Authors Similar like Kelsey E. Gross

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.

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

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Janet Lawler

Janet Lawler is the author of many books for children and is particularly inspired by the natural world. Her inspiration for this book came after listening to a YouTube recording of ten hours’ worth of walrus sounds, after which she wanted to learn more about these interesting creatures and share that knowledge with young readers. She had great fun creating words that reflect the weird noises walruses make! Janet Lawler lives with her family in Connecticut.

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Tonya Duncan Ellis

Tonya Duncan Ellis is author of THEY BUILT ME FOR FREEDOM (HarperCollins, Balzer + Bray, 2024) and the SOPHIE WASHINGTON children’s chapter series. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Authors Guild, and the Brown Bookshelf’s Highlights Foundation-sponsored Amplify Black Stories storyteller cohort. Tonya has spoken and taught at writing conferences at the Highlights Foundation and for SCBWI in New York City and for SCBWI Houston and Austin, TX chapters. A former journalist and freelance magazine writer, she lives in Houston, Texas.

www.tonyaduncanellis.com
Facebook: @tonyaellisbooks
Instagram: @tonyaellisbooks

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Stephanie Wildman

Stephanie Wildman also writes as Stephanie M. Wildman.

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Rosanne L. Kurstedt

Rosanne L. Kurstedt, Ph.D., loves picture books and sharing her love of story with children and families.

She's the author of several books for children—Karate Kid (Running Press Kids, 2019), And I Think About You (Kids Can Press, 2022), and Sticks vs. Stones (Worthy Kids, spring 2024) as well as books for teachers.

She's been an educator for over 30 years, supporting learners of all ages. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and her adorable new puppy Sadie.

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Nikki McClure

Nikki McClure of Olympia, Washington is known for her painstakingly intricate and beautiful paper cuts. Armed with an X-acto knife, she cuts out her images from a single sheet of paper and creates a bold language that translates the complex poetry of motherhood, nature, and activism into a simple and endearing picture.

Nikki McClure is a self-taught artist who has been making paper-cuts since 1996. As one of the more prominent visual artists involved with Olympia-based record labels K and Kill Rock Stars, as well as the Riot Grrrl movement in the early nineties, her work still embodies the fiercely independent fire that fueled the passion and creativity of that time period. She lives in Olympia, Washington.

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Yuval Zommer

Yuval Zommer graduated from London’s Royal College of Art and has worked as creative director for many of the U.K.’s top advertising agencies. This is his debut picture book, inspired by the animals he came across on a trip to the zoo.

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Zainab Khan

Zainab is a member of SCBWI, Inked Voices, and is a critique ninja for 12x12. As a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage who has lived in different parts of the world, she writes diverse stories that promote empathy, kindness and unity between children of all faiths and cultures.

NOURA’S CRESCENT MOON will be published by Candlewick in 2024. Zainab is donating part of her proceeds to GIVELIGHT. ORG. This organization cares for and educates orphans in ten different countries.

Currently, Zainab lives in Manhasset with her husband, two kids and cat.

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Deborah Hopkinson

I write nonfiction and historical fiction, picture books, and Golden Books. I speak at school, libraries, and conferences. I also love to garden and offer manuscript critiques. (Deborahhopkinson@yahoo.com)

NEW books in 2024 include DETERMINED DREAMER: THE STORY OF MARIE CURIE, illus by Jen Hill, ON A SUMMER NIGHT, illus by Kenard Pak, TRIM HELPS OUT and TRIM SAILS the STORM, illus by Kristy Caldwell, EVIDENCE! illustrated by Nik Henderson, and a nonfiction work called THEY SAVED THE STALLIONS. I'm delighted to say that Trim Helps Out, Trim Sails the Storm, On a Summer Night and Evidence! are all Junior Library Guild selections.

I live and work in Oregon and travel all over to speak to young readers and writers.

