Erin Soderberg Downing
I read and write lots of funny, adventurous, & heartwarming books for kids, tweens, and teens (and even a few romantic comedies for adults, too!) that are ultimately about finding your place, finding your people, and finding your voice. I always love book recommendations, so please send them my way. As a reader, I'm partial to contemporary romantic comedy, thrillers that keep the pages turning and have well-built characters, funny/original voices, quirky characters, and always kids' books with humor and heart.
If you like author Erin Soderberg Downing here is the list of authors you may also like
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Catherine Hapka
Catherine (Cathy) Hapka has written more than one hundred books for children and adults, as a ghostwriter for series as well as original titles, including the Romantic Comedies Something Borrowed, The Twelve Date of Christmas, and Love on Cue. She lives in Pennsylvania.
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Lindsay Currie
Lindsay Currie is a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of mysteries for young readers, including the Delta Games series and It's Watching, She grew up on Nancy Drew and loves a good twisty tale. When she's not writing, Lindsay can generally be found looking for an adventure of her own. She loves researching forgotten history and recently relocated from Chicago to a 220 acre farm in downstate Illinois where she finally gets to see stars every night, and take hikes every day.
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Coming soon: THE HOUSE WITH NO KEYS (October 2025) and X Marks the Haunt (February 2026)! For more details on Lindsay's upcoming books, please visit the My Books tab at the top of the page.
To find out more about Lindsay, please visit her website at www. -
Rodman Philbrick
Aka William R Dantz, Chris Jordan, W.R. Philbrick.
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Rodman Philbrick grew up on the New England coast, where he worked as a longshoreman and boat builder. For many years he wrote mysteries and detective novels. The Private Eye Writers of America nominated two of his T.D.Stash series as best detective novel and then selected Philbrick's 'Brothers & Sinners' as Best Novel in 1993. Writing under the pen name 'William R. Dantz' he has explored the near-future worlds of genetic engineering and hi-tech brain control in books like 'Hunger', 'Pulse', 'The Seventh Sleeper'. And 'Nine Levels Down'.
Inspired by the life of a boy who lived a few blocks away, he wrote 'Freak The Mighty', the award-winning young-adult novel, which has been translated into n -
Lynne Kelly
Lynne Kelly's career as a sign language interpreter has taken her everywhere from classrooms to hospitals to Alaskan cruises. Today, she lives near Houston, Texas with her adorable dogs, Abigail and Eloise. Her 2019 novel SONG FOR A WHALE, about a deaf girl named Iris who forms an unlikely bond with the “loneliest whale in the world,” has been described as “finely crafted,” “important,” and “uplifting” by reviewers from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and School Library Journal. SONG FOR A WHALE received the 2020 Schneider Family Book Award and was named one of the best books of the year by New York Public Library.
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Her next novel, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF BIRDS, will be released in April 2024. -
Jasmine Warga
Jasmine Warga is a writer from Cincinnati, Ohio who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She is the internationally bestselling author of My Heart and Other Black Holes and Here We Are Now. Her books have been published in over twenty-five countries and optioned for film. Her debut middle grade novel, Other Words For Home, will be published in Spring 2019. Jasmine lives in an apartment filled with books with her husband, two tiny daughters, large dog, and mischievous cat.
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**I am only on Goodreads when one of my publishers sets up a Q&A for me, so the best way to contact me is through my website: www.jasminewarga.com or on twitter: @jasminewarga. Thank you so much for reading my books!** -
Kate Albus
Kate Albus grew up in New York but now lives in rural Maryland with her husband and children. She loves reading, baking, knitting, hiking, and other activities that are inherently quiet.
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Christopher Paul Curtis
Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan on May 10, 1953 to Dr. Herman Elmer Curtis, a chiropodist, and Leslie Jane Curtis, an educator. The city of Flint plays an important role in many of Curtis's books. One such example is Bucking the Sarge, which is about a fifteen year old boy named Luther T. Ferrel, who is in a running battle with his slum-lord mother. Curtis is an alumnus of the University of Michigan-Flint.
