Past Meets Present in YA and MG Fiction

By Editorial Director Amy Fitzgerald

As a kid, I was obsessed with historical fiction. For me, it was an exciting escape from my generally comfortable but uneventful middle-class white life. Only later did I notice that it’s usually white people who fantasize about living in a different time.

Read More

Coding in the Real World

By Kate Schefer, Digital Products Coordinator

Computer programmers continue to be one of the most sought-after positions in all industries. But what about those of us who don’t have a formal tech background? Many people still have never taken a course in any digital capacity, let alone one focused specifically on computer languages and coding. But plenty of us are doing fine in our modern age. So how are we able to keep up? Read More

The Three Stages of Editing a Novel

questions and editing

By Amy Fitzgerald, Associate Editorial Director, Carolrhoda Novels

There’s no one right way to edit a book, but when I tackle a middle-grade or YA novel, I usually divide my editorial process into three stages. Each stage calls for a different skillset, a different way of looking at the story. Here are some of the questions I ask myself at each stage. Read More

3 Right Things that Look Wrong

book with writing over it

By Sara E. Hoffmann, School & Library Series Managing Editor

One thing about editing is that, no matter how many books you’ve edited, you still find yourself consulting the dictionary All. The. Time. throughout your workday to make sure that you’re spelling certain words correctly. See, there are a lot of of words that look like they are spelled correctly, but they actually aren’t. And vice versa: Lots of things look wrong but are actually right. Read More