Although I was a military brat for a big chunk of my childhood, I finished growing up in Iowa (or maybe not at all).  I became a high school English teacher in 1980, and 2019-2020 will be my fortieth year in the classroom.  Most of that was spent at William Fremd High School in Palatine, Illinois (1987-2014) where I served …

Pam’s been an avid reader all of her life. In fact, she was probably in line for a book when they handed out map skills. Growing up she loved the classics but now that she’s a grown up she has learned to love all genres of books, especially books for kids and teens. Her passion is helping kids find books …

Mel Schuit is a children’s book author, illustrator, reviewer, and marketer with an MA in Children’s Literature, an MFA in Writing for Children, and a BA in Studio Art. She talks about children’s book illustration and design at Let’s Talk Picture Books, which started as a way for her to catalog the illustration styles and recurrent themes she found in …

Charlotte Taylor has been fan of fantasy all her life, and spent her childhood rejecting her sisters’ importunings to come play in favor of peaceful reading. She still spends as much time as possible reading (mostly middle grade speculative fiction, but other genres too, because she wants to read All the Things), but she is hampered her day job as …

The very first book Alex remembers really loving was Anne of Green Gables, which was then followed by countless others. She has been a Middle Grade Fiction second round judge for the past five years and always forward to participating in the Cybils. She is also a technology geek and originally began teaching Information Technology in school. Eventually, she found …

Bridget discovered children’s poetry while taking a children’s literature class in college. It was love at first read. As a youth services librarian, she loves sharing poetry with kids at her libraries. Bridget has served as a Round 1 Panelist for Poetry four times and as a Round 1 Panelist for Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction once. Bridget blogs intermittently at What Is …

Reshama has been a voracious reader from her earliest years. Born in India, where libraries were scarce, the only way she could lay her hands on the latest books were when her dad used to get her books when he returned from travel abroad. Book exhibitions also gave her an opportunity to get her hands on new and interesting books, …

Writer and editor Heidi Fiedler has worked on more than 300 books for clients ranging from Target to Barnes & Noble. She does the deep thinking that’s needed to turn an idea into a book that delights and inspires. Whether it’s a poetic picture book, a zippy chapter book, or a kid-friendly take on the physics of time travel, the …