I heard a recent radio interview with novelist E.L. Doctorow . He said, “[First lines] are the acorns from which the oak grows.” While he was talking about novels, I couldn’t help applying his statement to some of our recent nonfiction titles. “I bet fifty dollars no one can ride in a horseless buggy across […]Read more "Nonfiction Monday: First Lines and First Impressions"

[I asked Jeff Savage, the author of many of our Amazing Athletes titles, to be this week’s Lerner guest blogger. Be gentle with him! It’s his first blog ever. He lives in California, not far from where I grew up.] My father came for a visit last weekend. As he was watching TV, our telephone […]Read more "Channeling Dad"

(posted on behalf of Julie Harman, production editor, occasional Scrambler) One of the most unusual roles in the Graphic Universe imprint is that of The Scrambler. In GU’s Twisted Journeys series, the reader decides his or her path through the journey and reaches a different ending each time. Twisted Journeys authors write each storyline in […]Read more "GU Comics Day: Twisting a Journey—A Day in the Life of a Scrambler"

[Here is the continuation of Jean’s blog posting on the back story of TFCB. I’ve added a photo of her (left) with our director of rights and special sales, Maria Kjoller, at LPG’s 50th anniversary gala. Thanks, Jean!]Jeanne Vestal retired in 1998. Meanwhile, Holt had made the decision to sell the by now well-established imprint, […]Read more "TFCB’s Beginnings—Part II from Jean Reynolds"

This weekend I spent some time at the Minnesota Weavers Guild demonstration area at the Minnesota State Fair. One person wove on a floor loom, another wove on an inkle loom, a third person spun wool into yarn with a spinning wheel, and I crocheted and knit. All of us talked with people passing by […]Read more "Kids and Real Stuff"

Several years ago, I read the book 100 Best Books for Children—publishing insider Anita Silvey’s look at the story behind the creation of some of the all-time greatest children’s books. One detail that’s stuck with me from the book is the story of what inspired Goodnight Moon. Silvey explains that author Margaret Wise Brown was […]Read more "Goodnight Moon and Your Amazing Senses—A Surprising Parallel"

One of the most satisfying things about working on single-title nonfiction is that you can encounter its components in real life. I had this experience quite literally when I heard Archaeologist Doug Owsley interview on public radio: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/js/swfobject.js /**/ Doug and his work play a critical role in the story Sally Walker tells in her […]Read more "Integration"

[In the 1950s, Harry Lerner was serving in the U.S. Army in Germany. Here’s the story—somewhat abbreviated—of how he got into publishing. It’s part of the memoir he wrote to celebrate LPG’s 50th anniversary. At left is the cover, which shows HJL sitting in the Renault mentioned below.] GIs were importing American cars at U.S. […]Read more "How Harry Lerner Got into Publishing"

Mary and Domenica asked me, the cofounder of Millbrook Press—of which Twenty-First Century Books (TFCB) became an imprint—to pass along what I know about the history of the imprint, now under the Lerner umbrella. If a new imprint calling itself Twenty-Second Century Books were to be launched today, we would no doubt expect something over-the-top […]Read more "TFCB’s Beginnings—Part I from Jean Reynolds"