New Books in Children's Literature

Suzy Levinson is a children’s author and poet whose work has been featured in numerous anthologies, including A World Full of Poems (DK Children), I Am a Jigsaw (Bloomsbury Education), and Shaping the World (Macmillan), and magazines, including Highlights and Cricket. Her critically acclaimed debut picture book–length poetry collection, Animals in Pants (Abrams), was published in 2023. In our wonderful interview we talk about her brand new book, Dinos That Drive (Tundra Books, 2025) illustrated by Dustin Harbin, which hits the shelves...tomorrow! And she’s got more books on the way! Originally from Massachusetts, Suzy now lives in New York with her sweet husband and spicy cat.

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Friederike Ablang is an award-winning children's illustrator. She was born in East-Berlin and studied photography and design in the United Kingdom and Germany. She has illustrated dozens of picture books and school books. In our conversation we discuss the recent book which she illustrated, O'win and the Moon by Roseanne Baxter Frank, published in March, 2025 by Wonder House Books. We also talk about her process, her journey to success, and her advice for aspiring illustrators.

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In our wonderful interview, Dr. Danna Trachtenberg Zeiger and I celebrate her debut picture book, Rewriting the Rules, a STEM nonfiction picture book which was just released from Millbrook Press (Carol Hinz, editor) on September 9, 2025". She is represented by Gaby Cabezut at The Seymour Agency.

A published scientist, Danna's research has appeared in top scientific journals such as Science, Neuron, and PNAS. Formerly a biology professor and program director at Fisher College, she now focuses on writing for children. In our conversation Danna describes her transition from scientist to author, and the benefits that a career in science can bring to the writer's table.

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Hannah Shafiroff is celebrating a book about celebrations! In our interview we talk about her brand new picture book which she both wrote and illustrated, My Little Book of Big Jewish Holidays (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025). We talk about her own childhood and memories of Sabbath and holidays, and how her she was able to turn her childhood passion for art into a professional career as writer-illustrator. Hannah also shares some tips for aspiring authors, including a musical method for dealing with rejections.

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In her thirty plus years of enthusiastic dedication to Random House Children’s Books, Mallory Loehr has played a seminal role in the development of this business. She has led numerous editorial teams, working with them to develop strategies for growth, across trade and brand, for all ages and formats, including for Random House Books for Young Readers, Random House Studio, Crown, Doubleday, Labyrinth Road, Little Golden Books, Rodale Kids, Dr. Seuss publishing, and an extensive licensed and proprietary portfolio. Her teams and their books have received the highest accolades, from the Newbery to the Caldecott and more. Mallory is also author of a dozen children's books, ranging from unicorns and leprechauns to an early reading version of Alice in Wonderland. As an editor, Mallory shaped the careers of many authors, including global powerhouse Mary Pope Osborne, whom she began editing at the inception of the Magic Tree House series. She has an exceptional eye for quality children’s books and a keen ability to discover and nurture new voices and artists, including Emily Winfield Martin and her book The Wonderful Things You Will Be, which has become a new classic and remains on The New York Times bestsellers list today after more than four hundred weeks.

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DJ Corchin is a celebrated author and illustrator from Oak Park, IL. In our spirited interview, we discuss his career as a polymath, his unconventional breakthrough from self publishing to traditional publishing and back.and celebrate his brand new picture book , A Million YES's (Phazelfoz Company, 2025), illustrated by Dan Dougherty.

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Ammi-Joan (A.J.) Paquette is author of twenty books for children as wel as a senior literary agent for Aevitas Creative Management. In our wonderful interview we celebrate her new boar book,My Mouth Says (Body Power), third in a series, illustrated by Sabrena Khadija and published just last month (July, 2025) by Rise x Penguin Workshop. We also talk about her childhood, her journey as an author, and how she balances her day between writing and promoting the creatives she represents. Visit her on the web here.

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Jennifer Swanson is the author of 50 nonfiction books for kids. In this, our second interview, we celebrate her brand new book, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World (Workman Kids, 2025), co-written with Dylan Thuras, illustrated by Ruby Fresson and published by Workman Kids. We speak about her recent books and have an illuminating discussion about whether nonfiction and fiction are really dichotomous and worlds apart.

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In our charming interview, Amy Moore celebrates two new picture books, The Bakers Dozen (illustrated by Andrea Stegmaier) published by Sleeping Bear Press in May. 2025, and Humpty's Great Fall (illustrated by Josh Cleland) published this month by Two Lions. Amy Moore has been writing since childhood. After earning a degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she went on to proofreading and web development jobs while taking Master’s courses in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. In addition to her writing work, Amy runs a children’s dance program in her hometown. She lives with her family in Massachusetts.

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Superhero violence and graphic action sequences are prevalent on the screen and on the page, but this book takes an alternative route with practical guidance, frameworks, and tools for incorporating the principles of peacebuilding and nonviolence into compelling fiction. By mapping a path less travelled but just as vital in divisive times, in n A Fiction Writer’s Guide to Peace: Crafting Nonviolent Heroism (Bloomsbury, 2025) Dr. Gabriel Ertsgaard shows writers how they can enact nonviolent heroism in their characters, model civil resistance in their stories, and create worlds around a mythos that champions redemptive nonviolence.

With concepts applicable to writing for fiction, drama, the screen, and narrative poetry, A Fiction Writer's Guide to Peace deconstructs the necessity for violence in popular works, explores key concepts in peace studies, and helps writers establish their own peace poetics. Focused around the narrative craft techniques of character arcs, campaigns, duels, and worldbuilding, the book features numerous creative writing prompts and examples from key works. These include films such as Trading Places, Selma, Lage Raho Munna Bai, and Frozen and literature ranging from Shakespeare's plays to Dickens' A Christmas Carol to Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels.

A timely and important expansion to any writer's toolkit, A Fiction Writer's Guide to Peace allows storytellers to understand the complex dynamics of, and the damage caused by, violent perspectives and actions, giving them a way into considering nonviolence as powerful and preferable.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

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