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Curtis is the father of two children, Steven, an ensign in the United States Navy, and Cydney, a college student and accomplished pianist. His third child is expected to make an appearance in 2011. Christopher modeled characters in Bud, Not Buddy after his two grandfathers—Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro league baseball pitcher, and 1930s b -
Jess Redman
At age six, Jess Redman published a poem entitled “I Read and Read and Read All Day” in a local anthology. She knew then, reading her printed words in a real book, that she wanted to be an author when she grew up.
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She spent the next couple of decades doing things like surviving middle school, traveling around the world, becoming a therapist, and having two kids. She wrote the whole time.
Then one day, she realized that she was probably an official grown up and it was time to try to get some more of her words printed in real books.
Her middle-grade debut, THE MIRACULOUS, was published by FSG/Macmillan in 2019. Her second middle-grade, QUINTESSENCE was published in 2020, and her third, THE ADVENTURE IS NOW will be out on May 4, 2021!
She still re -
Heidi Lang
Heidi Lang believes that the next Grand Adventure is always just around the corner. She has chased her love of judo from the East to the West Coast, run ultramarathons, started her own dog-walking business, and converted a Sprinter van into a tiny home so she could experience #vanlife. Currently she lives in Washington with her husband, kids, and two dogs.
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Dusti Bowling
DUSTI BOWLING grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, where, as her family will tell you, she always had her nose in a book. She released her first middle grade novel in 2017 and hasn't stopped writing since.
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Dusti's books have won the Reading the West Award, the Sakura Medal, a Golden Kite Honor, the William Allen White Children's Book Award, and have been nominated for a Cybil and over fifty state awards. Her books are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections and have been named best books of the year by the Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, Bank Street College of Education, A Mighty Girl, Shelf Awareness, and many more.
Dusti currently lives in Eagar, Arizona with her husband, three daughters, and a bunch of farm animals.
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Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes has always loved reading and writing stories. Born and raised in Manchester, a largely African-American neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, she was a voracious reader as a child. She began college as a dance major, but when she discovered there were novels by African Americans, she knew she wanted to be an author. She wrote six novels for adults, two writing guides, and a memoir, but writing for children remained her dream.
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Now she is the author of eleven books for youth including the New York Times bestsellers Will's Race for Home, Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. Her other books include Soul Step, Treasure Island: Runaway Gold, Paradise on Fire, Towers Falling, and the Louisiana Girls Trilogy: Nin -
Jay Coles
Jay Coles is a MG and YA author. He lives in Muncie, Indiana with aspirations to live in Los Angeles. Also, Jay is a composer, musician, and missionary where he gets to mentor college students. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram (@mrjaycoles)!
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Britnee Meiser
Britnee is a writer, amateur crocheter, and small creature enthusiast living in Brooklyn, New York. She's the author of ALL MY BESTS and JANE STAYS DREAMING. Her chapter book series, WITCHES OF PECULIAR, is published under the pseudonym Luna Graves.
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Rodman Philbrick
Aka William R Dantz, Chris Jordan, W.R. Philbrick.
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Rodman Philbrick grew up on the New England coast, where he worked as a longshoreman and boat builder. For many years he wrote mysteries and detective novels. The Private Eye Writers of America nominated two of his T.D.Stash series as best detective novel and then selected Philbrick's 'Brothers & Sinners' as Best Novel in 1993. Writing under the pen name 'William R. Dantz' he has explored the near-future worlds of genetic engineering and hi-tech brain control in books like 'Hunger', 'Pulse', 'The Seventh Sleeper'. And 'Nine Levels Down'.
Inspired by the life of a boy who lived a few blocks away, he wrote 'Freak The Mighty', the award-winning young-adult novel, which has been translated into n -
Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. In 1987 he co-founded Children's Literature New England (a non-profit educational charity).
Maguire has served as artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Hambidge Center. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts.
