all ages. Her biographical picture book A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, received a Caldecott Honor, a NY Times Best Illustrated, and Charlotte Zolotow Honor. Their 2013 collaboration A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin received four starred reviews and is a Jr. Library Guild section. Jen’s award-winning novels include Pieces of Georgia, The Trial, Kaleidoscope Eyes, Ringside 1925, and The Fortune of Carmen Navarro.

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Laurie Calkhoven

When she got her first library card and was set free among the picture books, Laurie Calkhoven decided she wanted to be a librarian. Later she realized that that were people who created those wonderful books on the shelves, and she decided to be one of them. Laurie writes for American Girl’s Innerstar University series as well as historical novels for her own series, Boys of Wartime. Her most recent work of nonfiction is I Grew Up to be President.

She lives in New York City and can frequently be found at the library.

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Alyssa Capucilli

Alyssa Satin Capucilli is the author of over seventy-five books including Biscuit, the popular bestseller used to launch the My First I Can Read Series from HarperCollins. With over fifty titles in the series as well as over nineteen million books in print, Biscuit has been deemed a modern classic and has been translated into numerous languages worldwide.

Once a professional dancer, Alyssa’s love of dance is embodied in her latest series, Katy Duck, illustrated by Henry Cole. Her newest project is a series of interactive non-fiction photo essays including, My First Soccer Game and My First Ballet Class. 

Ms. Capucilli is the recipient of numerous awards including the Washington Irving Award, the Garden State Award, the Bank Street College Best Book Award and the Oppenheim Portfolio Gold Award, and the American Library Association Award.

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Monica Carnesi

Mônica Carnesi is the author and illustrator of Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic, which was selected as a 2012 Horn Book Fanfare and a 2013 Gryphon Award Honor Book.  Mônica is also a librarian with The Free Library of Philadelphia  – a perfect fit for her interests!  Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband and a silly beagle named Constance.  Her new picture book, Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear (Nancy Paulsen Books) is due out summer 2014. …Read more »

Bryan Collier

Bryan Collier was born and raised on the Easternshore of Maryland and from won a scholarship to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York where he received a B.F.A in 1989. Collier served as assistant director then director of the Harlem Horizon Art Studio for 12 years while also persuing a picture book deal. After seven years of knocking on publisher’s doors, in 2000, the award-winning book Uptown was released, winning the Coretta Scott King Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Award.

Bryan Collier has gone on to receive three Caldecott Honors for Martin’s Big Words, Rosa, and Dave the Potter, as well as a total of seven Coretta Scott King Awards and Honors. Collier is currently collaborating on a picture book with New Orleans based super-star musician, “Trombone Shorty.”

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Shana Corey

Shana Corey has a flair for finding the story in history and making it fun for kids. She was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for her first picture book, You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer !, which was also selected as a Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Book, a Booklist Editors’ Choice, and an Orbis Pictus Recommended Book. Shana’s other books for young readers include Mermaid Queen!The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Fortune, & Swimsuit History, Milly and the Macy’s Parade,  Players in Pigtails, and most recently, Here Come the Girl Scouts! The Amazing, All-True Story of Juliette Gordon Low and her Great Adventure  which celebrates the Girl Scouts 100th anniversary and was  named a New York Times Editors Choice and a Notable Social Studies Trade Book. Shana is also a children’s book editor at Random House Children’s books.

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David Hyde Costello

David Hyde Costello was born in upstate New York and began drawing as soon as he could hold a crayon. He drew constantly, filling reams of paper with characters of his own making. His favorites became the subjects of ongoing stories that David wrote and illustrated. One of his early recurring characters was “The Math Wizard,” who lived on the upper-right-hand corner of his eighth-grade math assignments and whose adventures were of continuing interest to the entire class.

