By Carol Hinz Editorial Director, Millbrook Press For me the holidays are about spending time with family, and—if I’m lucky—playing a few good games. While I like all kinds of board games, I’m particularly drawn to those that have to do with words and wordplay. I suspect that other editors, writers, and book-lovers in general […]Read more "Playing with Words"

The other day, one of my colleagues mentioned that she saw one of our titles at a knit shop window (below). The title was Silkworms, a nonfiction work we brought in from a Japanese publisher, Akane Shobo. A then on-staff editor, Sylvia Johnson, wrote the text. The awesome photographs by Isao Kishida completed the package. […]Read more "Beautiful Backlist"

By Domenica Di Piazza, Editorial Director, TFCB I don’t do a lot of baking for the holiday season, although I do typically make at least one batch of cookies. This year, I’m going to make espresso shortbread (left) again. It was a huge hit last year. I realize this has almost nothing to do with […]Read more "Holiday Baking"

By Carol HinzEditorial Director, Millbrook Press Deck the halls with children’s authors,Fa la la la la, la la la la.Brian Cleary, Sally Walker,Fa la la la la, la la la la. Keep your clever rhymes a-goin’,Fa la la, la la la, la la la.Trudy Harris and Anne Bowen,Fa la la la la, la la la […]Read more "A New Holiday Song"

By Sara HoffmannSenior Editor As some of my fellow bloggers have mentioned, one of the benefits of being an editor is that you’re always learning something new. I recently had the opportunity to help develop an upcoming Spring 2010 series called Is That a Fact? (cover pictured). This group of books explores whether there’s any […]Read more "Oh, The Things I’ve Learned"

Actually, I suppose it’s a “why-haven’t-I-seen-this-in-a-novel-yet post. The town I grew up in had a fairly serious extra-curricular boy choir. I was not in it, but I had several friends who were. It was an uncomfortable social balancing act for these pre-adolescent boys. On the one had: dorky robes, practice, and high voices. On the […]Read more "A Christmas post, sort of"

by Erin Finnegan, NY editorial intern This week I interviewed the colorist behind the three-book series The Elsewhere Chronicles, Corentin Jaffré. Book Four: The Calling, will be published by Graphic Universe in the spring. Q. What computer programs and/or what kind of pens, pencils and brushes do you use? A. All panels of The Elsewhere […]Read more "GU Comics Day: Shining a spotlight on: Corentin Jaffré"

By Domenica Di Piazza, Editorial Director, TFCB I’ve always assumed that biographers inevitably fall in love with their subjects. After all, they cohabit the same psychic space for months, if not years, and a certain amount of transference is likely to occur. Kind of like falling in love with your surgeon after he or she […]Read more "Living with Your Subject"

By Carol HinzEditorial Director, Millbrook Press I think it’s safe to say that all writers and editors of children’s books think about reading level at least some of the time. Within Lerner’s editorial department, we think about reading level a lot of the time. All of our nonfiction series have designated reading levels. Some manuscripts […]Read more "A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma: Reading Level"