Posts Tagged middle-grade nonfiction

Meet Literary Agent Michaela Whatnall

By on February 28, 2024   /   Articles, Editor / Agent Spotlight  
Michaela Whatnall, Literary Agent

Michaela Whatnall, Literary Agent

I’m excited to introduce you to literary agent Michaela Whatnall. You’re going to love getting to know them!

Michaela Whatnall joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2019 in the agency’s West Coast office. They graduated from Emory University with a degree in English and linguistics, completed the Columbia Publishing Course, and in 2023, they were selected as a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. 

Michaela’s background in school and library marketing accounts for their strong interest in children’s literature, particularly contemporary middle grade and young adult fiction of all genres. In the adult fiction space, they are particularly seeking contemporary, speculative, and historical upmarket fiction, as well as character-driven, grounded fantasy. They are also open to select narrative nonfiction for both children and adults, graphic novels, and picture books.

I know you’re ready to learn more about Michaela, so let’s get started with the interview.

 

SK: Michaela, tell us a little about your agency.

 

MW: Dystel, Goderich & Bourret was founded in 1994 and is based in New York, though I work out of our West Coast office. We are a mid-size agency full of fantastic agents who represent books across practically every genre, with a focus on helping our clients build their careers long-term. I feel very lucky to work here!

 

SK: What was your path to becoming an agent?

 

MW: I always knew that I wanted to work with books, and from my very first internship in the publishing industry, I had an inkling that working as an agent would be the best fit for me. That said, I had a bit of a roundabout path to getting here—after a number of internships, my first job was in school and library marketing, which turned out to be a fantastic introduction to the industry and also solidified my passion for children’s books.

During my three years working on the marketing side, I continued to build up my experience in other areas, from writing reader reports for a literary agency to writing monthly reviews of forthcoming kid’s books for an industry publication. That meant that when the right opportunity opened up at DG&B, I felt very prepared to dive in.

 

SK: What are the best and worst parts of being an agent?

 

MW: There are so many good parts that it’s hard for me to choose! I think my very favorite part of my job is having editorial conversations with my clients—I truly love the process of reading their work, getting my thoughts and notes together, and then talking with them about potential routes for revision. There’s something special about the creative energy during those calls and the amazing moments of discovery that can happen that really sustains me.

The worst part of being an agent, at least for me, is probably the fact that in this role, you will never feel 100% “caught up” on your work. There is simply never an end to your reading pile—as quickly as you’re able to move through it, more gets added at the exact same time, so you can never experience that feeling of being totally up to date on work (which is a feeling I crave, as a devotee of time management and checklists!).

 

SK: What do you look for in a query?

 

MW: The number one thing I look for in a query is specificity. What makes this story different from others in its category? At the exact same time, I’m also looking to see that the writer understands how their book fits into the currently publishing landscape. My favorite queries come from writers who are well-read in their category, who understand where their book will fit on the shelves (this can be communicated through comp titles), as well as what unique angle/perspective their book brings that is providing something fresh and new.

 

SK: What are the top reasons you pass on a submission?

 

MW: There are many reasons I might pass on a submission—first and foremost, most of my passes are simply because a project is not the perfect fit for me, which is an incredibly subjective thing. It’s a reality of the industry that agents have to be selective, because there’s just not enough time in the day to take on as many clients as we wish we could. With this in mind, I encourage writers to keep querying widely—a book that’s not the right fit for me could be absolutely perfect for someone else (and vice versa!).

 

SK: Here at the Mixed-Up Files, we’re all about middle grade. What do you love most about middle-grade novels?

 

MW: I love that middle grade novels are instrumental in creating life-long readers. For so many of us, middle grade books are what made us first fall in love with reading, and I feel so lucky that I get to be a part of bringing new middle grade books into the world that will find brand new readers. I still remember my days of returning again and again to the bookstore and the library, and the extreme excitement of emerging with fresh stories that I couldn’t wait to devour (shoutout to the Pony Pals series, one of the first to truly hook me!). Middle grade writers are the ones creating that experience for kids.

 

SK: Which middle-grade book(s) influenced you most as a child?

