THE APOTHECARY written by Maile Meloy and WILDWOOD by Colin Meloy have tied as winners of the 2012 E.B. White Read-Aloud Middle Grade Indie Choice Award given by ABA. Congratulations to our client, Ian Schoenherr, illustrator of THE APOTHECARY!

Check out Alexandra Boiger’s work in TALLULAH’S SOLO, her latest collaboration in the series with Marilyn Singer, in this new video from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt:

In connection with her debut middle novel, GLORY BE (Scholastic), Augusta Scattergood was interviewed by Scott Simon on NPR on January 7^th. What a true Southern charmer she is! Hear for yourself: GLORY BE: A Tale Of The South For Young Adults

Check out the latest titles by clients Mo Willems’ ( THE DUCKLING GETS A COOKIE! published by Hyperion Books) and Jackie Urbanovic’s (I’VE LOST MY HIPPOMATUS written by Jack Prelutsky, published by Greenwillow Books) on the Spring 2012 Kids’ Indie Next List.

Sharon G. Flake was invited by the NY Times to write an article about YA fiction. Her piece appeared on March 28^th. Eloquent as always! Here’s the link: “More Nonwhite Characters Are Needed– Room for Debate”

Debut novelist, W.H. Beck’s MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT will be a featured title for the Book Expo Middle Grade Buzz Panel! Here is a complete list of the featured titles in all categories: BEA Announces Buzz Panel Selections

The middle grade panel will be streamed live on May 25th. To see it, register at Streamed Live Events– BEA– Book Panel Expo

Lisa Luedeke will participate in a YA Debut Fiction Author Reception hosted by bestselling teen author, Deb Caletti at the American Library Association Convention on June 25^th. She will be talking about her novel, SMASHED, due out from Margaret A. McElderry Books in August 2012.

PABLO NERUDA: POET OF THE PEOPLE written by Monica Brown and illustrated by client, Julie Paschkis was named a 2012 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book for Outstanding Nonfiction. Congratulations, Julie! Julie will attend the NCTE Conference in November to receive her award. For a complete listing of titles honored visit 2012 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

Linda Pratt will participate in Agents Day sponsored by the Orange County SCBWI Regional Chapter.  The conference will take place on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at the Newport Seabase in Newport Beach, CA.  For more information visit:

http://www.scbwi.org/Regional-Chapters.aspx?R=6&sec=Events

Linda Pratt will be a speaker on a panel about getting published as part of the Spring 2012 New School Forum on Writing for Children located at 66 West 12^th Street on April 24, 2012.  The panel will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Room 510.  For more information visit the website of Deborah Brodie, Freelance Editor, Book Doctor, Writing Coach and Teacher of Creative Writing at  http://deborahbrodie.com/appearances.html and click on to The New School Forum on Writing.

Marcia Wernick will be part of the faculty at the Tri-Regional SCBWI Conference hosted by the Eastern and Western Pennsylvania Chapters on November 11-13, 2011.  For more information, please visit:

http://www.scbwi.org/Regional-Chapters.aspx?R=22&sec=Events&g=960

Linda Pratt will be part of the faculty at the Annual Southern Breeze SCBWI in Birmingham, AL on October 15, 2011.  Further information will be posted at:

https://southern-breeze.net/Home_Page.php

Linda Pratt will be part of the faculty at the Kansas SCBWI Conference on October 1, 2011.  Further information will be posted at:

http://www.kansas-scbwi.org/

Linda Pratt will be part of the faculty at the 5^th Annual Illustrator Day sponsored by SCWBI San Francisco South on Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Fort Mason.  For more information about the conference, please visit:

http://www.scbwisf.org/

Marcia Wernick will be part of the faculty at the 40^th Anniversary SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles, August 4 –8, 2011.  She will conduct two (2) workshops, participate in Agent Panel, and give critiques on work submitted through the conference guidelines.  For more information about the conference, please visit:  http://www.scbwi.org/Conference.aspx?Con=8

What makes for a healthy, productive relationship between you and your authors and illustrators?
—The most important building block is open and honest communication. The authors and illustrators I work with need to be able to express what they are looking for, and how they feel. Since we know that, over the years, those feelings will generally run the gamut from absolute joy to utter frustration, it’s imperative for the author/illustrator to be able to share those feelings with me so that we can have an open dialogue to adjust for changes along the way.

