2025 HCBF Archives - Hudson Childrens Book Festival

LaRocca, Rajani

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor winning middle grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose and poetry. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, math, science, and just about everywhere she looks. Learn more about Rajani and her books at www.RajaniLaRocca.com. She also co-hosts the STEM Women in KidLit Podcast.

Awards
Newbery Honor; Walter Dean Myers Award; Golden Kite Award; Crystal Kite Award; New England Book Award; Massachusetts Book Award and numerous other state award nominations; featured on the Today Show; “Best of” lists from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, SLJ, and others. Numerous starred reviews. See more awards and honors at https://www.rajanilarocca.com/awards-praise/

3 Fun Facts

1. I love to travel, cook, and bake.
2. I have an impossibly cute dog named Boomer.
3. I’m a practicing doctor.

Parra, John

Parra, John

John Parra is an award-winning artist, illustrator, author, and educator, best known for his, Latino themed, children’s picture books and commercial works. He regularly speaks as a visiting artist at schools and literary conferences across the country, advocating art and reading education. John currently lives with his wife in Queens, New York. https://www.johnparraart.com/

Awards

Three American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Honors, Two Golden Kite Awards from SCBWI, two Christopher’s Awards, a 2023 Américas Award, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year award.

3 Fun Facts

1. I have a dog named Luna
2. I like to play guitar
3. My favorite color is GREEN!

Venkatraman, Padma

Padma Venkatraman is the author of The Bridge Home, Born Behind Bars, A Time to Dance, Island’s End and Climbing the Stairs. Her books have sold over ¼ million copies, received over 20 starred reviews, and won numerous awards: Walter Dean Myers Award, South Asia Book Award, Golden Kite, ALA Notable etc. Her poetry has been published in Poetry Magazine and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. An oceanographer by training, Padma loves teaching and sharing her love for reading and writing with others. Her latest novel, Safe Harbor, is about a girl who rescues a stranded seal in Rhode Island, where Padma lives with her family.
www.padmavenkatraman.com

Awards
Padma Venkatraman is the winner of a Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, Golden Kite, Crystal Kite, three South Asia Book Awards, two Paterson Prizes, Julia Ward Howe and Nerdy Book Awards; recipient of Malka Penn, Sakura Medal, Prix des Libraries, Storytelling World and Litterado honors, etc. Her novels have appeared on numerous best book lists (ALA Notable, Kirkus, Booklist Editor’s Choice, NYPL, Chicago Public Library, Bank Street, CSMCL and many more).

3 Fun Facts

1. I play Indian classical music, like Geetha, the protagonist of Safe Harbor.
2. I was the only BIPOC female in my incoming graduate oceanography class in the 1990’s.
3. I was inspired to write Safe Harbor by a seal I came across while strolling along the beautiful New England beach near my home.

Funk, Josh

Josh Funk is a software engineer and the author of 20 picture books including the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series, How to Code a Sandcastle, Dear Unicorn, Dear Dragon, My Pet Feet, the It’s Not a Fairy Tale series, Lost in the Library, and more. Since the fall of 2015, Josh has presented (or virtually presented) at over 800 schools, classrooms, and libraries and over 300 bookshops, book festivals, and conferences. For more information about Josh, visit him at joshfunkbooks.com and on social media at @joshfunkbooks.

Awards

8x Indie Kids’ Next List Selection (including ATTACK OF THE SCONES)
Multiple starred reviews
2024-25 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Jr. Title (MY PET FEET)
2024-25 Young Hoosier Picture Book Award Nominee (MY PET FEET)
2023 Massachusetts Book Award Must-Read Picture Book (MY PET FEET)
2022 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Read This Next! Title (MY PET FEET)
2020 Mississippi Magnolia State Award Short List (LOST IN THE LIBRARY)
2020 Wisconsin Golden Archer Award Nominee (LOST IN THE LIBRARY)
2019 International Literacy Association (ILA) Teacher’s Choice Reading List (HOW TO CODE A SANDCASTLE)
2018 Smithsonian Ten Best Children’s Books (HOW TO CODE A SANDCASTLE)
2018-19 Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) Show Me Readers Award Nominee (DEAR DRAGON)
2018-19 Indiana Library Federation (ILF) Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee (DEAR DRAGON)
2017-18 Maine Chickadee Award Nominee (DEAR DRAGON)
2017 Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year (DEAR DRAGON)
2017 International Literacy Association (ILA) Teacher’s Choice Reading List (DEAR DRAGON)

3 Fun Facts

1. Josh plays guitar and sings in all of the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast musical book trailers.
2. Josh has visited over 800 schools and libraries (both in-person and virtually) since 2015.
3. Josh is vegan.