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Sarah Aronson

Sarah Aronson began writing for kids and teens when someone in an exercise class dared her to try. Since then, she has earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

She loves working with writers at The Highlights Foundation and writers.com.

Her books include:
Head Case
Beyond Lucky
Believe
The Wish List series, and
Just Like Rube Goldberg--winner of the Crystal Kite (Midwest)!

Brand New Bubbe arrives Aug 23!
Find out more: http://www.saraharonson.com.

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Chana Stiefel

Chana Stiefel is the author of more than 30 books for children, both fiction and nonfiction. Her recent picture book, THE TOWER OF LIFE: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs (illus. Susan Gal, Scholastic), received many honors including the 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Award, a Robert F. Sibert Honor, the Margaret Wise Brown Prize, the Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children's Literature & SCBWI's Inaugural Robert Freedman Nonfiction Award for a Better World. Her next book is LET'S FLY: Barrington Irving's Record-Breaking Flight Around the World (co-written with Barrington Irving, illus. by Shamar Knight-Justice, Dial/PRH, 1-14-25). Other recent nonfiction titles include LET LIBERTY RISE! How America's Schoolchildre

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Loren Long

I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1970’s. We had no artists of any kind in the family. We didn’t know any artists. I liked sports, especially baseball. My mother read to me a lot. But I have to admit, my favorite subject in school was gym class. I also liked to draw. My parents encouraged me to keep drawing.

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Matthew Forsythe

Matthew Forsythe is an author and illustrator living in Los Angeles.

His first book, Pokko and the Drum, won the Charlotte Zolotow Honor for picture book writing and his second book, MINA, was a Governor General Awards finalist.

He was also a designer on several animated shows including Adventure Time, The Midnight Gospel and the Oscar-nominated film, Robin Robin.

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Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade audience. After earning a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, Jason Reynolds moved to Brooklyn, New York, where you can often find him walking the four blocks from the train to his apartment talking to himself. Well, not really talking to himself, but just repeating character names and plot lines he thought of on the train, over and over again, because he’s afraid he’ll forget it all before he gets home.

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Mac Barnett

Born to non-farmers in a California farming community, Mac Barnett now lives near San Francisco. He's on the board of directors of 826LA, a nonprofit writing center for students in Los Angeles, and he founded the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a convenience store for time travelers.

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Matthew Cordell

Matthew Cordell is the acclaimed author and illustrator of the 2018 Caldecott winner Wolf in the Snow. He is also the author and illustrator of Trouble Gum and the illustrator of If the S in Moose Comes Loose, Toot Toot Zoom!, Mighty Casey, Righty and Lefty, and Toby and the Snowflakes, which was written by his wife. Matthew lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife, writer Julie Halpern, and their daughter, Romy.

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Renée Watson

Renée Watson is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Her middle grade novel, What Momma Left Me debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children's Booksellers Association.

Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.

When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teachin

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Tonya Duncan Ellis

Tonya Duncan Ellis is author of THEY BUILT ME FOR FREEDOM (HarperCollins, Balzer + Bray, 2024) and the SOPHIE WASHINGTON children’s chapter series. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Authors Guild, and the Brown Bookshelf’s Highlights Foundation-sponsored Amplify Black Stories storyteller cohort. Tonya has spoken and taught at writing conferences at the Highlights Foundation and for SCBWI in New York City and for SCBWI Houston and Austin, TX chapters. A former journalist and freelance magazine writer, she lives in Houston, Texas.

www.tonyaduncanellis.com
Facebook: @tonyaellisbooks
Instagram: @tonyaellisbooks

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Lydia Lukidis

Lydia Lukidis is an award-winning author of 50+ trade and educational books for children. Her titles include UP, UP HIGH: The Secret Poetry of Earth's Atmosphere (Capstone, 2025), DANCING THROUGH SPACE: Dr. Mae Jemison Soars to New Heights (Albert Whitman, 2024), and DEEP, DEEP, DOWN: The Secret Underwater Poetry of the Mariana Trench (Capstone, 2023) which was a Crystal Kite winner for the Canada and North America division, Forest of Reading Silver Birch Express Honor, a Cybils Award nominee, and winner of the Dogwood Readers Award. A science enthusiast from a young age, Lydia now incorporates her studies in science and her everlasting curiosity into her books.