What is the biggest challenge in agreeing to take on a client?
—It’s taking a leap of faith. There’s never a guarantee that the relationship will be successful. I need to have faith that what I see as saleable in their work, will in fact be saleable to a publisher. That might not happen with the first book, but I have to believe it will over time with other works, which is one of the reasons I’m always interested in asking what else a potential client is working on. I also need to have faith that we will continue to communicate well and grow together as a team. The other challenge is getting totally familiar with, and knowledgeable about, not only the range of their work but also, how they work.

What ingredients go into being the most effective agent?
—For me, I think a key ingredient is having a ‘mama bear’ mentality about my clients; I want to nurture and protect them in every way possible. I also find that although I may not be great at negotiating in my own behalf, I do in fact have an incredible sense of entitlement in behalf of my clients, which serves us both well! Other key ingredients of course, are experience and knowledge about the industry, as well as the ability to network and find answers to any new aspects about the industry.

Can you share some of your favorites to give a fuller picture of your range of interests?
-Foods – Greek octopodi (I can be squeamish about books, but not about what’s on my plate), Edy’s slow churned cookies and cream ice cream (it’s the cookie dough part of it; they’re some things we should never outgrow),
-Plays – Next to Normal (a brilliant musical on an unexpected topic), Avenue Q (love its irreverent humor), ‘Night Mother (an intimate build up to an emotional wallop both in the play itself and Kathy Bates’ performance), Master Class (a duel in voice between two masters – Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald)
-Gadgets – ipad (I love to try out new toys!), lever style corkscrew (streamlined; why make it harder when it doesn’t have to be)
-Section of the NY Times – Metropolitan Diary (hit or miss, but when they work, they are gems), David Pogue’s Technology column (accessible, entertaining and informative), The Arts section (life beyond books)
-Painting/Sculpture – Jean-Michel Folon (makes me smile), Gustave Caillebotte’s Paris Street, Rainy Day (sitting on a bench at the Art Institute of Chicago being transported back to the romantic Paris of my college years), Joan Miro (simplicity in color and always fun), Jean Tinguely (mechanical whimsy extraordinaire)
-What’s on your iPod?- Angelique Kidjo, Janis Joplin, (women with big voices, heart and incredibly presence), Kenny Rankin (smooth), The Beatles (part of my DNA growing up), Allman Brothers (sometimes you just have to rock), John Mayall (I can’t imagine an iPod without blues on it), Beethoven, Choral Music (a Sunday morning necessity – this, the paper and a cup of tea)

What makes for a healthy, productive relationship between you and your authors and illustrators?
For me, the ingredients are:
-Trust: it’s important that both parties enter the relationship with a mutual feeling of trust. Without that, the relationship seems almost doomed to fail.

-A shared fondness: both parties should like one another. I don’t mean there needs be a presumption of becoming “best friends”, but there should be an overall feeling of liking one another because if a sticky situation should arise (which in a long term relationship is a possibility), it is easier to successfully navigate that if there’s an underlying fondness for the other party.

-Flexibility: no career trajectory, industry or relationship is static, so it’s important for both parties to have the ability to be flexible as an author’s/illustrator’s goals and needs change, and the market for children’s books evolves.

What are your particular preferences or pet peeves regarding submissions? Is there anything that might make a query irresistible to you?
-I do want to see a true cover letter. Some “cover letters” are presented almost as a completed fill in the blank application; e.g. “synopsis: (complete in this space), bio: (complete in this space), etc.; or a cut and paste from our submission guidelines with responses next to the things we ask to be included. As a writer, the cover letter is your first introduction to an agent, and it makes sense to show that you can compose a compelling letter. It’s hard not to become skeptical about a submission if it appears that little thought has been given to its presentation.  A cover letter is your “book jacket” for the agent…..and a book, as we know, are judged by their cover.

-I like the work to be described, i.e. is it a YA fantasy, middle grade historical fiction, a young picture book? what’s the target age group? word count?. Be sure that this accurately reflects the standards for the genre, though. For example, if you’ve written a middle grade novel for ages 10-12; perfect! But if it’s a novel for all ages, or it could be a middle grade or YA, or it’s a picture book for 5-8 year olds, these are signals that you’re not clear on the market for your book, and the work itself is likely ambiguous, as well.

-I’m most responsive to a concise pitch that sets up the stakes of the work, leaving enough unanswered questions to whet my appetite. If it takes a long time to encapsulate the essence of your work in the letter, it’s likely that it will take a long time for the novel and/or picture book to unfold, as well. It’s important to be able to define the guts of your story succinctly. The query/cover letter shouldn’t say everything that happens.  A synopsis can do that.  A query letter should function like good flap copy.