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Catherine Hapka
Catherine (Cathy) Hapka has written more than one hundred books for children and adults, as a ghostwriter for series as well as original titles, including the Romantic Comedies Something Borrowed, The Twelve Date of Christmas, and Love on Cue. She lives in Pennsylvania.
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James Howe
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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James Howe has written more than eighty books in the thirty-plus years he's been writing for young readers. It sometimes confuses people that the author of the humorous Bunnicula series also wrote the dark young adult novel, The Watcher, or such beginning reader series as Pinky and Rex and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award-winning Houndsley and Catina and its sequels. But from the beginning of his career (which came about somewhat by accident after asking himself what kind of vampire a rabbit might make), he has been most interested in letting his imagination take him in whatever direction it cared to. So far, his imagi -
Alan Gratz
Alan Gratz is the bestselling author of a number of novels for young readers. His 2017 novel Refugee has spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list, and is the winner of 14 state awards. Its other accolades include the Sydney Taylor Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award, a Charlotte Huck Award Honor, and a Malka Penn Award for Human Rights Honor. Refugee was also a Global Read Aloud Book for 2018.
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Alan’s novel Grenade debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list, and his most recent book, Allies, debuted at number two on the list and received four starred reviews. His other books include Prisoner B-3087, which was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Readers pick and -
Jennifer Echols
Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. She has written nine romantic novels for young adults, including the comedy MAJOR CRUSH, which won the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the drama GOING TOO FAR, which was a finalist in the RITA, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best, and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster will debut her adult romance novels in 2013, with many more teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son.
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Chantel Acevedo
Called "a master storyteller" by Kirkus Reviews, Chantel Acevedo is the author of Love and Ghost Letters, A Falling Star, The Distant Marvels, which was a finalist for the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and most recently, The Living Infinite, hailed by Booklist as a "vivid and enthralling tale of love and redemption." Her essays have appeared in Vogue and Real Simple, among others. THE MUSE SQUAD: THE CASSANDRA CURSE, is a new middle grade series forthcoming from Balzer + Bray. She is a Professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs in the MFA program.
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Kate Messner
Kate Messner is an award-winning author, TED 2012 speaker, and former middle school English teacher. Her books for kids include THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.,SUGAR AND ICE, and EYE OF THE STORM (Walker/Bloomsbury Dec. 2010) the MARTY MCGUIRE series (Scholastic), SEA MONSTER'S FIRST DAY, and OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle, Books). Kate also wrote SPITFIRE and CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE, both Lake Champlain historical novels published by North Country Books.
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Kate lives with her family on Lake Champlain, where she loves to read, write, hike, swing on birch trees, and eat chocolate. She also hangs out in various places online.
Visit Kate's website: http://www.katemessner.com
Find Kate on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/KateMessner
...or f -
Natalie Lloyd
Natalie Lloyd is the New York Times Bestselling Author of novels for young readers (and the young at heart).
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Her first novel, A Snicker of Magic (2014), was an ALA Notable Book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a top 10 Kids Indie Next Pick and an NPR, iBooks and Parents Magazine best book of the year for children. The book has been optioned for television by Sony Tristar. Natalie’s other novels include The Key to Extraordinary (Scholastic 2016), The Problim Children series (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen 2017), and Over the Moon (Scholastic 2019). These novels have won accolades from Entertainment Weekly, Junior Library Guild, SIBA, Amazon and Bank Street College of Education, among others. Silverswift, her first Audible Origin -
Christina Diaz Gonzalez
Christina Diaz Gonzalez is the Edgar® award-winning author of several books including The Red Umbrella, A Thunderous Whisper, the Moving Target duology, Stormspeaker, Concealed, and two upcoming books, Invisible (a graphic novel available in August 2022) and The Bluest Sky (a historical fiction novel available in September 2022). Her books have received numerous honors including the Florida Book Award, the Nebraska Book Award, and the International Latino Book Award. Her work has also been designated as an American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults selection, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, and as an International Reading Association's Teachers' Choice book. Chri
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Katherine Applegate
#1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate has written many books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal.
