By Peg Goldstein, TFCB editor and author I play online Scrabble constantly. The only problem is finding suitable partners. People are so responsible. They say things like, “I’m too busy;” “I have to do my job;” “I have to take my son to the emergency room.” Where are their priorities? If you have a Scrabble […]Read more "Just Busy Enough"

By Carol HinzEditorial Director, Millbrook Press Joanne Lew-Vriethoff is the illustrator of The Punctuation Station. She loves vampires and werewolves, though neither appear in the illustrations for this book. She lives in Amsterdam with her husband and two children. Q: How did you decide to make the main characters in this book a family of […]Read more "The Punctuation Station Q&A with Joanne Lew-Vriethoff"

By Sara HoffmannSenior Editor I’m a big music fan—and I like all kinds of music. To say the selections on my iPod are eclectic would be an understatement. So when I found out I’d be editing Lerner’s bio on Michael Jackson (cover pictured), I was over the moon. I mean, who’s a bigger figure in […]Read more "MJ"

Broken business models. Deleted buy buttons. The Agency Four. The death of reading. Blah blah. Don’t pity book people. We still know how to have a good time and get some stuff done while we’re at it. Perhaps the best example in my experience of this phenomenon is the Bologna Book Fair, for which I […]Read more "Bologna"

by Erin Finnegan, NY editorial intern This week we have a glimpse into the future . . . so to speak. Graphic novels often take so long to write, illustrate, color, lay out, letter, and (finally) print, artists might be drawing a year or two in advance of publication. We’re excited to be working on one of […]Read more "GU Comics Day: Shining a spotlight on: Dylan Meconis"

By Domenica Di Piazza, Editorial Director, TFCB Lately my colleagues (authors and editors alike), independently of one another, have been sending me links from a collection of science blogs on the Discover magazine website. The photo above is from an entry about scientists and their tattoos in a Discover blog called The Loom, by Discover […]Read more "Tattooing Science"

By Carol HinzEditorial Director, Millbrook Press This past weekend, I was a History Day judge at the regional level. History Day in general is a big deal, and History Day in Minnesota is a really big deal. About 30,000 students start out every year, and roughly 55 of those students will represent Minnesota at the […]Read more "History Day: A Judge’s Perspective"

[I asked Greg Hunter to give us his insights this week.] Since starting as an assistant editor at Lerner several months ago, I’ve often run up against a unique occupational challenge: to be mindful of not only what’s relevant to young readers, but what appears to have staying power. Will preteen America’s love affair with […]Read more "Mysteries of the Third-Floor Editorial Library, or Rethinking the Shelf-Life of Nonfiction"

It’s been like Christmas here this week. Of course, the launch date for Carolrhoda Lab was the big date circled in red, but there were also surprises to be unwrapped. The advance reading copies of the books showed up yesterday (does that make them Boxing Day presents?). Now, I’m filled with something like post-Christmas satisfaction […]Read more "New Things"