 

MW: One of my very favorite books as a kid was Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech, and I still have so much affection for it. It has a really fun premise—it’s about a girl named Mary Lou who has been assigned by her teacher to keep a journal over the summer, and her journal gets very personal very quickly (it even opens with a note to her teacher imploring them not to read it!). The journal chronicles her life in a large and hectic family (something I strongly related to!), her thoughts as she reads The Odyssey for the first time (which inspired me to read The Odyssey as a kid), and all the wacky adventures she gets up to over the summer. There’s something so relatable and engaging about Mary Lou’s sarcastic sense of humor, and I reread that book many times.

 

SK: What are some of your favorite current middle-grade novels?

 

MW: A more recent middle grade novel that I loved was The Line Tender by Kate Allen (full disclosure, Kate is represented by my colleague Michael Bourret!). It deals incredibly thoughtfully with the topics of loss and grief, and follows a girl named Lucy, who is grappling with life after the death of her mother. The book perfectly balances both sorrow and hope, and it moved me deeply.

 

SK: What is your best guess on where the middle-grade market is headed?

 

MW: Ooh, this is a tough one. The market is having a tricky moment, but middle grade as a category is evergreen, and agents and editors are going to continue to champion these books. I’m not sure that I’m able to make a strong guess about where we’re headed, but I will say that now more than ever, something that helps a book find its footing is identifying a strong hook that sets it apart.

 

SK: Which genres/themes/subjects are you drawn to / not drawn to?

 

MW: In middle grade, the books I’m most drawn to are the ones that I might have worked on in my school and library marketing days. This means that I like books that could find a good home in classrooms and libraries because they grapple with interesting themes and can spark a discussion with kids after they’ve read it. This could mean a book dealing with a real-world issue that kids face, or it could mean a super fun fantasy or adventure book that manages to weave in themes relevant to kids’ lives. Across the board, I like specificity—subject matter that’s relatable to kids, but that I haven’t seen on the page before.

 

SK: Are there any current projects you’re excited about?

 

MW: A good example of the kind of books I look for and something that I’m very excited about is my client Jasminne Paulino’s recently announced book, The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez, which is coming from Putnam next year. It’s about a boy who attends school in a self-contained classroom and yearns to attend mainstream science class, and it dives into his relationships with his family, friends, teachers, and bullies as he learns how to advocate for himself. Before reading Jasminne’s book, I had never read a story about a student in a self-contained classroom, so it immediately caught my attention. From there, the execution of the manuscript made me fall in love. Jasminne is a poet, and her free verse style, which smoothly incorporates Spanish to reflect Alex’s bilingual upbringing, really makes this story stand out.

 

SK: What advice do you have for authors who would like to send you a query?

 

MW: If you feel we might be a match, please do try me—I’m eagerly seeking more middle grade right now! I know that querying can be an intimidating, slow, and often stressful process, but something I like to tell writers is that on the other side of the screen, I am a reader eager for a good story, so I’m excited to receive and read your query. Looking through queries is one of my favorite parts of my job because I always have that feeling that the next story I’ll fall in love with could be just a click away!

 

SK: Okay, we’ve learned so much about you as an agent. What are your favorite things to do that have nothing to do with being an agent?

 

MW: I’m a big theater fan, so I love attending shows, especially musicals. I’m also lucky to have very creative friends, so I often find myself swept up in helping to make all kinds of projects, like short films and narrative podcasts. I adore story in all its forms, so one of my favorite things is exploring the storytelling possibilities of different mediums. In my downtime I love cuddling with my two cats and settling into a cozy armchair with a good book or podcast and a warm mug of tea.

 

SK: I know that so many Mixed-Up Filers are going to want to connect with you. Where can authors learn more about you? 

 

MW: 

Agency website: https://www.dystel.com 

MSWL: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/michaela-whatnall/ 

Instagram (where I’m most active): https://www.instagram.com/michaelawhatnall/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mwhatnall

 

SK: Before we close, let’s have a little fun with favorites! What is your favorite…

 

Dessert? Key Lime Pie

Type of weather? A complete tie between a perfect sunny day and a cozy drizzly one

Genre of music? A chaotic mix of showtunes and alternative/indie folk

Season? Summer

Game? Stardew Valley

 

Thanks, Michaela, for a great discussion and a lot of fun facts. Mixed-Up Filers have definitely become your fans!

Back to Top

STEM Tuesday — Brain/Psychology — Author Interview

By on February 27, 2024   /   Brain/Psychology, STEM Tuesday  

We are delighted to welcome Tanya Lloyd Kyi to the blog today.

Tanya Lloyd Ki

Tanya Kyi is the author of more than 30 books for children and young adults. She writes about science, pop-culture, and places where the two overlap. Tanya has worked in the past as a graphic designer, an editor, and a dishwasher. (She considers herself entirely qualified for that last one.) Her favourite color is blue, her favourite food is cheese, and her favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time.

Her book:

This is your brain on Stereotypes

Discusses the brain science behind stereotypes. It’s very intriguing!

Blurb: An essential overview of the science behind stereotypes: from why our brains form them to how recognizing them can help us be less biased.

From the time we’re babies, our brains constantly sort and label the world around us — a skill that’s crucial for our survival. But, as adolescents are all too aware, there’s a tremendous downside: when we do this to groups of people it can cause great harm. Here’s a comprehensive introduction to the science behind stereotypes that will help young people make sense of why we classify people, and how we can change our thinking. It covers the history of identifying stereotypes, secret biases in our brains, and how stereotypes affect our sense of self. Most importantly, it covers current research into how science can help us overcome our biases, offering hope for a future where stereotypes are less prevalent and the world is more fair for everyone.

 

Received a starred review from Kirkus as well as other praise:

A must-read primer for change.―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

… fascinating …―Booklist

A worthwhile purchase … that will help readers recognize, understand, and eradicate stereotypes.―School Library Journal

Alongside Drew Shannon’s colourful illustrations [Lloyd Kyi] encapsulates key sociological and scientific research on racism and stereotyping.―New York Times

 

Thanks for joining us today, Tanya! This is such an intriguing topic, how did you come up with it? 

One afternoon, I listened to a Hidden Brain podcast about implicit bias. That evening, my husband called from Edmonton, where he was giving the keynote speech at a conference. My husband is Asian Canadian and when he’d arrived at the conference venue, he’d been mistaken for the custodian. I thought… aha! That was implicit bias at work. I did some sleuthing to see if there was enough research about the topic to fill a children’s book, and there was so much fascinating material! I could have written three books on the subject.
 

Can you give us a short explanation of how science and stereotypes are related?

 

What do you see when you picture a senior citizen? What about a ballet dancer? Or an environmentalist? You probably picture an old grey-haired lady, maybe doing some knitting. You might imagine a girl in a tutu and a bearded guy in sandals. But those are generalizations. There are plenty of tennis-playing seniors, male ballet dancers, and suit-wearing environmentalists. Stereotypes live in the same place in our brain where we store implicit memory — things we know without necessarily remembering how we know them. You understand how to use scissors, you know the grass is green, and you believe ballet dancers wear tutus. Relying on our implicit memory for scissor use is fine, but when we allow our brains to supply us with snap-judgement images about people, we can be led astray by our own assumptions.
We don’t always realize we have biases (or maybe we hide them!), so scientists have to be tricky in order to study them. Sometimes they pretend to be studying something else, while actually watching what choices we make. Or they might ask us to make choices quickly, so we don’t have time to hide the stereotypes we hold. One of the most famous tests of bias is one developed by Harvard, and you can take it yourself, online. It’s called the Implicit Association Test.

 

Can you give us a sneak peek of one or two of the activities that you have in your book to help people understand their own ways of thinking?  

 

There’s so much we can do to combat the stereotypes in our own brains. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited to write this book. If kids notice gender bias in toys, they can email the toy companies. If they want to make their school a more accepting place, they can volunteer to create a display of diverse books in the library. But one of the most researched things in all of stereotype science is called the contact hypothesis. A psychologist named Gordon Allport came up with the idea in the mid 1900s, and studies have been done in hundreds of countries since then. The contact hypothesis says that if you hang out with people who are different than you, you will hold fewer stereotypes. So the very best way to combat stereotypes? Make all sorts of friends!
 

What do you want young readers to get out of your book? 

 

I’d love young readers to begin to recognize biases in the world around them, and to understand that they have the power to make change. You don’t have to get a university degree to combat stereotypes; you just have to pop by a GSA meeting at school, or redecorate your school computer lab in gender neutral themes, or pick up a book about characters who live in a different part of the world.
 

Do you have any tips for writers who want to break into nonfiction children’s books? 

 

Information books for children have changed dramatically in the last decade, so don’t rely on your memories of your own school library shelves. Head to a local bookstore and check out the ways writers, illustrators, and publishers are using new formats and forms to capture kids’ attention.
 

What are you working on now? 

 

I’ve just released a middle-grade novel called Emily Posts (published by Penguin Random House) and I have a picture book coming out called When You Meet a Dragon (illustrated by Udayana Lugo and published by Orca Books). While these aren’t information books, they were both inspired by research. Emily Posts is about a young influencer who encounters censorship while podcasting about the climate crisis, and When You Meet a Dragon is about the power of community to overcome existential, dragon-sized problems.

 

Thank you for having me, Jennifer! It’s an honor to be featured on your site.

 

You’re so welcome, Tanya. I loved learning more about how this book came to be, and I’m sure our readers did as well.

 

You can find out more about the book– and Tanya— HERE  –> https://www.tanyalloydkyi.com/
Jennifer Swanson author
Jennifer Swanson is an award-winning children’s author and podcaster. You can find her at her website https://jenniferswansonbooks.com/,
or her Solve It! for Kids podcast website www.solveitforkids.com   or on Pinterest, or X and IG @jenswanbooks.
Back to Top

Embrace Your Secret Artist

By on February 23, 2024   /   Articles  

Some time ago, a friend from grade school texted me a photo of an old news clipping he had found among his grandfather’s papers. It was a group photo of my friend and I and a couple of other kids who had won our fourth grade art contest. I was surprised at how clearly I remembered that day and the days the leading up to it when we worked on our pieces. All the time spent deciding what to make, trying to get the lines right, choosing the colors, and my own surprise that it was shaping up to be a pretty decent picture. I also remember that winning was a total shock, since I never thought of myself as particularly good at art. I even remember the prize – a Nestle Crunch bar – my very first, and how I doled it out to myself, eating little pieces of it for days to prolong the joy.

What I don’t remember is why I quit drawing and coloring and making art after that. Why I don’t have a single memory of art making after that day other than a vague sense of being really miserable in a middle school drawing class years later.

Which is why I’m a little surprised to find myself now, after all of these years, picking up pens and colored pencils, and even watercolors again. Mostly, I’m doodling. Drawing funny little cartoon animals, trees, and swirls of watercolor that sometimes look like something you’d see in the world, but mostly look like a blend of colors.  Safe, small snippets of artish somethings that are (dare I say it?) kind of fun.

Which got me thinking that there must be some other kid (or adult) out there who might be looking for a kind of fun, totally safe way to play around with those pens and crayons and paints again. So, I decided to take a look at some fun art books for kids. Books that might help you or someone you know embrace the secret artist inside.

 

Art Lab for Kids: 52 Creative Adventures in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Paper, and Mixed Media-For Budding Artists of All Ages by Susan Schwake (Author) Rainer Schwake (Photographer)

Art Lab for Kids is a refreshing source of wonderful ideas for creating fine art with children. This step-by-step book offers 52 fun and creative art projects set into weekly lessons, beginning with drawing, moving through painting and printmaking, and then building to paper collage and mixed media.

Each lesson features and relates to the work and style of a contemporary artist and their unique style. The labs can be used as singular projects or to build up to a year of hands-on fine art experiences. Grouped by medium, the labs are set up loosely to build skills upon the previous ones; however, you can begin anywhere.

Have fun exploring:

  • drawing by creating a whimsical scene on a handmade crayon scratchboard.
  • painting by using watercolors and salt to create a textured landscape.
  • printmaking by using lemons, celery, mushrooms, and other produce to make colorful prints.
  • paper by creating an expressive self-portrait using pieces of colored tissue paper.
  • mixed media by making insects from patterned contact paper and watercolor pencils.

Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself: 52 Creative Adventures to Find Your Voice Through Drawing, Painting, Mixed Media, and Sculpture by Susan Schwake 

Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself contains 52 brand new original art projects that will draw out each young artist as they discover their style, document their thoughts, and build confidence in their unique perspective. Each lesson asks questions and offers personal choices while encouraging diverse approaches and creative thinking.

One of the most important gifts we can give children is to nurture their creativity and allow them to express themselves freely. There’s no better way to express yourself than through creative art projects. This is especially true for children because it gives them an outlet to explore their developing interests and strengths.

The Colorful Beasts project, which incorporates discussion of endangered animals with the Blue Rider art movement, asks children to use torn colored tissue paper and glue to create an expressive representation of a favorite vulnerable animal. In I Built This City, children imagine and build their own cityscape using columns of newspaper text to make buildings on top of a watercolor painted background, and detailed with marker.

Many projects include varying examples and executions of the activity to illustrate and reinforce the open-ended nature of the labs, inspiring children to embrace and share their own voice.

Give children the great gift of creative self-exploration with Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself.

 

 

All the Things: How to Draw Books for Kids by Alli Koch

Fun 5-minute drawing lessons for kids ages 6-12

Perfect for budding artists and kids who have never drawn before, this beginner drawing book will teach your kid how to draw cool things in no time! Author and professional artist Alli Koch’s kid friendly, mini drawing lessons will help your child practice their basic art skills and teach them how to draw with confidence. This book is perfect for kids 8-12, but kids as young as 5 will be able to easily follow along as well. From cupcakes, to unicorns, to cars, and cats, your kid will be drawing all sorts of things that they’ll want to show off to their friends, or color afterward and hang on their room! No experience required!

  • Easy-to-Follow Instructions: Simple steps and diagrams from start to finish
  • 42 Cool Projects: Learn how to draw an ice cream cone, fruit, castle, spaceship, cactus, airplane, animals, and so many more cute and cool things!
  • Layflat Binding: Making it easier for kids to keep the book open as they follow along
  • Perforated Pages and Premium Paper: Easily removable pages that are thick and sturdy
  • 9 x 9 Size: Big pages so your kid has no problem seeing each step

 

Scavenger Art: Creative challenges for curious kids by Lexi Rees (Author) Molly O’Donoghue (Illustrator)

Scavenger hunts are fun.

Drawing is fun.

Put them together for SCAVENGER ART!

This unique art-based activity book includes 52 scavenger hunts designed to

  • encourage curious minds
  • spark creativity
  • practice mindfulness
  • develop drawing skills

 

Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell 

A stunning and timely creative call-to-arms combining four extraordinary written pieces by Neil Gaiman illustrated with the striking four-color artwork of Chris Riddell.

“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.”–Neil Gaiman

Drawn from Gaiman’s trove of published speeches, poems, and creative manifestos, Art Matters is an embodiment of this remarkable multi-media artist’s vision–an exploration of how reading, imagining, and creating can transform the world and our lives.

Art Matters bring together four of Gaiman’s most beloved writings on creativity and artistry:

  • “Credo,” his remarkably concise and relevant manifesto on free expression, first delivered in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings
  • “Make Good Art,” his famous 2012 commencement address delivered at the Philadelphia University of the Arts
  • “Making a Chair,” a poem about the joys of creating something, even when words won’t come
  • “On Libraries,” an impassioned argument for libraries that illuminates their importance to our future and celebrates how they foster readers and daydreamers

Featuring original illustrations by Gaiman’s longtime illustrator, Chris Riddell, Art Matters is a stirring testament to the freedom of ideas that inspires us to make art in the face of adversity, and dares us to choose to be bold.

 

I hope you feel inspired to grab some supplies and make some art. If you have any great resources or books to help all of us embrace our secret artist, please share in the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Top