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Nina Crews

Nina Crews uses photography and collage to create distinctive picture books. Her stories draw inspiration from the children and neighborhoods of Brooklyn – her home for over 25 years. She is the daughter of children’s book authors Donald Crews and Ann Jonas and grew up watching them work. Her first book, One Hot Summer Day, was published in 1995 and is still in print today. She has had two books selected for ALA’s Notable list – The Neighborhood Mother Goose, and Below. Her latest books, The Neighborhood Sing-Along and Jack and the Beanstalk were both published Spring 2011.…Read more »

Margery Cuyler

Margery Cuyler has written 48 children’s books, among them That’s Good! That’s Bad!,  Skeleton Hiccups, 100th Day Worries, Bullies Never Win, and The Battlefield Ghost, a children’s chapter book for grades 3-5 that takes place in Princeton, NJ. She has

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Debbie Dadey

Attention mermaid lovers!  Debbie Dadey, author of 158 books and the fabulous Mermaid Tales series from Simon and Schuster, is splashing down in Princeton.  You may know Debbie from the beloved Adventures of the Bailey School Kids series, but the

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Elizabeth Dahl

Elisabeth Dahl lives with her husband and son in Baltimore, Maryland, where she writes for both children and adults. All her life, people have asked whether she is related to Roald Dahl. Sadly, she’s not, but she’s looking forward to being his shelf neighbor with her first novel.

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Erin Soderburg Downing

Erin Soderberg Downing has written more than a dozen books for kids, tweens, and young adults. The first book in her quirky new middle-grade series, The Quirks: Welcome to Normal (illustrated by Kelly Light), was published by Bloomsbury in June 2013. Before becoming an author, Erin was a children’s book editor, a cookie inventor, and also worked for Nickelodeon.

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Ame Dyckman

AME DYCKMAN LOVES picture books. Sometimes she’ll stop reading them long enough to write one of her own: · BOY + BOT, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf; 2012) · TEA PARTY RULES, illustrated by K.G. Campbell (Viking; Fall, 2013) ·

WOLFIE AND DOT (working title), illustrated by Zachariah OHora (Little, Brown; 2014)

Etc.!

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Doris Ettlinger

Doris Ettlinger has illustrated over 30 books for children, including the award-winning titles A Book for Black-eyed Susan and The Orange Shoes. Her latest title Welcome to America, Champ! by Catherine Stiers, is part of Sleeping Bear Press’ Tales of the World series. A graduate of RISD and UW-Madison, Doris lives, works, and teaches watercolor in Warren County, NJ.

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Alison Formento

ALISON ASHLEY FORMENTO is the author of multi-award-winning nature picture books This Tree Counts!, This Tree, 1, 2, 3, These Bees Count!, These Seas Count! and These Rocks Count! (2014). Her debut young adult novel Twigs is published by new imprint Merit Press Books, helmed by The New York Times bestselling author,

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David Gordon

David Gordon has art directed and/or worked on visual development, layout, and character design for numerous production companies from Lucasfilm to Pixar, including such movies as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., A Bug’s Life, and Cars;  BlueSky’s Robots and Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants; as well as animated commercials for companies like Cheerios and Nike. He has also written and illustrated many children’s books, among them Hansel and Diesel, The Three Little Rigs, The Ugly Truckling, and Smitten. He is one of the authors of the acclaimed graphic novels Out of Picture I and Out of Picture II, and one of three illustrators of Jon Scieszka’s 52-book, N.Y. Times best-selling series, Trucktown

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Lisa Greenwald

Lisa Greenwald is the author of Reel Life Starring Us, Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes, and My Life in Pink & Green. She works in the library at the Birch Wathen Lenox School in Manhattan and is a graduate of the New School’s MFA  program in writing for children. She lives in Brooklyn.

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Melissa Guion

Melissa Guion was born and raised in New Jersey! Her picture book Baby Penguins Everywhere! was selected for The Original Art 2012, an exhibition of the year’s best picture book art at the Society of Illustrators. Baby Penguins Love Their Mama! will be published by Philomel in January 2014. Melissa also writes for Tom Tom, a magazine for and about female drummers.

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Laura Lee Gulledge

Laura Lee Gulledge crafts stories and illustrations that are thought-provoking, funny, and emotionally resonant. Her debut graphic novel Page by Paige (2011, Abrams Books) was nominated for both the Eisner and Harvey Awards, as well as being the only graphic

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Brett Helquist

Brett Helquist is the illustrator of many books including The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. He is also the author of Bedtime for Bear and Roger the Jolly Pirate. His latest book is the Grumpy Goat, a great story about making friends and being happy. Brett grew up in Utah, graduated from Brigham Young University and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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Edward Hemingway

Edward Hemingway is a writer and artist living in Brooklyn, NY.  He has done feature reporting for GQ magazine, written comics for Nickelodeon, and been featured in American Illustration and the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show. His artwork has

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Leeza Hernandez

Leeza Hernandez has illustrated three picture books, one of which was her debut book as an author—Dog Gone! (Putnam) in 2012. She has three picture books on the horizon: Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo (S&S, Fall 2013) written by NYT best-selling author and acclaimed actor John Lithgow; Cat Napped (Putnam, Summer 2014), a companion to Dog Gone! and sequel to Eat Your Math Homework, Eat Your Science Homework (Charlesbridge, Fall 2014) written by Ann McCallum.

