New Books in Children's Literature

Ziggy Hanaor is the director of Cicada Books, a boutique children’s publishing company. She has also written nine books including Fly Flies, Alex and Alex and The Pocket Chaotic, which have won awards and have been translated into over 20 languages. In our conversation we celebrate her new book about the history of the universe and us, entitled, Life (As We Know It) (Cicada, 2025, Cristóbal Schmal (Illustrator), and talk about her careers in publishing and writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gender by the Book: 21st-Century French Children's Literature (Routledge, 2025) investigates the gender representations that French children's literature transmits to readers today. Using an interdisciplinary, mixed methods approach, this book grounds its literary analysis in a sociohistorical examination of three key institutions – libraries, book clubs, and subscription magazines – that circulate reading material to children. It shows how French policies, cultural beliefs, and market forces influence the content of children's literature, including tensions between State support for unprofitable artistic endeavors and a belief in children’s right to high-quality products on the one hand, and suspicion of activism as anathema to creativity and fear of losing boy readers on the other. In addition, the notion of universalism, which asserts that equality is best achieved when society is blind to differences, thwarts a diverse and equitable array of literary representations. Nevertheless, conditions are favorable for 21st-century French children's publishers to offer a robust body of richly entertaining egalitarian literature for children. Guest Julie Fette, author of Gender by the Book: 21st-Century French Children's Literature published in October 2024 by Routledge. Dr. Fette is Associate Professor of French Studies at Rice University where she is also Rice Faculty Scholar at the Center for the Middle East, Baker Institute and a Faculty Affiliate with the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She is also the author of Exclusions: Practicing Prejudice in French Law and Medicine, 1920-1945 from Cornell University Press in 2012 and the co-author of the textbook Les Français from Hackett in 2021, as well as numerous articles and book chapters on subjects from gender and professional life in France to teaching French studies in the classroom and online.  Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of Alabama. Their research is concentrated on the environmental humanities and speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan France and the francophone Caribbean.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our engaging interview, we celebrate award-wining illustrator Julien Chung's new book, You Can't Tame a Tiger (OwlKids) written by Stephanie Ellen Sy, published September, 2025, and talk about his many-faceted career, his ability to mix the commercial and the artistic, his love for surprises and 'wow' moments, and his transition from graphic design to illustrating children's books, and his belief in the importance of the 'writing community.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A splendid interview (I'm biased, but so what, it really is splendid) with Annie Kelley, Executive Editor, Random House STUDIO. We talk about what she looks for in a manuscript (strong voice and not generic, needs to stand out in some way). She talks about her love for children's books as a child and how she found her dream job as editor. Annie urges authors to ignore the advice of "writing to the trend" and to write from the heart. Annie talks about her 'specialty', finding the right illustrator for the right book. Annie talks about some of her recent and current books (including mine!!!). So am I lucky or what? Heads up, people: EMILY SAW A DOOR, illustrated fabulously by Orit Magia, launches on Feb. 24th, 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inspired by the true story of the friendship between Rembrandt and Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel. Painting scenes from Bible stories is Rembrandt's passion. Many of his Amsterdam neighbors are Sephardic Jews, and the children often come to play with the costumes at the renowned painter's house. Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel encourages his neighbors to pose for Rembrandt's biblical scenes. He helps the painter understand the descriptive words in the Hebrew bible. At the rabbi's home for Sabbath dinner, Rembrandt watches his friend cup his hands over his children's heads and say a blessing, which gives him an idea for a very special painting. Tami Lehman-Wilzig is the award-winning author of sixteen Jewish content picture books, including On the Wings of Eagles, SOOSIE, The Horse That Saved Shabbat; Keeping The Promise; Nathan Blows Out the Hanukkah Candles; Passover Around the World; and Hanukkah Around the World. Here, we we talk about her brand new picture book, Rembrandt's Blessing, (illustrated by Anita Barghigiani, Kar-Ben Publishing, Sept. 2025), and her writing journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liz Bicknell is one of the most celebrated editors of children's books ever! She began her publishing career at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1986, joined Candlewick as editor-in-chief in 1997. Among Bicknell’s coups was signing Jon Klassen, who burst out of the gate with his Caldecott Medal-winning I Want My Hat Back and Caldecott Honor-winning This Is Not My Hat. Liz cultivated work by creators as wide-ranging as popup makers Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart, illustrator Ekua Holmes, and fantasy author Gregory Maguire. She