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Katherine’s picture books include THE BUFFALO STORM, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (Clarion Books); THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion Books); SOMETIMES YOU FLY, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion Books); and ODDER: AN OTTER’S STORY, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Feiwel & Friends).
She’s written or co-written three early chapter series for young readers: ROSCOE RILEY RULES, a seven-book series illustrated by Brian Biggs (HarperCollins); DOGGO AND PUPPER, a three-book series illustrated by Charlie Alde -
Heidi Lang
Heidi Lang believes that the next Grand Adventure is always just around the corner. She has chased her love of judo from the East to the West Coast, run ultramarathons, started her own dog-walking business, and converted a Sprinter van into a tiny home so she could experience #vanlife. Currently she lives in Washington with her husband, kids, and two dogs.
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Karen Kingsbury
Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated for major network viewing sometime in the next year. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. In 2001 she and her husband, Don, adopted three boys from Haiti, doubling their family in a matter of months. Today the couple has joined the ranks of empty nesters, living in Tennessee near five of their adult children.
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Rae Carson
Rae Carson was born in 1973 in California and now lives in Arizona. She developed an enthusiasm for storytelling in her earliest childhood. She studied social sciences and worked in various industries after graduating from university before she realized her dream and became a writer. The Girl of Fire and Thorns is her debut novel.
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In her own words, she "write[s] books about teens who must do brave things. [Her] books tend to contain lots of adventure, a little magic and romance, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. [She] especially love[s] to write about questions [she doesn't] know the answers to."
Has also published as Rae Carson Finlay. -
Dayna Lorentz
Dayna is a writer of children's, young adult, and adult literature.
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Marissa Meyer
I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my husband and beautiful twin daughters. Represented by Jill Grinberg. Learn more about me and my upcoming books at http://www.marissameyer.com.
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Elana K. Arnold
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ELANA K. ARNOLD writes books for and about children and teens. She holds a master’s degree in Creative Writing/Fiction from the University of California, Davis where she has taught Creative Writing and Adolescent Literature. Her most recent YA novel, DAMSEL, is a Printz Honor book, Her 2017 novel, WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her middle grade novel, A BOY CALLED BAT, is a Junior Library Guild Selection. A parent and educator living in Huntington Beach, California, Elana is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries, and writers’ conferences. Currently, Elana is the caretaker of seven pets, only three of which have fur. Sign up for her newsletter here: https://elanakarnold.us10.list-manage... -
Jasmine Warga
Jasmine Warga is a writer from Cincinnati, Ohio who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She is the internationally bestselling author of My Heart and Other Black Holes and Here We Are Now. Her books have been published in over twenty-five countries and optioned for film. Her debut middle grade novel, Other Words For Home, will be published in Spring 2019. Jasmine lives in an apartment filled with books with her husband, two tiny daughters, large dog, and mischievous cat.
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**I am only on Goodreads when one of my publishers sets up a Q&A for me, so the best way to contact me is through my website: www.jasminewarga.com or on twitter: @jasminewarga. Thank you so much for reading my books!** -
Megan Wagner Lloyd
Megan Wagner Lloyd is the writer of the kids' graphic novels ALLERGIC and SQUISHED, co-created with illustrator Michelle Mee Nutter, and the SUPER PANCAKE series, co-created with illustrator Abhi Alwar. She's also the author of HAVEN: A SMALL CAT'S BIG ADVENTURE, and several picture books. She lives with her family in the Washington DC area.
