children’s literature

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June 11, 2019

What Publishing Professionals Look For in Picture Books

What makes a picture book stand out to publishing professionals? Editors, agents, illustrators, and art directors all evaluate manuscripts through different lenses, yet certain qualities consistently rise to the top. To better understand what publishing professionals look for in picture books, I spoke with the teams behind Mac and Cheese and the Personal Space Invader and What a Prickly Pear. Their insights offer a rare behind-the-scenes look at what helps a picture book move from manuscript to bookshelf.

June 13, 2018

Lessons from Rhonda Gowler Greene: Persistence, Picture Books, and Traditional Publishing Success

Rhonda Gowler Greene is the author of more than two dozen children's picture books and has spent over two decades building a successful traditional publishing career. Her books have received numerous honors, including School Library Journal Best Book, ILA Children's Choice Book, Bank Street College Best Book recognition, and multiple starred reviews. What makes her publishing journey especially encouraging for aspiring authors is that it began with persistence through rejection. Before selling her first books and securing literary representation, Rhonda accumulated more than 220 rejections while continuing to study children's literature and refine her craft. In this interview, we discuss literary agents, publishing rejection, writing picture books, creative persistence, balancing family and writing, and what aspiring authors can learn from a lifetime spent studying children's literature. Although this conversation took place in 2018, the lessons about writing, publishing, and professional growth remain just as relevant today.

December 2, 2017

How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans Review: A Funny Children’s Book About Vegetables

Let me just start off by saying it this way. My son doesn't typically ask to keep library books. But the other night, after reading How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans by writer David Larochelle and artist Mark Fearing, two times mind you, he quite legitimately asked if we could keep it.

Now, I don't care who you are, it begs a question. What is there to this children's book that would cause him to say such an unexpected thing? My wife and I have read thousands of books to him and, while he may not want to return a book to the library right away, he rarely asks to keep them.