Contributed by Ashley Woodfolk, Marketing Manager, Macmillan Children’s Publishing GroupDear Nicola,I have been a lover of reading for my entire life. I started reading before I was five, and I never stopped. And yet, I have never written a letter to an author besides once, when I was ten, for a school assignment.But dear Nicola. I... Continue Reading →
By Ashley Woodfolk, Marketing Manager, Macmillan Children’s Publishing GroupI love contemporary YA. More than any other genre, it has resonated with me most for as far back as I can remember. It seems to be the genre where, more often than not, authors refuse to shy away from some of the ugliest and most confusing parts... Continue Reading →
Okay, so this might be a horrible thing to say given that I’m an editor, but I don’t think I’ve read a book that changed my life. Gasp! I know. When I’m editing, I always cross my fingers and hope that it will change someone’s life—and maybe, one day, I’ll read one that does just... Continue Reading →
Growing up in the suburbs of 1960s Connecticut, I was surrounded by WASPs. I was a Protestant, too—Episcopalian. My father was Catholic, though, so I knew that I wasn’t a true WASP. I was alert to such distinctions. I also thought I understood what it meant to be Jewish. I had a Jewish friend. Her... Continue Reading →
The American Library Association lists His Dark Materials, as a series, as the eighth most banned or challenged book from 2000-2009. It is most often challenged for its “political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence.” These are not absurd claims to make against the series. Pullman wrote an incredibly complex and nuanced story under the guise of a young... Continue Reading →
About a year an half ago I had an experience that refocused my understanding of diversity in children’s books. It happened quite by accident. One day, on the free book shelf at S&S, I spotted a treasure—The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. It was a Newbery Medal Winner. It was published by my imprint,... Continue Reading →
When I embarked on writing this post, I thought about sharing my favorite childhood books. Looking at the list, I was sad at first not to have a shining example that represented diversity. But when I took a closer look, I noticed that each book on my list does convey diversity, or a theme of... Continue Reading →
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Sweet Valley Twins series. When I was a young girl in Alabama, I was put into a remedial reading group, which was pretty discouraging. I didn’t want to love reading, since I was told I wasn’t good at it. But then I discovered the Sweet Valley... Continue Reading →
I first read Kara Dalkey’s Little Sister in college. As I discussed in my last post, I grew up on a farm, in an area of rural western Illinois that had very little diversity. You could say that my ignorance on diversity issues was pretty high, notwithstanding my desire to be Japanese in the fourth... Continue Reading →
People often talk about their touchstone books, stories from childhood that had a lasting impact on them, changed their life or worldview, etc. One of the books I remember most from my childhood was Felita by Nicholasa Mohr, and it wasn’t because it changed the course of my life or even because it was my... Continue Reading →
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