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Sign up for her newsletter: meganwagnerlloyd.com
Find her on Instagram: @meganwagnerlloyd -
Kelly Yang
Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the FRONT DESK series, winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children's Literature. Her books include FRONT DESK, THREE KEYS, ROOM TO DREAM, PARACHUTES, NEW FROM HERE, and other middle grade and young adult novels. She was born in China and grew up in Los Angeles. She went to college at the age of 13 and graduated from UC Berkeley at the age of 17 and Harvard Law School at the age of 20. After law school, she founded The Kelly Yang Project, a writing and debating program for children in Asia. Prior to becoming a novelist, she wrote for many years for the South China Morning Post, The New York Times, Washington Post, and the Atlantic. She lives in Los Angeles
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Ann Braden
Ann Braden writes books about kids learning to stand up for themselves even when it’s hard. Her debut middle grade novel, THE BENEFITS OF BEING AN OCTOPUS, was called one of “the essential middle school reads from the last decade” by Edutopia, and FLIGHT OF THE PUFFIN sparked a coast-to-coast read aloud with tens of thousands of students taking part. Her newest book, OPINIONS AND OPOSSUMS, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Ann founded the Local Love Brigade, which sends love postcards to those who are facing hate. She also founded GunSenseVT, a grassroots group which helped pass landmark common ground gun safety legislation. Previously a middle school teacher, Ann lives in southern Vermont with her husband, two kids, and t
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Claribel A. Ortega
New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author, Claribel A. Ortega is a former reporter who writes middle-grade and young adult fantasy inspired by her Dominican heritage. When she's not busy turning her obsession with eighties pop culture, magic, and video games into books, she’s co-hosting her podcast Bad Author Book Club. Claribel is a Marvel contributor and has been featured on Buzzfeed, Bustle, Good Morning America and Deadline.
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Claribel’s NYT Bestselling debut middle grade novel Ghost Squad is being made into a feature film. Her latest book Witchlings (Scholastic) was an Instant NYT and #1 Indie Bestseller. Her graphic novel Frizzy with Rose Bousamra is out now from First Second and was an Indie Bestseller. You can find her on Twi -
Andrea Beatriz Arango
Andrea Beatriz Arango is the author of Newbery Honor Book Iveliz Explains It All and the Pura Belpré Honor Book Something Like Home. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first became a teacher. She then spent a decade in the United States working in public schools and nonprofits. When she’s not busy writing about middle schoolers and their families, you can find her hoping to spot manatees at the beach. Andrea lives in Puerto Rico with her family and two dogs.
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Tracy Badua
Tracy Badua is an award-winning Filipino American author of books about young people with sunny hearts in a sometimes stormy world. By day, she is an attorney who works in national housing policy, and by night, she squeezes in writing, family time, and bites of her secret candy stash. She lives in San Diego, California.
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Christina Soontornvat
Christina Soontornvat grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Thai restaurant in a small Texas town with her nose stuck in a book. She is very proud of both her Thai and her Texan roots, and makes regular trips to both Weatherford and Bangkok to see her beloved family members (and eat lots and lots of Thai food!). Christina is the author of the fantasy middle grade series, The Changelings, and the early chapter book series, Diary of an Ice Princess. Her forthcoming books include the middle grade fantasy, A Wish in the Dark, and All Thirteen, a nonfiction account of the Thai Cave Rescue.
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In addition to being an author, Christina holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Science Education. She spent a decade working i -
Gary D. Schmidt
Gary D. Schmidt is an American children's writer of nonfiction books and young adult novels, including two Newbery Honor books. He lives on a farm in Alto, Michigan,with his wife and six children, where he splits wood, plants gardens, writes, feeds the wild cats that drop by and wishes that sometimes the sea breeze came that far inland. He is a Professor of English at Calvin College.
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Chris Baron
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Chris Baron is the award winning author of Novels for Children including ALL OF ME, an NCTE Notable Book, THE MAGICAL IMPERFECT a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book/ a SLJ Best Book of 2021 & the forthcoming novels, THE GRAY a ProjectLIT 23-24 Selection and SPARK from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, and SECRET OF THE DRAGON GEMS, a Middle Grade novel co-authored with Rajani LaRocca from Little Bee Books, and editor of ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS: A MIDDLE GRADE PASSOVER ANTHOLOGY, from Abrams (24), He is a Professor of English at San Diego City College and the director of the Writing Center. He grew up in New York City, but he completed his MFA in Poetry in 1998 at SDSU. HE lives in San Diego with his family. He is represented by Rena Rossner from t -
Kieran Scott
Kieran Scott is the author of domestic suspense and mystery novels including WISH YOU WERE GONE, REGRETS ONLY and PEOPLE WILL TALK. She has also written several young adult novels, both under her own name and for Alloy Entertainment under the pseudonym Kate Brian. These include the New York Times best-selling PRIVATE and PRIVILEGE series, as well as MEGAN MEADE'S GUIDE TO THE MCGOWAN BOYS and many others. She grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, attended Rutgers University, and now lives in New Jersey with her husband, two sons and one goofy dog.
