Fall 2013 Flying Starts

Spotlights on five children's and YA authors who made notable debuts this fall.

In Aaron Becker’s wordless adventure, Journey (Candlewick, Aug.), the power of imagination and a red marker lead a lonely girl into a series of magical realms.

According to Carrie Mesrobian, just about everything about her debut novel Sex and Violence (Carolrhoda Lab, Oct.) came about by accident, or perhaps a better word would be serendipity.

An accomplished sculptor and painter, Rosy Lamb has found a new vehicle for her artistic muse.

“Sci-fi for teens,” shouts the header of Phoebe North’s Web site, making her intentions as a writer as clear as dilithium crystal.

Before Corey Ann Haydu was a writer, she was an actress, author’s assistant, playwright, and intern at a literary agency.

Fall 2013 Flying Starts: Sustaining Flight

For more than a quarter of a century, PW has been looking at each season’s crop of new children’s writers and illustrators and singling out those whose debut works were particularly noteworthy. Of course, the path of an author’s career never did run smooth, but we caught up with a dozen former Flying Starts who delivered on their promise—and then some.