Lydia is very involved in the kidlit community. She volunteers as a judge on Rat

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Namita Moolani Mehra

Namita Moolani Mehra is an award-winning children’s book author and the founder of social-impact business, Indian Spicebox, a company that has helped fund nearly a million meals for underprivileged children in India.
Namita’s published books include The Greatest River, Veena And The Red Roti, The Light Within You, and Anni Dreams of Biryani. She has also authored children’s cookbooks, The Magic Spicebox and Superfoods for Superheroes. Namita is also a freelance food writer and has an impressive body of editorial work. She regularly crafts delightful culinary experiences like cooking classes and street food pop-ups, and currently lives in Singapore with her husband, two young children and an adorable golden doodle.
Namita has a Master's degr

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Bonnie Kelso

Bonnie is an author, illustrator, and art facilitator living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is the mother of two young boys, whom she credits for endless inspiration during the creation of her books.

Bonnie studied Fine Art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. While she completed her BFA she also worked as a teacher assistant for the RISD Printmaking Department, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, The Boston Children’s Museum, and United Cerebral Palsy.

After college, Bonnie began a twelve-year career as an Exhibit Designer, Design Director, and Independent Contractor. She designed visitor centers and museum exhibits for high-profile organizations such as The Smithsonian Institution, N

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Vashti Harrison

Vashti Harrison, author and illustrator of the bestselling Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, is an artist, author, and filmmaker with a passion for storytelling. She earned her MFA in film and video from California Institute of the Arts, where she snuck into animation and illustration classes to learn from Disney and DreamWorks legends. There she rekindled a love for drawing and painting. Now she uses her love for both film and illustration to craft beautiful stories for children.

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Yamile Saied Méndez

Yamile (sha-MEE-lay) is a fútbol obsessed Argentine-American. She’s the mother of 5 kids and 2 adorable dogs. Yamile’s an inaugural Walter Dean Meyers Grant recipient, a graduate of Voices of our Nation (VONA) and the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Writing for Children program.
She’s represented by Linda Camacho, from the Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency.

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Gabi Snyder

Gabi Snyder is the author of TWO DOGS ON A TRIKE (Abrams/Appleseed, 2020) and LISTEN (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, July 2021).

Gabi lives in Oregon with her family.

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Marzieh Abbas

Marzieh Abbas
Author bio: Marzieh is an award-winning author. Raised between the bustling cities of Dubai, U.A.E and Karachi, Pakistan, Marzieh loves traveling, reading and samosas. She is a member of SCBWI, 12x12, and a graduate of the Lyrical Language Lab, Children's Book Academy, and Storyteller Academy. She loves teaching fellow creatives and has conducted several classes online for writers. She is active on Twitter, Blue sky, and Threads where she continues to form connections with the Writing Community, runs a kidlit review group on Facebook and blogs about her author journey and life in Pakistan on Instagram. Marzieh dreams of owning a talking parrot someday. But, until then, she lives in Pakistan with her husband and children who in

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Jyoti Rajan Gopal

Jyoti Rajan Gopal is a writer, mom and Kindergarten teacher. Growing up, she lived in Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, India and China. She now lives in New York, in a quirky old Victorian in Yonkers, with her husband, where they raised their two daughters. Her favorite place in the house is the wrap around porch where she loves to gather with family or friends, read, write and drink coffee.

Jyoti writes stories that speak to her heart, that reflect her multiple identities, that she wishes her daughters had growing up, that she wishes her students had now.
When not writing or teaching, she loves to read - a lot! - work in her garden, dance and explore the many New York State Park trails.

