Rumor has it that I’m helping to organize Kidlitosphere Conference this year. Whatever else you may have heard about me, this rumor is entirely true. My coconspirators are Brian Farrey of Flux and Ben Barnhart of Milkweed, and we’re looking forward to hosting the best and the brightest in kidlit blogging at Open Book in […]Read more "The Kidlitosphere"

It may only be July, but we have all hands on deck for our HUGE Fall season here at Lerner. With more than 200 new titles, this is the biggest list we’ve ever published! So, in order to get all of our books the attention they fully deserve we are trying something new… NetGalley! That’s […]Read more "Free eGalleys!"

Brian P. Cleary shares the story behind his newest book series! Considering that “reservations” is my favorite thing to make for dinner, I had quite a challenge on my hands when I was asked to author a brand-new series teaching the basics of the food pyramid, called Food Is CATegorical™, featuring the signature funny felines […]Read more "Brian P. Cleary: Chocolate Is Not a Food Group"

[Greg Hunter is back with another intriguing post.] Style is an elusive thing. That’s a cliché, but like a lot of clichés, it’s true. Most writers struggle on the way to developing a distinctive voice. And once the author gets there, the challenge becomes his or her editor’s: to preserve this voice on the way […]Read more "Who Do You Write Like?"

By Connie Goldsmith (Domenica invited Connie Goldsmith, below, to contribute this entry about her new Fall 2010 TFCB single title about malaria.) Bugs fascinate me. I’m not talking about iridescent scarab beetles, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, or the giant praying mantis. I’m talking about the curvy Ebola virus with its twisted tail, the E. coli bacteria […]Read more "Battling Malaria"

By Carol HinzEditorial Director, Millbrook Press The recent news coverage of the Russian spies found living in the United States brought back memories of the Cold War for many people. For me, it also brought back memories of editing Spy Technology by Ron Fridell. This compact book, which is part of our Cool Science series, […]Read more "Spies"

by Anna Cavallo A while back, my colleague Carol Hinz wrote a post demystifying reading level–the evaluation tools we use, some tricks of the trade, and more. As another Lerner editor compelled to ponder/study/grapple with reading level with a significant portion of my time, I realized I could add one more favorite tool to the […]Read more "On Vocabulary"

Two of my favorite Lab Rats have nailed it this week—or maybe I should say others have recognized the fantastic force with which they hit ferrous fasteners. First, Blythe Woolston posted an homage to Harvey Pekar that turned into a post about R. Crumb that became a post about writing better. And it’s still short—like […]Read more "Nailing it."

by Erin Finnegan Melinda Thielbar is the primary author behind Manga Math Mysteries, our series for Grades 3-5 that relates math to everyday life through the eyes of the students at a Kung Fu dojo. Melinda is a statistician who has previously worked as a math teacher “in real life.” What was the first thing […]Read more "GU Comics Day: Figuring it all out with Manga Math (and Tigers)"