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Susan Hood

Susan’s published her first picture books (three in all) in fall 2012, but she’s not a newcomer to children’s publishing. Most recently she was the Children’s Content Director of Nick Jr. Magazine and has worked as an editor at Sesame Workshop and Scholastic. Her new books Spike, The Mixed-Up Monster and The Tooth Mouse were named Junior Library Guild selections and among the 2013 Best Books of the Year by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Spike is also a finalist for the 2013 International Latino Awards and New York’s Charlotte Award. Five more picture books are in the works from Candlewick, Hyperion and Random House. Stay tuned!

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Kate Hosford

Kate Hosford graduated from Amherst College in 1988 with a degree in English and Philosophy. Before becoming an author, she worked as a social worker, an elementary school teacher, and an illustrator. In 2011, she received her MFA in Writing For Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She presently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two sons. Her books are Big Bouffant (spring, 2011) its sequel, Big Birthday (spring, 2012), and Infinity and Me (fall, 2012). All three books are published by Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing.

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Dar (Hosta) James

Dar (Hosta) James graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Creative Writing and is the author and illustrator of six picture books for children. Her graduate work included a secondary education certification in Language Arts and, after a brief stint as a high school teacher, Dar went on to continue working in education through her writing and art as a visiting author, an artist in residence and a national speaker on creativity and education.

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Amy Ignatow

Amy Ignatow is a cartoonist and the author of the Popularity Papers series of scrapbook-style illustrated novels. She is a graduate of Moore College of Art and Design and lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Mark, their daughter, Anya, and  and their cat, Mathilda, who is mostly very terrible.

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Melissa Iwai

Melissa Iwai has illustrated numerous award winning books for children, including Good Night Engines, B is for Bulldozer, Hush Little Monster, and Soup Day, which she also wrote.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, author Denis Markell, and their son, Jamie.  A relatively recent transplant, the illustrations of the trucks and the truck stop in Truck Stop was inspired by the trucking industry she grew up around in the central valley of California.

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Vincent X. Kirsch

Vincent X. Kirsch is an artist, designer, toymaker and writer of books, film and television projects for people of all ages. TITLES TO DATE NATALIE & NAUGHTILY / Author & Illustrator / BloomsburyUSA / Fall 2008 / Selected for 2010 Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators
FORSYTHIA & ME / Author & Illustrator / Farrar Straus Giroux / Winter 2011
THE CHANDELIERS / Author & Illustrator / Farrar Straus Giroux / August 2012
NOAH WEBSTER & HIS WORDS / Illustrator / Houghton Mifflin / October 2012 / Golden Kite Award 2012: Best Non-Fiction Picture Book
FREDDIE & GINGERSNAP / Author & Illustrator / DisneyHyperion / Winter 2014
A CLOUD TO KEEP / Author & Illustrator / DisneyHyperion / Winter 2015
THE GINGERBREAD SPY / Illustrator / Houghton Mifflin / Fall 2014
VALENTINY SWEETOOTH: A chapter book series / Creator & Illustrator / DisneyHyperion / Fall 2014 …Read more »

Michelle Knudsen

Michelle Knudsen is the author of more than 40 books for young readers, including the New York Times best-selling picture book Library Lion (illustrated by Kevin Hawkes), the picture book Argus (illustrated by Andréa Wesson), and the middle-grade fantasy novels The Dragon of Trelian and The Princess of Trelian. Her most recent picture book, Big Mean Mike (illustrated by Scott Magoon), won the 2013 Irma Black Award, which was voted on by more than 7,500 first and second graders around the world. She is currently working on a new novel for young adults, due out in 2014.…Read more »

Diane Krednesor

Diane Krednesor is an Emmy Award-winning artist for her work on animated TV shows such as Pinky and the Brain, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and WordWorld, to name a few. Her most recent children’s book, Ollie & Moon: Aloha! is the third in the series for Random House