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Devin Elle Kurtz

Devin Elle Kurtz lives in San Diego, California, with her dog, Kira, and her thirty-three houseplants. She’s been painting in Photoshop since the age of two when her artist mom first offered her a tablet pen. She was the lead background painter on the TV show “Disenchantment” at Rough Draft Studios from 2019-2021. The Bakery Dragon is her first picture book as an author-illustrator.

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Kirsten Pendreigh

Kirsten Pendreigh is a children’s author and poet from Vancouver.

Her books include: MAYBE A WHALE (a JLG Gold Standard and Horn Book Fanfare Book),
WHEN A TREE FALLS (a PW Starred Review), WHAT FISH ARE SAYING (a SLJ Starred Review) and LUNA'S GREEN PET (a Today Show best book pick).
Kirsten’s poems are found in Canadian literary magazines and anthologies including Best Canadian Poetry 2021. Kirsten is a former CBC and NPR journalist.

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Sylvia Chen

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Sylvia Chen is an Asian American children’s book author, with her debut picture book TRICKY CHOPSTICKS recently published in March 2024 (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster) and forthcoming picture book SPARKLES FOR SUNNY: A Lunar New Year Story slated for publication in December 2025 (Flamingo Books/Penguin Random House). As a former science fair competitor, Juilliard Pre-College piano alumni, statistics major at Columbia University, and avid researcher for both lab and market needs, her goal now is to craft picture books that spark kids’ interest in STEAM and creative thinking. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband and two sons and often stays up late into the night puzzling away with wordplay and

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Jyoti Rajan Gopal

Jyoti Rajan Gopal is a writer, mom and Kindergarten teacher. Growing up, she lived in Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, India and China. She now lives in New York, in a quirky old Victorian in Yonkers, with her husband, where they raised their two daughters. Her favorite place in the house is the wrap around porch where she loves to gather with family or friends, read, write and drink coffee.

Jyoti writes stories that speak to her heart, that reflect her multiple identities, that she wishes her daughters had growing up, that she wishes her students had now.
When not writing or teaching, she loves to read - a lot! - work in her garden, dance and explore the many New York State Park trails.

Buy books on Amazon

Bonnie Kelso

Bonnie is an author, illustrator, and art facilitator living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is the mother of two young boys, whom she credits for endless inspiration during the creation of her books.

Bonnie studied Fine Art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. While she completed her BFA she also worked as a teacher assistant for the RISD Printmaking Department, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, The Boston Children’s Museum, and United Cerebral Palsy.

After college, Bonnie began a twelve-year career as an Exhibit Designer, Design Director, and Independent Contractor. She designed visitor centers and museum exhibits for high-profile organizations such as The Smithsonian Institution, N

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Patricia Hubbell

Patricia Hubbell has been writing poetry since she was eleven years old.
In 1998, her Wrapping Paper Romp was selected as a Parents Magazine Book of the Year.
Patricia Hubbell lives with her husband, Harold Hornstein, in Easton, Connecticut, the small town where she was born.
Remembering how much their children and grandchildren loved to bounce when they were very young prompted her to write Bouncing Time. "Bouncing is one of the joyous things little kids do," she says. "It reflects their constant enthusiasm."

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Catherine Barr

Insta: catherinebarrbooks

I was inspired to write my first book The Story of Life by my two girls, for whom I searched in vain for the story (rather than a text book) of evolution – in 2015. Previous to unexpectedly becoming a children's author, I worked for Greenpeace International as a campaigner on wildlife issues for many years, before becoming an Editor at the Natural History Museum in London, where I wrote summer exhibitions on Myths, Monsters and Dinosaurs. I now write narrative nonfiction that I hope will spark questions, interest and action.

I am a proud Patron of Reading for a local school and visit schools and festivals with workshops inspired by my books. I love what I do and hope my books inspire curious and challenging conversa

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Kelsey E. Gross

Total similar authors (33)