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Subscribe to SLJ Magazine Bloody Good: Don’t miss J. Anderson Coats’s debut,...
Your novel, The Wicked and the Just, has two feisty 13th-century teens: Cecily, whose father forces her to move to Wales from England to seek a better life, and Gwenhwyfar, her resentful servant who...
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Straighten Up and Fly Right: Elizabeth Wein’s new spy thriller will break...
Photograph by David Ho Your novel Code Name Verity begins after a British plane piloted by Maddie crashes into Nazi-occupied France. It’s tough to talk about the story without giving too much away....
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My, How You’ve Changed!: Jason Chin’s ‘Island’ Charts the Galápagos’s...
Photograph by Corey Hendrickson. Island: A Story of the Galápagos is packed with fascinating, well-researched facts about this archipelago and your exquisite paintings of its unique flora and fauna....
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This Is Not My Sequel: Just Wait Till You See This New Book from Jon Klassen...
Photograph by Brian Davis. Illustration by Jon Klassen In This Is Not My Hat, a minnow steals a big fish’s bowler hat while he’s asleep. Part of what makes your art so striking is that the water, or...
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Touched by an Angel: Martine Leavitt’s ‘My Book of Life by Angel’ Is a...
Your latest novel is a dark and disturbing story about a 16-year-old named Angel who moves in with a guy she meets at the mall and is lured into a life of drugs, violence, and prostitution. It must...
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Everything from A to Z: Vincent X. Kirsch adds some serious fun to ‘Noah...
Photograph by Jim Dandy Jeri Chase Ferris’s picture book Noah Webster & His Words is a great read, but it could have been a snoozer without your witty illustrations. How’d you react when editor...
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Life After Death: Susin Nielsen’s tenderhearted novel, ‘The Reluctant Journal...
Photograph by Tallulah Photography. In The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, his older brother brings a hunting rifle to school to kill his merciless tormentor—and then takes his own life. Where’d...
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SLJ Talks to Author Andrea Cheng: Her latest book, ‘Etched in Clay,’ charts...
Your latest book is a biography told in verse about a 19th-century slave who became an accomplished potter. Where’d the idea come from? I was listening to NPR, and I heard a review of Carolina Clay...
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Molly Idle’s ‘Flora and the Flamingo’ Is a Wordless Wonder | Under Cover
Photograph by Kathryn Smith You use nifty interactive flaps to tell the story of an unlikely friendship between a gawky bird and a vulnerable girl. How’d you come up with the idea? When I was little, I...
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The Mane Event: Maggie Stiefvater on success, rejection, and her new novel,...
Hollywood’s eager to turn your New York Times best sellers into movies, your book tours take you all over the globe, you play a few instruments and paint, plus you have two small kids—and you’re not...
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Going Deep: Author-artist Claire A. Nivola’s ‘Life in the Ocean’ tackles some...
Your gorgeous new picture book is about Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer and leading spokesperson on the importance of the ocean to our planet’s survival. She’s designed undersea research vessels and...
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Tough Love: Marie Lu’s dystopian thriller offers plenty of explosive action...
Your first novel, Legend, triggered a major bidding war, Hollywood can’t wait to turn it into a movie, and you’re only 27. It’s just been a really, really exciting ride. I wake up all the time and I...
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Holy Cow!: Sy Montgomery’s ‘Temple Grandin’ is an inspiring tale of cattle…...
When Temple Grandin was born, her parents didn’t know she had autism. In fact, her father thought she was retarded and wanted to send her to live in a mental hospital. Today, she’s a renowned scientist...
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Secrets and Lies | Under Cover
Australia’s Craig Silvey tackles racism and hypocrisy in ‘Jasper Jones’ Jasper Jones opens with a horrifying scene—the body of a young girl is found hanging from a tree. Can you set up the story for...
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Frenemies: Jack D. Ferraiolo’s hilarious new novel features dueling superhero...
Sidekicks opens with Bright Boy, aka Scott Hutchinson, the teen sidekick of superhero Phantom Justice, getting aroused as he’s rescuing a hot young woman. The bulge in his bright yellow tights is...
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Say What?: Allen Say’s ‘Drawing from Memory’ charts the story of his...
While growing up in Japan, your father discouraged you from drawing. And in your new book we first see him from behind. It’s the only time I show him. When I saw that illustration, I knew it meant...
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Da Do Ron Ron: Ron Koertge’s sequel to ‘Stoner & Spaz’ is even better than...
Now Playing: Stoner & Spaz II is about an unlikely romance between a sexy, foul-mouthed druggie and an isolated kid with cerebral palsy who lives with his rich grandmother. No offense, but I...
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Absolutely Dino-mite!: Jessie Hartland’s latest picture book puts a new spin...
How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum tells the true story of how a 145-million-year-old Diplodocus longus ended up at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Were you crazy about dinosaurs as a kid? I was...
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Fish of a Different Color: Pat Schmatz’s novel ‘Bluefish’ features some...
Thirteen-year-old Travis can’t read. To make matters worse, he’s moved to a new town far from his beloved woods. But when he meets good-hearted, outgoing Velveeta, his life takes an unexpected turn....
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A Bird’s-eye View | Under Cover
Gill Lewis’s first novel is about friendships, tragedy, and unexpected connections In Wild Wings, two kids protect a pair of endangered ospreys by keeping their existence a secret. Somehow, it seems...
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