Children’s Books and introduces a brand new format, Step into Reading Comic Reader. Graphic panels and word balloons full of punchy dialogue introduce emergent readers to the joy of

comics. The easy-to-follow plot is about trying new things and what it means to be a best friend.…Read more »

Tara Lazar

Street magic performer. Hog-calling champion. Award-winning ice sculptor. These are all things Tara Lazar has never been. Instead, she writes quirky, humorous picture books featuring magical places that adults never find. Her debut The Monstore released in June 2013, with I Thought This Was a Bear Book and Little Red Gliding Hood to follow in 2014 and 2015. She’ll also debunk the rule “Grow Up, Be Serious” in Break These Rules, a YA anthology due in September 2013. …Read more »

Claire Legrand

Claire Legrand used to be a musician until she realized she couldn’t stop thinking about the stories in her head. Now a writer, Ms. Legrand can often be found typing with purpose at her keyboard, losing herself in the stacks at her local library, or embarking upon spontaneous adventures to lands unknown. Her first novel is The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls, a New York Public Library Best Book for Children in 2012. Her second novel, The Year of Shadows, releases August 27, 2013, with her third novel, Winterspell, to follow in fall 2014. …Read more »

Brian Lies

The Princeton Public Library was Brian’s boyhood library (though it was a smaller building then, and sported a wide spiral staircase which occasionally had a fountain in its middle).  Brian left Princeton for Brown University, where he studied psychology and and literature.  After Brown, he attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and spent several years as a political illustrator for magazines and newspapers.

Brian’s real goal was creating children’s books, and in 1990 he was offered his first book to illustrate.  To date, he has written and/or illustrated more than two dozen books, including his New York Times bestselling bat series, Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library and Bats at the Ballgame.  Brian’s most recent illustrated books include W.H. Beck’s Malcolm at Midnight and I.C. Springman’s More.  He has won many awards for his work.

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Kelly Light

Born in 1970 off exit 149 of the Garden State Parkway, Kelly Light grew up down the shore surrounded by giant roadside dinosaurs, cotton candy colors and skee ball sounds. Schooled on Saturday morning cartoons and Sunday funny pages, she picked up a pencil and started drawing and never stopped. Kelly has illustrated two chapter books that have come out this spring of 2013, The Quirks, Welcome to Normal by Erin Soderberg, Bloomsbury and Elvis and the Underdogs by Jenny Lee, Balzer and Bray.  These series will continue with the second books out in the fall! Fall of 2014 her debut picture book Louise Loves Art is out from Balzer and Bray, followed the next fall by Lola Knows A Lot by Jenna McCarthy, also from Balzer and Bray. …Read more »

Lenore Look

 Lenore Look is the award-winning author of numerous children’s books including the popular Alvin Ho series and the Ruby Lu series.

Her books have been translated into many languages. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Lenore Look

Fran Manushkin

Fran Manushkin is the author of the popular Katie Woo series (33 books so far), as well as Baby, Come Out!; The Tushy Book; Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story; Miriam’s Cup: A Passover Story; Big Sisters are the Best; …Read more »

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11 July, 2013

John Bemelmans Marciano

John Bemelmans Marciano was born in 1970 and grew up on a horse farm in Three Bridges, New Jersey — an hour’s drive from downtown Manhattan. He graduated from Columbia University, and worked at a variety of jobs, including reporterin a small town. He is a self-taught artist and works in a studio that sits right across the street from his childhood farm. The studio is a converted 100-year-old country department store.

While looking through some of his grandfather’s belongings, Marciano discovered a completed manuscript for a Madeline story with rough sketches that hinted at what the final illustrations might look like. Bemelmans Marciano took this story and developed a finished set of drawings to publish Madeline in America and Other Holiday Tales, a new addition to the series his grandfather started.

In addition to this first Madeline book, Bemelmans Marciano has written several other Madeline stories (one set in Rome), a first-person chapter book about a squirrel who lives in a New York City park (Harold’s Tail), a picture book about a resourceful and individualistic lamb (Delilah), and a book on the life and art of Ludwig Bemelmans.

John’s latest book is the 9 Lives of Alexander Baddenfield (October 2013) which is illustrated by Sophie Blackall.