-Show something that indicates that you are committed to your craft. Credentials are good. However, if you’re a newer writer without credentials, that’s OK, too.  Almost every agent has taken on at least one client with no publishing history prior to representation. Why shouldn’t you think it could be you? What can you tell us about yourself that lets us know that you didn’t “just get this idea one day”, but rather that you are the kind of writer that if it isn’t this book that sells, you’ll write another and another because you have no choice? That kind of dedication is what you want to get across.

-Avoid saying “I’m new and I don’t know anything yet”. There is so much information available on-line to help  beginners decipher the submission process. It is in the aspiring author’s or illustrator’s best interest to spend a little time learning the ropes before they start sending their material out.  It’ll serve you well and is always appreciated by the recipient, too.

What excites you about the industry at present?
-For some, publishing has always been considered a stodgy profession. The business model ostensibly remained the same for a half century…… and survived. Evidence, I think, that story will never die! However, in the last several years, there’s been this exciting elasticity in the tried and true way of conveying stories and in the audience who ultimately reads them. Of course, electronic publishing has been a monumental change,  but  beyond the technology boom, there’s also been a psychological shift regarding the creation of children’s books. Take Brian Selznick’s Caldecott Medal for Hugo Cabret, a 544 page illustrated novel. Or the more mainstream acceptance of the graphic novel as a legitimate form of storytelling, i.e. David Small’s Stitches. Or the crossover market for young adult fiction; the examples of which are too many to name. Children’s books are being embraced in different ways, in different formats, and by different audiences than they were 10 years ago. While categories certainly still exist, the lines separating them have become more blurred in recent years opening many interesting creative possibilities.

Can you share some of your favorites to give a fuller picture of your range of tastes and interests?
-Movies – Harvey (love a character who might be judged as simple or crazy that turns out to be wiser than everyone else, in the end), Reality Bites (great depiction of the confusion inherent in transitioning out of school), Hoosiers (a big fan of damaged characters who triumph, especially in a sports story), All About Eve (characters who turn out to be quite different than you initially think – both in good and bad ways: Margo and Eve, gotta like that), The Princess Bride (great, quotable dialogue, rides the line of irreverent goofiness perfectly), Chocolat (my kind of magic realism; romantic and poignant: a bit of regret, a bit of forgiveness with an openness to change that ultimately leads to contentment), and City Island (it rings so true to me on every level; helps I’m related to an Andy Garcia-like character; yes, I’m serious).
-Television – I Love Lucy (is there any better example of how to up the stakes?, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy) , My So-Called Life (nails the issues and dialogue of both the teen in transition, as well as their parents), The Wire (a modern Dickensian novel in 5 seasons), Deadwood (the moral compass rests with the most unlikely of characters through the most unlikely of alliances), Wonderfalls (great premise that delivers; funny, quirky and definitely original), and Friday Night Lights (Texas high school football! it really is that big)
-Books – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (for the definition of “show, don’t tell”, read Scout’s conversation with Mr. Cunningham on the jailhouse steps, page 175-176; perfection!), Flipped by Wendy Van Draanen (one of the best “first” love stories ever; makes my stomach do flip flops), Daddy-Long Legs by Jean Webster (made me feel so grown up and sophisticated at 11; my dad bought my copy at a 2nd hand book sale complete with stills from the silent movie version starring Mary Pickford) , The Canning Season by Polly Horvath (I love quirky characters), Farewell by Horton Foote (real life quirky characters? Even better), Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (am forever recommending this to any writer or aspiring writer, who hasn’t already found it on their own), The Alienist by Caleb Carr (vivid historical fiction with great character relationships that unfolds as an “on the edge of your seat” mystery/thriller; would love to come across a YA that strikes this chord), and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Cliché, I know. Two hundred years later,  Mr. Darcy still has it; what can I say?).
-Painting/Sculpture – Alexander Calder’s Circus (saw this on a school trip to “the City” (NYC) when I was about 10. It was so different from what I had seen of “art” to that point. I felt as if Calder -who was obviously important and serious enough to adults to be in a museum -was speaking directly to me as a child. That never happened to me with an artist outside of children’s books before.)
-What’s on your iPod? – Mumford & Sons is currently getting the most play, though some others artists on my iPod are: Hope Waits (no relation to Tom, who is also on my iPod, though), Esperanza Spalding, Justin Townes Earle, Joan Osborne, Los Lobos, John Hiatt, K.T. Tunstall,  and Randy Newman. (I like the storytellers!)