The Lerner Blog

Sandra Markle’s new Arachnid World series is so amazing we decided it deserved a full week on the blog! Welcome to Arachnid World Week! Each day this week we will give you a behind the scenes look at the series and if you leave a comment on the blog or tweet “I love @lernerbooks and […]Read more "Arachnid World Week!"

So I have this crazy obsession with reading. Granted, that’s probably not unusual for an editor. But when I say obsession, I do mean obsession. As in, I read the packaging my socks come in. I read the “News that Travels” bulletins my bus driver hands out on my commute to work (and I read […]Read more "True Confessions of an OR (Obsessive Reader)"

Let’s be honest: YA insiders have an uneasy relationship with stock photography. As much as mountains of cheap stock give designers a lot of creative flexibility (does anyone really think covers have gotten worse since the arrival of cheap digital stock?), stock is also perhaps at the root of a lot of pernicious cover group-think. […]Read more "Does a stock photographer actually have something to teach writers?"

Can you tell I’m excited about The Ferret’s a Foot? Colleen gave me these pins, and I will wear them proudly to the New York City release party! If you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll join me there. THE FERRET’S A FOOT Book Release Party & WorkshopMarch 27, 2011, 1:30pmWORD Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY […]Read more "The Ferrets are Coming!"

My colleagues tell me that they’ve had some fun conversations about books with each other as a result of Part 1 of “What Are You Reading?” Here’s Part 2. Domenica I loved learning about the Jacques Tardi graphic novel series (The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec) from my co-worker Greg, and while I was on […]Read more "What Are You Reading? (Part 2)"

Editing Brian P. Cleary’s rhyming verse can be hazardous. A particularly catchy stanza can easily get stuck in my head. For some reason, though, the verse that most often gets stuck in my head comes from the first Words Are CATegorical book I edited, Quirky, Jerky, Extra Perky: What Is an Adjective? It is: Adjectives […]Read more "Stuck in My Head"

Singing was a passion of mine when I was in school. I sang second soprano in my high school’s chamber chorale. I went on two choir tours, to Colorado and Tennessee. (By bus. All the way from Minnesota. With about thirty other kids between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. It was a blast for […]Read more "Beautiful Music"

You might have seen that the launch party for Kate Hosford’s Big Bouffant was the picture of the day on PW. Kate’s part at New York’s Books of Wonder was a smashing success, and we’ve been marveling at all the creative coiffeur. Here are the highlights: And the boys got in on the updos too. […]Read more "Big Apple, Bigger Bouffants"

This weekend I traveled by train to Vermont and paid a visit to The Center for Cartoon Studies. If you haven’t heard of CCS, let me fill you in. It’s a small college (about 50 students tops) nestled in a small village (White River Junction). It’s a nurturing environment where emerging cartoonists spend a year […]Read more "Away at Cartoon College"