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Leonard Marcus

Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s leading writers about children’s books and the people who create them. His award-winning books include Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon; Minders of Make-Believe; ; The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth; Show Me a Story!; Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing; and Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Work. Leonard is a contributor to the New York Times Book Review and a columnist for The Horn Book, and is a frequent commentator radio and television. …Read more »

Denis Markell

Denis Markell is a playwright, and composer/lyricist who co-wrote the musical A Backers’ Audition (Manhattan Theatre Club), directed by Martin Charnin. Other works include the revue, Showing Off (with Donna Murphy and Veanne Cox), and the musical Gotham! (with other …Read more »

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11 July, 2013

Ann M. Martin

Ann Martin is the author of many novels for young readers including A Dog’s Life, Everything For a Dog, Belle Teal, the Doll People books (written with Laura Godwin), and the Newbury Honor-winning title, A Corner of the Universe.

She is also the author of a number of series, including Family Tree and The Baby-sitters Club. In 1990 she founded the Lisa Libraries, which provides new children’s books to shelters, day-care centers, prison visiting areas, and other programs reaching under-served children.

Her newest book is The Long Way Home, the second book in the Family Tree series.

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Megan McCafferty

Megan McCafferty’s first middle grade novel, JESSICA DARLING’S IT LIST #1: The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness and Perfection is on sale now. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series for older teens, Bumped and Thumped. Her work has received honors from the American Library Association and the New York Public LIbrary and has been translated into eleven languages. Megan lives with her husband and son in Princeton where she volunteers for HiTOPS adolescent health center and is a Princeton University Community Fellow for Mathey College.

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Steve Metzger

Steve Metzger is the bestselling author of more than seventy children’s books, including Pluto Visits Earth! (2013 Children’s Choice Book Awards’ Finalist) and Detective Blue (2013 Kansas Bill Martin Jr. Award Nominee).

Before becoming an author, Steve was a teacher for fifteen years. He currently lives in New York City with his wife, daughter, and a chatty cat named Biscuit.

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Hazel Mitchell

Hazel Mitchell is an award winning illustrator. From an early age she drew on every thing she could get her hands on and still can’t be left safely alone with a pencil. Her most recent books include One Word Pearl, 1,2,3 by the Sea, How to Talk to an Autistic Kid (Foreword Reviews Gold Medal winner and Finalist in ‘Books for a Better Life’), Hidden New Jersey and the All-Star Cheerleaders series by Anastasia Suen. Originally from Yorkshire, England, she now lives and works from her studio in Central Maine, USA. She still misses fish and chips and mushy peas, but is learning to love lobster. She has a dog, a cat, two horses and several snow shovels.

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Denise Dowling Mortensen

Denise’s titles include Good Night Engines (2003), an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award-winner; Ohio Thunder (2006); Wake Up Engines (2007); a board book/flip book combination of Good Night Engines/Wake Up Engines (2011); and Bug Patrol (2013)–all published by Clarion/HMH. From From a very young age, she developed a passion for words after listening to lyrical verse read to her at bedtime. She has worked at CBS News and the Conde Nast Publications and has done freelance copyediting and proofreading for a publisher of children’s non-fiction books. She works in an elementary classroom as a paraprofessional and teaches young author’s workshops.

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Roxie Munro

Roxie Munro is the award-winning author/illustrator of more than 35 books for children, primarily nonfiction. Her books have been translated into French, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese. Recent books: Slithery Snakes; Hatch!; EcoMazes: 12 Earth Adventures (SLJ star); Desert Days, Desert Nights; Inside-Outside Dinosaurs; Busy Builders (Bank Street Cook Prize Honor); and Go!Go!Go! Other awards include NY Times Best Illustrated, Smithsonian Best Children’s Book of the Year, TIME magazine’s Best Children’s List, Outstanding Science Trade Book, Notable Social Studies Trade Book; Washington Post Best Book for Boys; Parenting magazine Best Book of the Month; Eric Carle Museum Best List; others. “Roxie’s a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure” is an interactive animated maze game app for the iPad and iPhone; “Roxie’s Doors” is a 3-D animated book app for the iPad; “Roxie’s Puzzling Mazes” is an iPad app with fun jigsaw puzzles (OCG Studios, developer). Roxie also did all the art for the new product KIWiStoryBooks (Kids Interactive Walk-in Story Books), which includes a free app for all themes.