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Chrystal D. Giles
Chrystal D. Giles is a champion for diversity and representation in children’s literature. She made her debut with Take Back the Block, which received multiple starred reviews, was a Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and NPR Best Book, and won the IRA Social Justice Literature Award. Her latest middle-grade novel, Not An Easy Win, received four starred reviews and has been named an ALSC Notable Children's Book. Chrystal lives outside Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and son.
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Chrystal is represented by Elizabeth Bewley at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. -
Tracy Badua
Tracy Badua is an award-winning Filipino American author of books about young people with sunny hearts in a sometimes stormy world. By day, she is an attorney who works in national housing policy, and by night, she squeezes in writing, family time, and bites of her secret candy stash. She lives in San Diego, California.
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Cliff Burke
Cliff Burke has taught reading and writing in China, Hong Kong, the US, and the UK. His first novel, An Occasionally Happy Family, was a 2022 Spirit of Texas Book and was selected for several state reading lists. His most recent novel, My Not-So-Great French Escape, was released in March 2023.
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Visit him online at cliffburke.com -
McCall Hoyle
McCall Hoyle lives in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains with her husband, children, and an odd assortment of pets. She is a middle school librarian and teacher. When she's not reading, writing, or teaching, she's probably training one of many dogs. You can learn more about her at mccallhoyle.com.
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Lisa Yee
Lisa Yee has written over 20 novels. Her most recent book, Maizy Chen's Last Chance, is about a fifth-generation Chinese American girl, and is a National Book Award Finalist, Newbery Honor, and the Asian Pacific American Children's Literature Award winner.
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Lisa's debut novel, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, won the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award. Other books include Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, Absolutely Maybe, and a series about a 4th grader, Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) and Bobby the Brave (Sometimes), illustrated by Dan Santat.
Lisa is also the author of several American Girl books and the DC Super Hero Girls series. A Thurber House Children’s Writer-in-Residence, Lisa's books have been named a NPR Best Summer Read, Sports Illust -
John Cochran
I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. I studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and worked for daily newspapers in Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, reporting on everything from crime to state government. I went on to cover Congress and national politics for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., where I received the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award. I live on Capitol Hill in D.C. with my wife and our two children. Breaking into Sunlight is my first novel.
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I am represented by Isabelle Bleecker of Nordlyset Literary Agency. -
Dayna Lorentz
Dayna is a writer of children's, young adult, and adult literature.
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Daphne Benedis-Grab
Daphne Benedis-Grab is the author of four middle grade books and two books for teens. She lives and writes in New York City.
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Chantel Acevedo
Called "a master storyteller" by Kirkus Reviews, Chantel Acevedo is the author of Love and Ghost Letters, A Falling Star, The Distant Marvels, which was a finalist for the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and most recently, The Living Infinite, hailed by Booklist as a "vivid and enthralling tale of love and redemption." Her essays have appeared in Vogue and Real Simple, among others. THE MUSE SQUAD: THE CASSANDRA CURSE, is a new middle grade series forthcoming from Balzer + Bray. She is a Professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs in the MFA program.
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Mindy Nichols Wendell
Mindy Nichols Wendell is a middle grade author. Before beginning her writing career, she taught English for thirty years. She always felt lucky to get paid for doing a job she loved. Mindy and her husband live in Western New York, not far from the ruins of the sanatorium that inspired Light and Air. These days, when she’s not writing or reading or taking long walks in quiet places, Mindy is probably visiting her grandsons.
