Editing children’s nonfiction is a little like being in school: I’m constantly learning something new, whether it’s the history of football or the gestation period of a giraffe. But no matter the subject, the following resources have always served me well. The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary,11th edition are the two books […]Read more "Nonfiction Monday: An Editor’s Essential Tools"

Email and Facebook make it easy for editors to correspond daily, even instantly, with their authors and illustrators. It makes for a much more enjoyable relationship than merely Fed Ex’ing manuscripts back and forth. Still, for all the advantages of electronic communication, there’s nothing like meeting someone in person. At ALA in Chicago this July, […]Read more "Real Live People"

When you tell people you’re a trade children’s book editor, people from outside the industry—“civilians”—often assume that you do a lot of focus group research with young readers, and that books are rigorously tested*. Formal, truly representative testing is not really compatible with the creative process that’s so essential to picture books and novels, so […]Read more "Rigorous Testing"

I recently returned from ALA, where I once again sat in as the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) committee deliberated. The members’ comments were thoughtful. They clearly took their jobs seriously. The composition of the membership was fairly diverse as to gender, age, ethnicity, and region. I was sorry to miss the part where […]Read more "Baby, Bathwater, and Beyond"

We’re back from ALA in Chicago and what a success it was! The convention center was packed with 29,000 librarians and book lovers of all ages (pretty good company if you ask me). The four day conference was a marathon session filled with meetings, author and illustrator signings, great meals, and even a ticket to […]Read more "ALA 2009: Author Signings, Newbery Caldecott Wilder Banquet, and More!"

(This entry posted on behalf of Erin Finnegan. She takes a look another one of the reasons why editors go to comic conventions—or send their minions.) Hello! Starting in July I came on board as an intern in Graphic Universe’s office in New York City. A few years ago I began writing professional convention coverage […]Read more "GU Comics Day: Finding artists in the alley"

Helping our readers stay tuned to and informed about current events is one of the key missions of the TFCB imprint. And with world events changing so rapidly, we’ve created some digital tools to help. One of these is the Visual Geography Series (VGS) website, offering users a wide range of free materials. These include […]Read more "Visual Geography Series: Staying Current"

Here are a few highlights from my time at last week’s annual conference of the American Library Association (ALA). At the Nonfiction Book Blast, I saw seventeen engaging nonfiction writers present their recent books. If you missed it, you can find out about all the books on the Nonfiction Book Blast wiki. We celebrated Lerner’s […]Read more "ALA: Taking Children’s Books Seriously"

Domenica invited me to write about my books in the new Fall 2009 TFCB series The Decades of Twentieth-Century America. How satisfying to write a book that requires research into what makes this nation tick! How special to multiply this reward by five. That is how I felt writing five books in the decades series. […]Read more "Insider’s View from Marlene Targ Brill"