edited M.T. Anderson’s National Book Award-winning The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing; Carole Boston Weatherford’s Newbery Honor-winning BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, illustrated by Michele Wood; and Laura Kvasnosky’s Geisel-winning Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways. Other authors and illustrators who worked with Bicknell won Caldecott Honors, Printz Honors, the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, and more. In our wonderful interview Liz and I talk about her life and her career, and her thoughts on choosing and publishing picture books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harold Underdown has worked as an independent editor and publishing consultant, providing developmental edits and strategic consulting; and as an in-house editor with Kane Press, McGraw-Hill Education, Charlesbridge, and Orchard Books. He also mentors individual authors - me included! Harold speaks and gives workshops through the Highlights Foundation and SCBWI's national and regional conferences. He wrote The Complete Idiot's Guide to Children's Book Publishing, now in its third edition. He founded and runs "The Purple Crayon," a respected web site with information about the children's publishing world at www.underdown.org. In this, our third discussion, we talk about Harold's upcoming workshop for Highlights on trends in kidlit, and how our process of working together evolved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Museum of Shapes. Alma is the curator of the museum. She decides which shapes should go where. Triangles have three sides and three angles. Can you help Alma find all the triangles on the shelves? Almas favorite shape is a circle. All the points on the edge of a circle are the same distance from its center. Not all shapes are geometric. Some lines are wiggly and messy. Can you make a wiggly line with your body? The Museum of Shapes (Cicada Books, 2025) is an engaging and informative book about the shapes that make up our world. The narrative framework is complemented by interactive texts and gorgeous, minimalist illustration, shedding new light on the beauty of geometry. Sven Völker is Professor for Experiment and Strategy in Graphic Design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. He studied at the University of Art in Bremen and received an master degree from Middlesex University in London. In 2004 he was appointed professor for graphic design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe and since 2010 tought at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art in Halle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suzy Levinson is a children’s author and poet whose work has been featured in numerous anthologies, including A World Full of Poems (DK Children), I Am a Jigsaw (Bloomsbury Education), and Shaping the World (Macmillan), and magazines, including Highlights and Cricket. Her critically acclaimed debut picture book–length poetry collection, Animals in Pants (Abrams), was published in 2023. In our wonderful interview we talk about her brand new book, Dinos That Drive (Tundra Books, 2025) illustrated by Dustin Harbin, which hits the shelves...tomorrow! And she’s got more books on the way! Originally from Massachusetts, Suzy now lives in New York with her sweet husband and spicy cat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friederike Ablang is an award-winning children's illustrator. She was born in East-Berlin and studied photography and design in the United Kingdom and Germany. She has illustrated dozens of picture books and school books. In our conversation we discuss the recent book which she illustrated, O'win and the Moon by Roseanne Baxter Frank, published in March, 2025 by Wonder House Books. We also talk about her process, her journey to success, and her advice for aspiring illustrators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our wonderful interview, Dr. Danna Trachtenberg Zeiger and I celebrate her debut picture book, Rewriting the Rules, a STEM nonfiction picture book which was just released from Millbrook Press (Carol Hinz, editor) on September 9, 2025". She is represented by Gaby Cabezut at The Seymour Agency. A published scientist, Danna's research has appeared in top scientific journals such as Science, Neuron, and PNAS. Formerly a biology professor and program director at Fisher College, she now focuses on writing for children. In our conversation Danna describes her transition from scientist to author, and the benefits that a career in science can bring to the writer's table. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah Shafiroff is celebrating a book about celebrations! In our interview we talk about her brand new picture book which she both wrote and illustrated, My Little Book of Big Jewish Holidays (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025). We talk about her own childhood and memories of Sabbath and holidays, and how her she was able to turn her childhood passion for art into a professional career as writer-illustrator. Hannah also shares some tips for aspiring authors, including a musical method for dealing with rejections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her thirty plus years of enthusiastic dedication to Random House Children’s Books, Mallory Loehr has played a seminal role in the development of this business. She has led numerous editorial teams, working with them to develop strategies for growth, across trade and brand, for all ages and formats, including for Random House Books for Young Readers, Random House Studio, Crown, Doubleday, Labyrinth Road, Little Golden Books, Rodale Kids, Dr. Seuss publishing, and an extensive licensed