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Kristin F. Johnson
Kristin Johnson was born and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota. She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter with a business degree. Kristin has won two Minnesota State Arts Board artist initiative grants. She was a media specialist and elementary school librarian for Minneapolis Public Schools for two years and taught writing at Metropolitan State University for 12 years.
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Kristin was also a host for KFAI’s Write On! Radio program. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her family and their rescue dog, a mixed breed who is mostly half Black Labrador and half Australian Shepherd. -
James Bird
There is more than one author in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for James ^2 Bird.
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James Bird is a screenwriter and director at the independent film company, Zombot Pictures; his films include We Are Boats and Honeyglue. A California native of Ojibwe descent, he now lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts with his wife, the author and actor Adriana Mather, and their son. The Brave is his debut novel. -
Angharad Walker
Angharad grew up on various military bases in the UK, Germany and Cyprus, where stories were often being told about far-flung places, past conflicts, and friends and family. She studied English Literature & Creative Writing at the University of Warwick and University of California Irvine. She now lives in London.
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Mae Respicio
Mae Respicio writes heart-filled middle grade novels including The House That Lou Built, which won an Asian Pacific American Libraries Association Honor Award in Children's Literature, was an NPR Best Book, and was named to many "best of" and state reading lists, Any Day With You (out now), and How to Win A Slime War (out fall 2021). Find her at www.maerespicio.com.
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Sally J. Pla
Sally J. Pla is the author of ALA Schneider Award-winning THE FIRE, THE WATER, AND MAUDIE McGINN, the Dolly Gray Award-winning THE SOMEDAY BIRDS, and other acclaimed novels and picture books. Her work has gained many awards and starred reviews, and has been included on many state awards lists and “best book” roundups.
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Sally has appeared on television and radio as an author and neurodiversity advocate. She also runs A Novel Mind, an online resource for neurodiversity/mental-health/disability representation in children's lit.
Sally believes in the beauty of different brains. We are all stars shining with different lights.
For more, visit her website at sallyjpla.com . -
Elaine Vickers
Elaine Vickers lives with her husband and three kids in Southern Utah, where she writes books and teaches college chemistry. She always wanted to be a writer and a teacher, except when she wanted to be an architect, an artist, a pediatrician, a judge, or a famous actress. Visit her at elainevickers.com.
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Polly Carlson-Voiles
Polly Carlson-Voiles grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, spending memorable long summers in Hawaii, Virginia, and the north woods of Minnesota. Stray animals, wild animals, deep woods, ocean waves, storms and lakes helped shape her love for science and the natural world. During high school and college she discovered the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, which became a lifelong magnet. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in English and Art, she lived in California for several years before moving back to Minnesota to teach special education and English.
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Polly's interest in writing for children ranges from poetry, picture books, non-fiction, and middle grade novels. Her teaching spanned grades K-12 in settings from elementary t -
Kristin Varner
Kristin Varner grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Utah, where she fell in love with animals at a young age. Kristin received her degree in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and has created art for children’s books, games, apparel, and toys. Her debut graphic novel, Horse Trouble (2021), received an American Library Association Best Graphic Novel for Children Award. Dog Trouble (2024) her second middle grade graphic novel has already received a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Award.
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She lives on a wooded island near Seattle, Washington with her husband and daughter and is often distracted while working in her studio by one rambunctious kitty and one big, snoozing dog. When she’s not drawing cute animals in her studio, she’s p -
Stacy DeKeyser
Praise for How to Catch a Polar Bear :
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"Funny and heartwarming" -- Booklist
"Hilarious" -- KIRKUS
Praise for The Rhino in Right Field :
"A solid home run" -- Booklist
"A winner in every way" -- KIRKUS starred review
Praise for The Brixen Witch :
"Fresh and satisfying." -- KIRKUS starred review
"Just right for reaffirming one's belief in the power of story." -- BOOKLIST starred review -
Matt Tavares
Matt Tavares was born in Boston, and grew up surrounded by books and reading. From the time he was very young, his mother read to him every night, and his family made countless trips to the public library. Years later, as a studio art major at Bates College, he rediscovered his love for picture books, and decided to try to make his own.