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Trinka Hakes Noble

Trinka Hakes Noble is the award-winning author of numerous picture books including The Scarlet Stockings Spy (IRA Teachers’ Choice 2005), The Last Brother, Apple Tree Christmas and The Orange Shoes (IRA Teachers’ Choice 2008).

She also wrote the ever-popular Jimmy’s Boa series and Meanwhile Back at the Ranch, both featured on PBS’s Reading Rainbow. Her many awards include ALA Notable Children’s Book, Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice, IRA-CBC Children’s Choice, Learning: The Year’s Ten Best.

Her newest titles are The People of Twelve Thousand Winters, Little New Jersey and The Legend of the Jersey Devil, which Kirkus calls…”delightfully spooky…suspenseful, with captivating illustrations” and Booklist states…”few of the Jersey Devil origin stories are as delectable as this one.”

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Jerry Pallotta

Jerry began writing books in 1986 when he was 32 years old. He got the idea for his first book, Ocean Alphabet, while reading to his own children and remembering all the fun he had growing up at the beach on the Massachusetts coast. This self-published title established Jerry’s creative process; Jerry hired his own illustrator, designed the book, directed the art, researched, wrote and edited the text, bought paper and rented press time. While successfully selling Ocean Alphabet, inspiration for the next title, and the next, took hold. Information researched in the field, complimented with museum and library study grew into a series of 22 nonfiction alphabet titles which includes Icky Bug Alphabet, Jet Alphabet, Flower Alphabet and Skull Alphabet. More are in the works!

Along with the alphabet series, Jerry’s stories model an opportunity for both research and creative writing. Dory Story reveals the Atlantic Ocean food chain with a fictional twist. Who Will Guide My Sleigh This Year? and How Will I Get to School This Year? inspire young writers to come up with their own solutions for the yearly dilemma. Get reluctant boys (and girls) reading and writing with Guys Read. Jerry’s story, Dead Body, recounts a grisly boyhood memory at the beach. Set the ground work for oral or written debate in Jerry’s new series, Who Would Win, a non-fiction comparison of two potential rivals. Eight completed titles include Killer Whale vs Great White Shark, Komodo Dragon vs King Cobra, and Tarantula vs Scorpion. More in this series are underway.

Jerry also brings nonfiction subjects to the field of elementary math in a beautifully illustrated format. His math literacy books count from zero to zillions, in titles such as Underwater Counting Even Numbers, Underwater Counting Odd Numbers, Count to a Million, and Icky Bug Numbers. Jerry’s Math = Fun series includes the operations of addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, as well as fractions and measurement.

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Ammi-Joan Pacquette

Ammi-Joan (A.J.) Paquette is the author of the novels Rules for Ghosting (Walker, 2013), Paradox (Random House, 2013), and Nowhere Girl (Walker, 2011), and the picture books Ghost in the House (Candlewick, 2013), The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Mermaids (Tanglewood,, 2012), and The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies (2011). She is also a literary agent with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, representing children’s and YA authors. She lives outside of Boston with her family and her very tall to-read pile.

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Herman Parish

Herman Parish says “Happy Birthday, Amelia Bedelia!” He was in the fourth grade when his Aunt Peggy Parish wrote the first book about Amelia Bedelia way back in 1963. Fifty years and more than 35 million books later, the literal housekeeper has become a favorite household character for readers young and old.

After Peggy passed away in 1988, Herman has continued Amelia Bedelia’s exploits by adding 30 new books to the series. He is carrying on her adventures as a housekeeper in books such as the best-selling Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm and Amelia Bedelia, Cub Reporter.

Herman’s latest books portray Amelia Bedelia as a young girl. She’s as literal as ever — only littler. There are picture books for the youngest children, such as Amelia Bedelia’s First Library Card, which joins the national bestsellers Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School and Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine. There are books for beginning readers and Amelia Bedelia Road Trip! — the third in a new series of chapter books alongside the best-selling Amelia Bedelia Means Business and Amelia Bedelia Unleashed.

The last time Herman was at the Princeton Children’s Book Festival, Amelia Bedelia herself showed up to dust (and undust) the people who came by to talk with him. There’s a good chance she’ll make another appearance. But don’t “dress” your chickens before they’re hatched!

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Erica S. Perl

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