Preller, James

Preller, James

James Preller lives in Delmar, NY, and has been publishing books for young readers for almost 40 years. His books are suitable for readers from PreK to Young Adult, and include series such as Jigsaw Jones and Scary Tales, as well as these individual titles: Bystander, Upstander, Blood Mountain, and Six Innings. His newest middle-grade title, Shaken (2024), centers around a 7th-grade soccer player, Kristy Barrett, who suffers from post-concussion syndrome. Preller enjoys visiting schools, hoping to inspire a love of reading and writing. www.jamespreller.com

Awards

James Preller has received many accolades over the years, including a YALSA, and ALA NOTABLE, and New York Public Library’s Best Books for Reading and Sharing, numerous State Awards and Junior Library Guild Selections.

3 Fun Facts

1. James Preller loves hiking.
2. James Preller loves baseball.
3. James Preller loves reading.

Mack, Jeff

Mack, Jeff

Jeff Mack is the award-winning author and illustrator of fifty books for young readers. His titles include Good News Bad News, Hush Little Polar Bear, Duck in the Fridge, and The Dog & Pony Show.

His recent series of picture book biographies include Art is Everywhere, Marcel’s Masterpiece, and Time To Make Art.

He has also illustrated James Howe’s Bunnicula and Friends, Eve Bunting’s Hurry Hurry, and The Cryptid Club series by TV writer/producer, Michael Brumm.

He travels widely to schools and libraries sharing his love of creating books with young readers.

Visit him at www.jeffmack.com.

Awards

2024 Junior Library Guild Selections: Dog Gets A Pet, We Are Up A Tree
2013 Texas 2×2: Frog & Fly, Good News Bad News, Cindy Moo
2014 Junior Library Guild Selections: Frog & Fly
2014 NYPL Best Books: AhHa!
2015 Colorado Bell Award: The Things I Can Do

3 Fun Facts

1. My favorite children’s book author/illustrator is William Steig.
2. I named Clueless McGee after my dog McGee.
3. Clueless McGee was originally going to be about a dog who wears pajamas and solves mysteries, but I didn’t want it to be like Scooby-Doo. So I turned the dog into a fifth-grade boy.

Castaldo, Nancy F.

Castaldo, Nancy F.

Nancy F. Castaldo is an environmental educator and award-winning author, who has written books about our planet for over 20 years from New York’s Hudson Valley. Her books include The Farm That Feeds Us, The Story of Seeds, and Sniffer Dogs. www.nancycastaldo.com @NCastaldoAuthor

Awards

American Bookseller Pick of the Lists,Smithsonian Notable Book For Children, NSTA Outstanding Science Trade title, SCBWI Crystal Kite Awards, Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selections, Sigurd F. Olsen honors for nature writing, Eureka Nonfiction Honor, CA Reading Association, Nerdy Book Club Award for Longform Nonfiction, Dorothy Canfield Fisher VT, Bank Street Best Books of the Year, Booklist Top 10 Sci-Tech Books for Youth, Maine Cream of the Crop List, NYC Reads 365 – 5th Grade List, New York State Outdoor Education Association’s Art and Literature Award for the body of her work.

3 Fun Facts

Certifications:
1. Certified National Geographic Educator
2. Project Wild Certified
3. Project WET Trained (NSTA Approved)

Maldonado, Torrey

Torrey Maldonado, born and raised in Brooklyn’s Red Hook, approaches 30 years of teaching in NYC public schools. His fast-paced stories draw from his and his students’ lives. His popular Hands, Tight, and What Lane? are Junior Library Guild Gold Selections, won multiple awards, earned starred reviews, and are on “Best Book of the Year” and states’ lists. Hands is this year’s Global Read Aloud. His debut, Secret Saturdays, remains popular over a decade later. Oprah and the New York Times praised What Lane? as essential in showing friendship and allyship. Discover more at torreymaldonado.com or on social media @torreymaldonado

3 Fun Facts

1. By third grade, I was hooked on comic books. By fourteen, I had almost two hundred collectibles. I also had a cat named Snow White and she peed on and scratched my collection down to fifty comics. So I secretly wish I had the super power of pausing and redirecting pets to prevent them from damaging things we love.
2. I love Scrabble and word games. No one in a five mile radius can beat me in Scrabble OR no one in a five mile radius would enjoy losing as much as me in Scrabble. Stop by my table for a Scrabble match!
3. As a teen, for about a month, I taped my ears to my head with black electrical tape because I thought that would flatten my big ears. Did it work? Visit and let me know if my head has caught up with my ears.

Teague, Mark

Teague, Mark

Mark Teague is an author and illustrator of more than 60 children’s books. He lives with his family in the Hudson Valley.

Awards

Parents Choice, Christopher Medal