and proprietary portfolio. Her teams and their books have received the highest accolades, from the Newbery to the Caldecott and more. Mallory is also author of a dozen children's books, ranging from unicorns and leprechauns to an early reading version of Alice in Wonderland. As an editor, Mallory shaped the careers of many authors, including global powerhouse Mary Pope Osborne, whom she began editing at the inception of the Magic Tree House series. She has an exceptional eye for quality children’s books and a keen ability to discover and nurture new voices and artists, including Emily Winfield Martin and her book The Wonderful Things You Will Be, which has become a new classic and remains on The New York Times bestsellers list today after more than four hundred weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DJ Corchin is a celebrated author and illustrator from Oak Park, IL. In our spirited interview, we discuss his career as a polymath, his unconventional breakthrough from self publishing to traditional publishing and back.and celebrate his brand new picture book , A Million YES's (Phazelfoz Company, 2025), illustrated by Dan Dougherty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ammi-Joan (A.J.) Paquette is author of twenty books for children as wel as a senior literary agent for Aevitas Creative Management. In our wonderful interview we celebrate her new boar book,My Mouth Says (Body Power), third in a series, illustrated by Sabrena Khadija and published just last month (July, 2025) by Rise x Penguin Workshop. We also talk about her childhood, her journey as an author, and how she balances her day between writing and promoting the creatives she represents. Visit her on the web here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Swanson is the author of 50 nonfiction books for kids. In this, our second interview, we celebrate her brand new book, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World (Workman Kids, 2025), co-written with Dylan Thuras, illustrated by Ruby Fresson and published by Workman Kids. We speak about her recent books and have an illuminating discussion about whether nonfiction and fiction are really dichotomous and worlds apart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our charming interview, Amy Moore celebrates two new picture books, The Bakers Dozen (illustrated by Andrea Stegmaier) published by Sleeping Bear Press in May. 2025, and Humpty's Great Fall (illustrated by Josh Cleland) published this month by Two Lions. Amy Moore has been writing since childhood. After earning a degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she went on to proofreading and web development jobs while taking Master’s courses in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. In addition to her writing work, Amy runs a children’s dance program in her hometown. She lives with her family in Massachusetts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Superhero violence and graphic action sequences are prevalent on the screen and on the page, but this book takes an alternative route with practical guidance, frameworks, and tools for incorporating the principles of peacebuilding and nonviolence into compelling fiction. By mapping a path less travelled but just as vital in divisive times, in n A Fiction Writer’s Guide to Peace: Crafting Nonviolent Heroism (Bloomsbury, 2025) Dr. Gabriel Ertsgaard shows writers how they can enact nonviolent heroism in their characters, model civil resistance in their stories, and create worlds around a mythos that champions redemptive nonviolence. With concepts applicable to writing for fiction, drama, the screen, and narrative poetry, A Fiction Writer's Guide to Peace deconstructs the necessity for violence in popular works, explores key concepts in peace studies, and helps writers establish their own peace poetics. Focused around the narrative craft techniques of character arcs, campaigns, duels, and worldbuilding, the book features numerous creative writing prompts and examples from key works. These include films such as Trading Places, Selma, Lage Raho Munna Bai, and Frozen and literature ranging from Shakespeare's plays to Dickens' A Christmas Carol to Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels. A timely and important expansion to any writer's toolkit, A Fiction Writer's Guide to Peace allows storytellers to understand the complex dynamics of, and the damage caused by, violent perspectives and actions, giving them a way into considering nonviolence as powerful and preferable. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gaby Cabezut, author and literary agent of the Seymour agency and the Alliance Rights Agency talks about her author journey and internet publishing, how she became a literary agent, her love for children's books, the importance of the Latin American children's book market, and her advice on querying and writing picture book manuscripts. Plus a submission opportunity for pb manuscripts, but be sure to mention NBN and submit here. Query Manager: https://QueryTracker.net/query/339 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colby Sharp is widely considered one of the leading mavens on children's literature. He is co-author of several books, including Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids (Scholastic, 2018). He started the Nerdy Book Club blog, co-hosts The Yarn podcast with Teacher Librarian Travis Jonker, serves on the Nerd Camp Michigan team and has taught schoolchildren since 2006. Here, we follow his literary life and professional journey to becoming a kidlit guru. Colby shares what he loves in picture books, and offers advice for aspiring authors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices