Posts Tagged “writing for children”

Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour: MG Notable Winners + Q&A!

By Melissa Roske on February 13, 2025 / Articles

Today it’s our privilege to shine the Mixed-Up Files spotlight on the MG Notable Book winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries since 1968, this prestigious award — bestowed annually and named in memory of Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series — recognizes books for children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.

Gold medals are presented in three categories: Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult. Honor Books are awarded silver medals, and Notable Books—including the three MG titles featured below—are named in each category.

And now, without further ado…

The Sydney Taylor Book Award MG Notable Book Winners

Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II by Adam Gidwitz
Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton
Things That Shimmer by Deborah Lakritz

Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton Children’s Books)

Max Bretzfeld doesn’t want to move from Germany to London, where he’s alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that he’s been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein.

Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home–and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. The problem is, it involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy.

Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton (Tundra Books)

Benji Zeb has a lot going on. Not only does he have a lot of studying to do—for school as well as for his upcoming bar mitzvah—he’s nervous about Mr. Rutherford, an aggressive local rancher who hates Benji’s family’s kibbutz and wolf sanctuary. Plus, Benji hasn’t figured out what to do about Caleb, Mr. Rutherford’s stepson, who’s been bullying him at school, despite Benji wanting to be friends (and maybe something more). To complicate matters, secretly, Benji and his family are werewolves who are using the wolf sanctuary as cover for their true identities.

Things come to a head when Caleb shows up at the kibbutz one night . . . in wolf form. He’s a werewolf too, unable to control his shifting, and he needs Benji’s help. Can anxious Benji juggle all of these things along with his growing feelings toward Caleb?

Things That Shimmer by Deborah Lakritz (Kar-Ben Publishing)

In the spring of 1973, Melanie Adler desperately wants to be accepted by the Shimmers, the popular kids in her class. But the secret of her mother’s PTSD stands in the way. As hard as she tries, Melanie can’t act as effortlessly confident and fun as the Shimmers. She’s convinced no one knows what it’s like to have a parent who’s afraid of everything–until Dorit Shoshani moves to town. Clever, independent Dorit understands Melanie’s home life thanks to her own family’s struggles. The girls become fast friends. But when the Shimmers finally start to pay attention to Melanie, she’s torn between her bond with Dorit and her chance at popularity.

And now, a Q and A with the Notable Winners!

ADAM GIDWITZ

MR: I won’t embarrass you by listing your numerous book-related awards and accolades (who can count that high? 😀), but having Max in the House of Spies chosen as a Sydney Taylor Award Notable book must be particularly meaningful for you as a Jewish author, telling Jewish stories.

AG: It is. Most anyone who writes from the perspective of a certain cultural group struggles with a certain ambivalence: we want to do something new, something daring; and yet we also want acceptance from our group. With Max in the House of Spies, and perhaps even more with the conclusion of the duology, Max in the Land of Lies, I am taking certain risks—talking honestly about antisemitism in England and Germany, but also complicating every character, the good guys and the bad guys alike—all while telling a rip-roaring spy story. To have the committee recognize the quality of what I’m trying to do is very gratifying indeed.

MR: Max in the House of Spies is the first book in a duology, and it’s your first work of historical fiction, set during World War II. What prompted your decision to focus on this time period? Also, without giving away any spoilers, what will Max be up to in book #2?

AG: A close family friend, the late music critic Michael Steinberg, was on the Kindertransport as a boy. His story fascinated me, and I have long wanted to explore the story of the Kindertransport. When COVID hit, and it felt like we were living in a wilderness of lies, fervently defended by the people in power and millions of average Americans, I wanted to explore how a nation could commit itself to lies. It felt like the perfect opportunity to return to Michael’s story. So in the first book, Max is in England, trying to be trained as a spy so he can go back to Germany to look for his parents. In the second volume, he’s back, and while he’s on his mission he is also learning: why? Why are you Nazis? Why do you hate me? (Or would you, if you knew who I really was?). It’s both a spy novel and a novel of ideas—or of questions.

MR: And finally, Adam, what are you working on now?

AG: I’m spending a lot of time sharing Max in the Land of Lies with the world right now. But my next book will be a graphic novel adaptation of some of the scary, funny fairy tales I tell on my podcast, Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest. Look for that in 2027.

DEKE MOULTON

Author Deke Moulton

MR: This is not your first Sydney Taylor Book Award: Don’t Want to Be Your Monster won the Honor category last year. How does it feel to be a two-time winner?

DM: It’s definitely surreal! I think as any author knows, the ‘second book syndrome’ fears are so real—even as I was writing Benji Zeb, I worried that it wasn’t going to be successful, that I wouldn’t be able to capture the same kind of magic, that everything good I had writing-wise was spent in my first book. So it’s a weird headspace to be in to see that second book doing well, and in ways that Don’t Want To Be Your Monster didn’t. Benji’s also got a running in the Cybils Awards and the inaugural Pedro and Daniel Intersectionality Award. It’s ‘validating’ as the kids say.

As a Jewish author, I think it’s even more humbling. I feel like there’s only certain Jewish stories that break out of our group—sadly, it seems like non-Jewish readers are mostly interested in Holocaust books or books where our Jewishness is less observed. So to have Benji Zeb – about a Modern Orthodox boy who is struggling with anxiety and queerness – get this kind of recognition. . . humbling doesn’t begin to explain how I feel. It’s empowering to know our stories, Jewish stories, is being received out in the world.

Getting a notable award from the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee felt so validating as well. In Don’t Want To Be Your Monster, I had queer characters, but they weren’t my main two, one of which is a Jewish character. For Benji Zeb, I sometimes worried that there was going to be something that wasn’t going to land right. I’m religious, and queer, and those are two identities that are often in great conflict—to put that into a book and put that out into the world, you never know how it’s going to be received. Well, I suppose now I know!! It’s just . . . it fills me up with a lot of warmth and contentment. Knowing that I took a huge risk, really put a lot of vulnerability in my words, and it landed. It was received. It’s hard to explain how much that means to me.

MR: The Sydney Taylor Book Award is named after Sydney Taylor, the beloved children’s author of the All-of-a-Kind Family series. If you read the series as a child, do you remember your reaction to the books, and to Taylor’s beautifully rendered characters?

DM: I actually didn’t read the books as a child! When I was growing up I hated ‘slice-of-life’ contemporary books (which is ironic because I feel like the older I get, the more I appreciate those). I’ve read the All-of-a-Kind Family books as an adult and adore them—but as a kid, all I wanted to read was fantasy. When I first started to write, I didn’t make any of my characters overtly Jewish because I just didn’t see any Jewish characters in fantasy or adventure books. I just didn’t think that’s where we belonged—Jewish characters only belonged in the ‘real world’ of contemporary/historical fiction. It wasn’t until I read Sofiya Pasternack’s Anya and the Dragon that I realized, ‘Wow, there can be a fantasy book with dragons in it, where the main character didn’t have to be Jewish, and that character can still be Jewish just because.’ It blew my mind. I wrote Don’t Want To Be Your Monster like, two months after reading it.

MR: Both of your MG novels feature fantastical characters, like vampires and werewolves, along with a hearty dose of Jewish folklore. What is it about the supernatural that excites you as a writer? And Jewish folklore?

DM: I love the openness to explore what you can do with those kinds of creatures. For a ‘realistic book with humans’ you really are limited, but once you start to play with creatures like vampires or werewolves or X-Men mutants or whatever –you get to have fun with who your characters are. Like, my vampires, I had all the old tropes and ‘rules’ and got to play with which ones I wanted to use (like getting burned in the sunlight) and which ones I wanted to explore more (like why vampires drink blood). It’s just really fun.

I loved being able to meld two passions: Jewish folklore and the more mainstream horror creatures with Benji Zeb. I honestly had no idea that we even had our own werewolf myth until I started researching for this book—a friend suggested I look into Jewish werewolf mythology, and I was like, “Huh, why didn’t that even occur to me?” Even with the excitement to write Jewish characters, even with the ability and the encouragement of my publishing team—I still have work to do, unpacking my own upbringing that tells me we aren’t there.

MR: What’s next on the writing horizon for you, Deke?

DM: So much!! I have a short story out now in the anthology S’more Spooky Stories with Owl Hollow Press. It’s an anthology of spooky stories that all take place in different National Parks and the proceeds go to the National Park Foundation. So, I’m really happy that that’s in the works.

I’ve got something out on submission, and a proposal out, and books with my agent. So who knows what will be out next, or what will be picked up or not. That’s the strange fun of publishing—it’s a mystery until it’s out on paper!

(For more on Deke Moulton, check out this interview from the Mixed-Up Files archives.)

DEBORAH LAKRITZ

MR: Although this is not your first book to win a prestigious award—your picture book Say Hello, Lily was a PJ Library selection—I’m guessing that having Things That Shimmer chosen as a Sydney Taylor Award Notable book is particularly meaningful for you as a Jewish author, telling Jewish stories. Can you elaborate?

DL: Yes, having Things That Shimmer chosen as a Sydney Taylor Notable book is a tremendous honor! First, it is a story that is emotionally very true and that includes some of the most resonant experiences I had growing up: coming of age in a family that had experienced a serious trauma, navigating a highly charged and socially stratified middle school, and learning what true friendship actually means. One of the things I’m most proud of about is that Things That Shimmer is a very Jewish story that has deep universal themes about friendship and identity, but the Jewish aspect is “normalized.” No one is struggling about being Jewish, no one is experiencing isolation, discrimination, or antisemitism. It’s just a story that has very Jewish elements (the Yom Kippur War, Jewish/Israeli central characters, scenes at synagogue on High Holidays, a friend’s bat mitzvah), that all enhance the story and make it uniquely Jewish, but don’t necessarily define the story.

MR: Rumor has it that All-of-a-Kind Family was your favorite book series as a child. What was it about the series that resonated with you so deeply?

DL: Although I couldn’t have put it into words at the time, the All-of-a-Kind series allowed me to see myself, or at least something very familiar to me, that I wasn’t seeing in other books. Up until that point, any Jewish books I had read were didactic, usually about a holiday, and didn’t invite me to turn the page to see “what happens next.” With Sydney Taylor’s books I was invested in the characters and their personalities, their desires, their dreams, and their conflicts. And of course, there are all of the sensory details that just live on in my imagination: sneaking ginger snap crackers and chocolate babies in bed, sucking on a scrap of salty lox or tasting a paper cone filled with steaming chickpeas from street vendors, discovering hidden buttons while helping Mama dust the furniture. So many wonderful details! Also, it has been thrilling to learn how any of my fellow Jewish kidlit colleagues were similarly smitten by these books!

MR: Although you’re not a kidlit newbie—you’ve written several picture books—Things That Shimmer is your first MG novel. What prompted your decision to write for a middle-grade audience? Also, did you encounter any particular challenges along the way?

DL: It’s funny, I had the idea for Things That Shimmer from the moment I walked into my first class on writing for children back in the mid-1990’s. At that point I was raising a brood of children and the idea of committing myself to writing seriously for publication was out of reach. Thankfully, my wonderful teacher, Gretchen Mayo, who was a local author, didn’t let me talk myself out of keeping my dream alive. She encouraged me to keep reading award-winning, acclaimed children’s books, and to write whenever I could. I decided that writing picture books was probably a more realistic goal at that point, and it was in that class that I first drafted Say Hello, Lily. I’ve studied the craft of picture book writing and I can honestly say I find it much more challenging than writing novels for kids. The toughest part about it is just keeping at it and believing that you’ll get to the end. And then, of course, you’ll probably start all over and revise it and rewrite pages and pages of it. Some people are just quicker, but I can’t rush the process!

MR: What are you working on now, Deborah?

DL: Well, I’m querying a Jewish young adult novel right now (my wonderful agent, Susan Cohen of Writers House retired), as well as working on several Jewish-themed picture books. I’m itching to write another middle-grade novel, and I even have a basic outline of it in my head, so that may be happening sooner than later!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ADAM GIDWITZ, DEKE MOULTON, AND DEBORAH LAKRITZ… THE MG NOTABLE BOOK WINNERS!

Bonus!

For lovers of Sydney Taylor’s beloved All-of-a-Kind Family series, check out The All-of-a-Kind Family Companion, which includes a host of thought-provoking discussion questions, produced by the Association of Jewish Libraries in celebration of the one hundredth birthday of author Sydney Taylor, born October 30, 1904.

WNDMG Author Interview with Megan E. Freeman

By Kate Penndorf on February 12, 2025 / Author Interviews, Diversity

WNDMG Author Interview with Megan E. Freeman

Globe reading a book being held up by different colored hands representing diversity.

It always amazes me when I can pick up a book and discover something I’ve not been introduced to before. Away by Megan E Freeman is a great example of that! Her story introduces readers to scenarios that get us pondering: what would we do in such a situation?

I had the esteemed pleasure of sitting down to interview Megan. Here’s the inside scoop on both the author and her book…

KATE: Our Mixed-Up-Files readers would love the inside scoop on Away – your companion novel to Alone. Can you tell us a bit about the premise?

MEGAN: When an imminent threat alert causes a midnight evacuation in Colorado, four kids relocated to the same shelter become unlikely friends. After they stumble onto evidence casting doubt on the legitimacy of the evacuation, they begin an investigation that causes them to question everything and everyone around them. Through a series of covert and courageous efforts, the friends uncover the facts behind the “imminent threat” and must decide how—and if—they can expose the truth.

KATE: This is a multiple POV book – with each of the 4 characters quite literally written differently. Harmony is written in prose, Grandin in verse, Teddy in screenwriter script, and Ashanti in italicized verse. This change in style is new to me and rather exciting to see. How did you come up with this? And how did you know who to bring to page when?

MEGAN: There was a lot of trial and error! I knew I wanted to give each character their own point of view, so I started by thinking about what each of them was passionate about, and I let those interests inform the formatting for their voices. Some days I worked exclusively on one character and then slotted the pages into the manuscript later. Other days I worked on multiple voices in sequence. One nice thing about writing in Scrivener is how easy it is to move and rearrange pages, and I did a lot of rearranging.

KATE: Let’s talk setting. Your characters meet at an evacuation center. I can’t help but think of Covid and being isolated from the world at that time. In Away, however, isolation is an understatement. Talk about some of the creative ways you took to build a somewhat normal life for your characters all the while shutting them off from the outside world.

MEGAN: I read a lot about the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II, and while I was drafting, my local museum had a timely exhibit of Ansel Adams’ photographs from Manzanar. It was extraordinary to see pictures of people holding concerts, playing baseball, and publishing newspapers. The human spirit is resilient, and even when faced with unimaginable injustices, people still find ways to carve out small comforts and little pieces of normalcy.

KATE: In the beginning, the 4 characters start off by documenting daily life at the center. As the book progresses, they uncover facts behind the cause of the evacuation and decide to expose the truth. I love how these kids tackle an adult situation. And in doing so, you keep the characters acting and thinking via “kid brain” aka how they interpret what adults have said. How did you nail that MG voice?

MEGAN: Oh gosh, I honestly have no idea. I invented characters, dropped them into a conundrum together, and then listened. I know that sounds kind of woo-woo and I wish I could explain it better than that, but it really is all about listening.

KATE: With multiple towns being evacuated, readers meet more than just 4 characters. When choosing who to add to your storyline, were any of them a surprise addition as you fleshed out the plot?

MEGAN: At first, I didn’t see Ashanti as such an immediate presence in the story. I knew she would be an Easter egg for ALONE readers, and in early drafts, she didn’t appear until the other kids arrived at the camp and Teddy’s grandma went to the medical clinic. But some young beta readers told me they wanted more from her, and I did, too. So I revised the early chapters to bring her into the story from the very beginning, and she really stepped into the spotlight.

KATE: It’s often fun to read about the baddies of a book and how they put the protagonist in a corner. But with multiple POVs, Away’s baddie had to be something larger than a singular antagonist. How fun or difficult was it for you to write about a system working against its citizens?

MEGAN: It was so hard! Because—and I know the book will get criticism for this—I had to try to create a massive conspiracy of unprecedented scale while still allowing readers to suspend their disbelief. Not everyone will be able to accept the premise, and I get that. But honestly, all the extraordinary things that happen in AWAY have parallels in historical and current events. And I’m totally sympathetic to readers who will find the conspiracy implausible. It’s hard to conceive of the inconceivable. Until it’s not.

KATE: I adore how Teddy references movies. As an example, he writes: “How do we expose the wizard? Where’s Toto when you need him?” Such a fun nod to the Wizard of Oz (for more reason than one when readers finish the book). I’m curious if the Wizard of Oz is your favorite book or movie and how other writers have shaped your journey to publication.

MEGAN: My first book, ALONE, was inspired by Scott O’Dell’s book Island of the Blue Dolphins, and throughout that book I enjoyed making allusions to Karana, his main character. For AWAY, I wanted to find another literary classic to weave into the story. Since my characters’ entire goal is to get home again, The Wizard of Oz was perfect. It’s a wonderful book, and the fact that it exists in different formats (book, film, stage play) was helpful in making connections to my different characters. Not to mention that the four characters in The Wizard of Oz become proxies for each of the kids in AWAY, right down to the dog.

KATE: What type of research did you have to do when creating the story world and cast of characters? I was super intrigued by Ashanti’s knowledge of mythology and science, mostly because these are not my areas of expertise. Are these aspects of your own interests which you’ve woven into the story?

MEGAN: I spent a lot of time researching, and I definitely wove my own interests into the story, along with the interests of friends and family. My husband grew up on a ranch and informed a lot of Grandin’s scenes, and my brother is a huge film buff who was very helpful with Teddy’s sections. I’ve always loved Greek mythology and I used to teach Ovid, but I had to research many of the goddesses Ashanti references. I watched videos on medical procedures (including how to use a cast saw), and a journalist friend consulted on Harmony’s pages. Another friend who is a former Army officer taught me a lot about military camps and jargon, and I went down the rabbit hole researching state and federal emergency response systems. I learned a lot!

KATE: Away is such an amazing companion novel to Alone. Without revealing spoilers, can you describe your writing process: in organizing your books, did you have the ending for book two in mind when you set out to write book one? And, can you give us an example of something you cut, changed, or reworked from draft to publication?

MEGAN: When I wrote ALONE, it never occurred to me that there would be another book. As far as I was concerned, it was a stand-alone story. But at every school visit, readers wanted to know more about the evacuation and the “imminent threat” that caused everyone to leave. After many of these conversations, I knew I needed to write a companion novel, and that’s where the idea for AWAY came from. Originally, I imagined the conspiracy on an even larger scale, involving the federal government and multiple states. But in talking with my editor, we realized it worked better to keep it contained to Colorado, limited to state and local governments. It was also helpful to fictionalize all the locations so that I had the artistic freedom to manipulate the setting. I did the same thing in ALONE, and it made logistics easier to puzzle out.

KATE: Thank you for taking the time to share the inside scoop on Away. Is there to be another evacuation you can hint at? Perhaps a new project in the works?

MEGAN: I just sold my first YA novel and it has yet to be officially announced, but I’m really excited about it. It’s completely different from the AWAY and ALONE books, and it’s set both in California and Norway, where I lived as a teen. It’s coming in 2026, and I’ll have more news about that soon. And I’m playing with ideas for a third book in the ALONE/AWAY universe. In ALONE there are three girls, Maddie, Ashanti, and Emma, who are supposed to attend the ill-fated sleepover. Now that Maddie and Ashanti each have their own books, it seems like there may need to be one more for Emma…we’ll see!

KATE: Where can readers best find you if they want to reach out?

MEGAN: I’m on lots of socials, and readers can also contact me directly through my website: www.MeganEFreeman.com.

And….no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Favorite place to write? my home office in Northern Colorado

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? dark

Superpower? teaching

Rollerblades or bike? bike

Dream job when you were a kid? author 🙂

House pet? a goofy yellow labrador named Cowboy

Favorite piece of advice for writers? Find a trusted reader who loves everything you write and makes you want to write more!

EDITOR SPOTLIGHT: Taylor Norman of Neal Porter Books / Holiday House

By Erin Dealey on January 31, 2025 / Editor / Agent Spotlight

We are thrilled to welcome Taylor Norman to the Editor/Agent Spotlight on The Mixed-up Files of Middle Grade Authors today.

Taylor Norman

Taylor Norman is Editorial Director of Neal Porter Books. NPB has recently ventured into publishing middle grade novels with the release of Scattergood by H.M.Bouwman. NPB picture books, edited by Taylor Norman, include Tumblebaby by Adam Rex/ illustrated by Audrey Helen Weber, and The Table by Winsome Bingham & Wiley Bevins /illustrated by Jason Griffin.

Prior to joining Neal Porter Books, Taylor spent 11 years at Chronicle Books, where her projects included Everything You Need for a Treehouse by Carter Higgins/illustrated by Emily Hughes, Nina LaCour’s 2023 Lambda Award-winning The Apartment House on Poppy Hill, and Shawn Harris’s 2022 Caldecott Honor book, Have You Ever Seen a Flower?

We are excited to hear all about her newest publishing path, editing and acquiring middle grade at Neal Porter Books. But first. . .

The Backstory

According to your website, thirteen-year-old Taylor had already decided she wanted to work in children’s publishing. Now that you’re living that dream job, in what ways does having grown up around booksellers (shoutout to Copperfield’s) continue to inform or influence your perspective as a children’s book editor? Also, what would you tell other thirteen-year-olds who might want to follow in your footsteps?

Oh, absolutely! Not only did I spend my high school years as a bookseller at Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, California, my mom, Patty Norman, is the children’s events director there still. Her stories about any given day at the bookstore are my best contemporary research into what’s resonating with what kids (and parents and teachers). And I keep at the forefront of my mind my own experiences as a children’s bookseller. So much of the bookseller’s job is intuiting what a kid both wants and needs, and what book will unlock that feeling.

Most of us, whether kids or adults, aren’t very articulate about what we need or feel, so as a bookseller, or an editor, or a fellow person, you have to get good at reading between the lines, so to speak. The flood of success that came over me when I knew I’d found the just-right book for that extra-challenging kid—either someone who’d read everything or someone who was determined not to read anything—is the feeling I seek to give booksellers and parents with every book I publish: knowledge that buying this book for — or handing this book to — a kid will unlock something in its reader. Of course, I hope that the books I work on reach tons of kids, each in their own way—but I am anxious especially to publish books that might be the only book to reach a particular kid. To find those books I really channel everything I learned and remember from being a bookseller.

To other young people who want to be editors. . .

The biggest thing to consider is not just your ability to be a good reader—you know you are that—or why a book is successful—you will get good at articulating your reactions to a text. The biggest thing to know about this job is that it is all about helping a book become its best self. I feel more like a translator than anything else—it’s my job to figure out what an author is envisioning in their head, help that vision arrive on the page as close to its ideal version as possible, and then make sure the idea translates to another reader. It’s a funny act of intimacy between you and the author, and a simultaneous awareness of (and hope for) tens of thousands of future readers.

I don’t remember learning or thinking about the importance of the author relationship when I was a teenager planning to do this job, though it wouldn’t have turned me away—I love the collaborative partnership of editing as much as the work itself. But you have to have patience and a knack for figuring a person out, and while that aspect of the job is the biggest part of my every single day, it’s not immediately apparent in the abstract.

The Move to Middle Grade

What precipitated the decision to venture into middle grade novels at Neal Porter Books, and do you have a specific vision or criteria for this new list for middle grade readers? Historical fiction only? Character-driven stories? Will there be a specific number of MG books per year? (Asking for a LOT of “Mixed-Up” MG author friends here—haha.)

I always wanted to be a fiction editor and can’t conceive of a role I’d ever have in publishing that wouldn’t involve working on novels. Exactly what unites all the novels I work on is a bit harder to define. I don’t look for trends or types of books; I’m as susceptible to historical fiction as I am speculative fiction. It’s all dependent on the success of the writing.

I am extremely focused on high-quality writing and originality of voice, and the second I read a line in a book that sounds like something I’ve read before, my interest starts to wane. That said, writing “voicey” for the sake of standing out doesn’t work for me either—you can feel the effort behind it. Authenticity—which is to say, an authentically unique mind and way of both seeing the world and representing that world— is, then, what I’m after.

Searching for manuscripts by this requirement, I have to say, cuts out a lot of submissions. So there will be between 3-5 books for older readers every year; a mix of prose and graphic, and a mix of early readers, chapter books, and middle grade.

cover of the middle grade novel Scattergood.

More about Scattergood

Congratulations on the publication of Scattergood by H.M. Bouwman, which released January 21^st. How did you initially discover Bouwman’s manuscript, what made you want to acquire it, and were there many revisions from acquisitions to final draft?

Oh goodness! Heather and I have been on such a journey together. I first read Scattergood in 2013, I believe. I was an editorial assistant or assistant editor at the time. I absolutely fell in love with the book—it was the epitome of the novels I wanted to publish—but I wasn’t allowed to work on novels at the time, being so junior. I reluctantly let the agent know I was passing, but the book never left my mind. I found myself flashing on thoughts about it every few months, for the next ten years!