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For his senior thesis project, Matt wrote and illustrated a story called Sebastian's Ball, which eventually became Zachary's Ball, Matt's first published picture book. Zachary's Ball went on to win a Massachusetts Book Award Honor, and was named one of Yankee Magazine's 40 Classic New England Children's Books.
Since then, Matt has published eighteen more books and has won several awards, including three Parent -
Craig Kofi Farmer
Craig Kofi Farmer is the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning author of the middle grade novels Kwame Crashes the Underworld and A Method for Magic and Misfortune. Craig grew up in Prince George's County, went to Towson University for his Bachelor of Science degrees, and earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He currently works in student affairs, helping college students achieve work-life balance and self-actualization. When he's not writing or working, he's exploring Baltimore City, analyzing superhero movies, watching psychological thrillers, and deciding exactly what he's going to eat that day.
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Alda P. Dobbs
Alda P. Dobbs' upcoming novel, BAREFOOT DREAMS OF PETRA LUNA, was inspired by her great-grandmother's experience during the Mexican Revolution in 1913. Alda was born in a small town in northern Mexico and moved to San Antonio, Texas as a child. She studied physics and worked as an engineer before pursuing her love of storytelling. She is as passionate about connecting children to their past, their communities, different cultures, science, and nature as she is about writing.
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Alda's writings have won various awards including the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Award and the Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant. She has also written articles for Highlights Children's Magazine, Guideposts, and La Prensa newspaper.
Alda lives with her husband and two -
Maura Jortner
Maura Jortner grew up in NH but now lives in TX with her family and Shiloh, her cat, who can do tricks.
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Marina Gessner
Marina Gessner is the pen name of Nina de Gramont. Nina is a writer, teacher, and mom, not necessarily in that order. Her work has appeared in Redbook, Harvard Review, Nerve, and Seventeen. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and daughter.
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Barbara Carroll Roberts
Barbara Carroll Roberts is the author of a middle-grade novel Nikki on the Line and lives in Virginia with her husband, two cats, and one very goofy dog.
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Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Nancy J. Cavanaugh lives in the Chicago area with her husband, her daughter, and their adorable, five-pound Cockapoo. One of Nancy's favorite pastimes is eating pizza. She loves reading middle grade novels. Her secret? She hasn't read an adult book in years.
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Nancy's newest novel, WHEN I HIT THE ROAD, is the story of Samantha's madcap road trip with a karaoke-loving grandma and a wild summer of memories that will last a lifetime.
Like one of her main characters, Ratchet, Nancy is pretty handy with a ratchet and is able to take apart a small engine and put it back together.
Like another of her main characters, Abigail, Nancy often struggled while growing up to find the courage to do the right thing. (She also fell in a HUGE parking-lot-sized p -
Deeba Zargarpur
DEEBA ZARGARPUR is an Afghan-Uzbek American. She credits her love of literature across various languages to her immigrant parents, whose eerie tales haunted her well into the night. If given the choice, Deeba would spend her days getting lost in spooky towns with nothing but a notebook and eye for adventure to guide her.
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Her debut YA novel, House of Yesterday, releases from FSG BYR in Fall 2022.
Her debut MG novel, Farrah Noorzad and the Ring of Fate, releases from Labyrinth Road in Summer 2023. -
Shawn K. Stout
Shawn K. Stout is the author of several acclaimed books for young readers, including the PENELOPE CRUMB series and THE IMPOSSIBLE DESTINY OF CUTIE GRACKLE. Her new novel, ANATOMY OF LOST THINGS, will be released in June 2024. Shawn is a science writer at the National Institutes of Health and holds an M.F.A. in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives with her family in Maryland. Visit her at www.shawnkstout.com.
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