Children's Books for Spring 2015: All Our Coverage

Welcome to our spring 2015 children’s announcements issue! Our features include a look at the boom in books based on popular YouTube channels and blogs, a collection of tributes and cherished memories of publisher and agent George Nicholson, and a profile of Printz Honor author Andrew Smith, in which he talks about his spring novel The Alex Crow, a multiperspective narrative about, among other things, a bionic crow, a schizophrenic bomber, and a 19th-century polar expedition. We’ve also got a Meet the Editor interview with Alvina Ling, editor-in-chief of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. All of this, plus an A-to-Z listing of children’s and YA titles due out between February 1 and July 31. Happy reading!

About Our Cover Artist

Though he’s only been creating children’s books since 2006, David Ezra Stein has made quite a splash on the picture book scene, winning the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award in 2008 and a Caldecott Honor in 2011, and publishing 13 books in nine years. What does he love about creating books for kids? “It’s one of the most personal art forms out there,” Stein says. “It’s also very intimate because it’s shared on an intimate level. There’s lots of latitude in terms of style, technique, color, texture. It’s a rich medium to work in.”

Stein says he has managed to keep in touch with his inner child and enjoys creating something that “tickles that childish part of me.” His books usually star memorable characters, such as a feisty squirrel or an interrupting chicken. “I try to think of characters who have a funny way of being in the world, and put them into situations that cause tension.”

Seeing the reactions children have to his books, Stein says, is both gratifying and instructive. “I love the kids, they have that immediate energy and generosity to give you their full attention. It’s fun to make them laugh. Most of the year you’re in your studio putting a message in a bottle. Seeing their reactions has changed the way I write.”

Currently Stein is working on two sequels to Interrupting Chicken, as well as two other picture books: Ice Boy, about an ice cube who wants to see what’s happening outside the freezer, and Pop, Cornelius, which he calls a “coming-of-age story with popcorn.” Reflecting on his chosen profession, Stein says he’s “always had a love for stories and books, when I decided to admit it and make it my career. It feels like a very good fit for me.”