When I came to Neal Porter Books and was looking for the first novels for our list, back again came Scattergood into my head—the one that got away. But when I googled it, nothing came up. I wrote the agent, Tricia Lawrence, and she let me know she’d never sold the book! I reread it and was thrilled to see that the book was even better than I’d remembered. Coincidentally, as I was rereading it, I happened to run literally into the author, Heather, at NCTE—she was leaning on a table as I was walking by, which was a very odd experience—I had literally been reading the book on the plane to the conference and then there she was, its author. It was all very akin to one of us conjuring the other.

Anyway, as you can predict by now, I bought the book and Heather and I worked very closely on it, which were more acts of tightening and strengthening than any tectonic edits. Heather is an exceptional, transporting, emotionally deft writer, and I am as struck now, on my 30^th read of the book, as I was over a decade ago.

Scattergood still epitomizes the novels I love most, the novels I think are most meaningful for kids: It’s a book that understands how hard it is to be young and a person figuring out how to be alive in the world; it’s a book that does not shy from showing its characters make tragic, awful, yet understandable mistakes—and have to contend with the ramifications thereof. It is a book that reminds us of the humanity and fallibility of all people, no matter who or when. And, it’s at once very exciting and propulsive, and wrenchingly authentic. That is, it doesn’t sacrifice plot for quality. The New York Times called the book “brave, beautiful,” “wise and heartbreaking” and also “shocking” and “blindsid[ing]” which I think confirms this unusual combination of traits. I am obviously biased, but I think Heather’s book is an absolute masterpiece. I am so excited for everyone to read it.

On Characters and Covers

What makes you want to root for a character from the beginning? If possible, can you give us an example from Scattergood?

I don’t need much to root for a character—just a grounding in their reality. I love plenty of books where I don’t like the character but root for them anyway, or root against the character while finding them lovable. There are a lot of different ways to make a main character compelling, and that’s more important to me than whether or how I root for them.

Can you tell us about the cover of Scattergood, minus any spoilers?

It’s extremely important to me that each book we publish looks as specific as its story is. The reality is that we all judge books by their covers, and the more trends a cover abides by, the less it catches a reader’s eye. Each novel on our list stands out not just from other middle grade novels, but from books for all ages. So there was no question in my mind, when we started thinking about the cover of Scattergood, that Angie Kang was the right artist. I knew Angie from our shared time at Chronicle Books, and the books we’d worked on together as editor/designer were among the most fulfilling novels I’ve ever watched come to life.

Subsequently, I’d read (and, devastatingly, lost!) Angie’s debut picture book, a work of absolute genius that comes out in March from Kokila, Our Lake. I was so impressed by Angie’s art, of course, but also the subtlety and power of her storytelling, the immense respect she had for her young reader, and her understanding and memory of what it felt like to be a kid. As soon as I read that book, I became determined to work with her in whatever capacity I could.

She thankfully said yes to the Scattergood project and proceeded to deliver about a dozen equally incredible options. Readers of the book will notice the many symbolic touches to the cover design, but young kids walking by without any idea of the book’s contents will be struck immediately by its beauty, intrigue, and specificity. We are very grateful to Angie for putting her unparalleled skill to work on behalf of Peggy and Scattergood.

BONUS: Editor Speed Dating

Query/Pitch pet peeve: I really don’t like when agents reduce a book to its trendy genre (SEL, for example)—and like even less when the book is described via its trope—friends-to-lovers, chosen-one, etc. There are plenty of viable houses for books that adhere to a set of rigid expectations, but if a book can be described easily and familiarly, it is likely not one I’m going to respond to. If agents are sending artists to consider, please include images of the art in the email rather than (or in addition to) links. If all I see are agent pitch + links, I am unlikely to click through to see visuals.
Please don’t send me anything spooky. I just don’t fall for that kind of thing.
PB you could recite by heart: Jamberry by Bruce Degen, A Very Special House by Ruth Krauss, Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown, Parade by Donald Crews
Affirmation for 2025: One of my current favorite fictional characters is Doctor DeSoto’s wife, Mrs. DeSoto, in William Steig’s genius picture book. Mrs. DeSoto, who readers of the book will agree is the story’s actual hero, chooses a crucial moment in the plot to decide: “Let’s risk it.” I’m gonna go with that.

Endless thanks for joining on the Mixed-up blog today, Taylor.

Let’s ALL risk it, shall we?

Congratulations to Taylor Norman on her promotion to Editorial Director of Neal Porter Books!