Author Archives - Page 13 of 25 - Hudson Childrens Book Festival

Phelan, Matt

Matt Phelan is the illustrator of many books for young readers, including The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal. He is the author/illustrator of four graphic novels: the Scott O’Dell Award-winning The Storm in the Barn, Around the World, Bluffton, and the New York Times Bestseller Snow White. His latest books include the picture books Pignic and A Kite for Moon (by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple) and the novel Knights vs. Dinosaurs. www.mattphelan.com

3 Fun Facts

1. Can play the ukulele
2. Studied acting in college instead of art.
3. Lives with his family in Pennsylvania.

Hood, Susan

Susan Hood is the award-winning author of many picture books and middle grade books for young readers, including ADA’S VIOLIN; ALIAS ANNA; HARBORING HOPE; THE LAST STRAW: Kids vs. Plastics; LIFEBOAT 12; and SHAKING THINGS UP: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World. LIFEBOAT 5, a companion book to the acclaimed LIFEBOAT 12, will be published in Fall 2024. Susan lives with her family and six-year-old pup in Connecticut and enjoys spending her summers on the water—swimming, kayaking, and sailing with her husband along the New England coast. susanhoodbooks.com

Awards

Susan is the 2024 recipient of the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for HARBORING HOPE, an award given annually for “a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people.” Susan has also been awarded an E. B. White Read-Aloud Picture Book Honor, a Mathical Honor Award, two Christopher Awards, the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the Golden Kite Award, and a second Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award. ALIAS ANNA was named a 2023 Sydney Taylor Notable Book and was a finalist for the 2023 National Jewish Book Awards.

3 Fun Facts

1. I’ve had lunch with Big Bird.
2. Sailing on the Atlantic Ocean in a 38-foot boat, we suddenly found ourselves with no engine, lights, or navigation. We had to find Bermuda using the stars and handheld sextant.
3. My great-great-grandfather was a lighthouse keeper.

Northrop, Michael

Michael Northrop is the New York Times bestselling author of the TombQuest series and other books for kids and teens. His first young adult novel, Gentlemen, earned him a Publishers Weekly Flying Start citation, and his second, Trapped, was an Indie Next List selection. His first middle-grade novel, Plunked, was named one of the best children’s books of the year by the New York Public Library and was selected by NPR for its Backseat Book Club. A former senior editor at Sports Illustrated Kids, he now writes full-time from his home in New York City. Visit him online at www.michaelnorthrop.net

3 Fun Facts

1. I am dyslexic and repeated second grade.
2. I once stepped on a yellowjacket nest and was stung approx.75 times.
3. According to family lore, I am related to Jonathan Swift, who wrote Gulliver’s Travels.

Shapiro, Esmé

Shapiro, Esmé

Esmé Shapiro is an author and illustrator of books for children. She grew up amongst the succulents and coyotes of Laurel Canyon, California. These days, she lives in an old farm house in the Catskills with her husband and their two scruffy dogs. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her next book, ROY IS NOT A DOG will be coming out in 2024. www.esmeshapiroillustration.com

Awards

Esmé is a past recipient of both the Nancy Lee Rhodes Roberts Scholarship and the SILA West 53 Gold Award-Phillip Hayes Scholarship. She has exhibited at The Society of Illustrators and her work has been featured in Taproot, Quill and Quire, and Plansponsor Magazines. Her first book, OOKO, was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award and was # 1 on the National Post Best Seller’s List. Her most recent book, MY SELF, YOUR SELF, was was listed as one of the Best Children’s Books of the Year 2023 by The Bank Street College of Education.

3 Fun Facts

1. I know how to do an Irish jig!
2. I wish bagels could talk.
3. I have two scruffy dogs named Chebini and Olympia!

Johnston, Jeffry W.

Johnston, Jeffry W.

Jeffry W. Johnston is the author of the Edgar-nominated FRAGMENTS and the In the Margins Top 10 Book award winner of THE TRUTH, and both were Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selections by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). His most recent teen mystery/thriller, FOLLOWING, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. He is never without a book to read and is passionate about movies, TV binging, and baseball. His website is at jeffrywjohnston.com

Awards
– FOLLOWING: Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
– THE TRUTH: In the Margins Top 10 Book Award winner; YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers
– FRAGMENTS: 2008 Edgar Award nomination for Best Young Adult Mystery; YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers

3 Fun Facts

1. I lived in England for a year when I was in 5th grade.
2. My father was an anthropologist, and my sister is an archeologist.
3. I’m a big movie fan and my favorite movie is IT’S A WONDEFUL LIFE.

Lerangis, Peter

Peter Lerangis’s books have sold over 6.5 million copies and been translated into 35 languages. His nine N.Y. Times bestsellers include the entire Seven Wonders series and his 39 Clues contributions. His YA novel Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am, won an ALA Schneider Award, and his latest adventures are the Max Tilt and Throwback trilogies. He’s also performed on Broadway, run a marathon, rock-climbed in Yosemite during a 6.1 earthquake, and graduated Harvard with a degree in biochemistry. www.peterlerangis.com

Awards
– ALA Schneider Award for best book depicting the disability experience
– ALA Quick Picks
– Multiple Junior Library Guild Awards
– ALA Best Books
– New York Public Library Best Books
– Bank Street Library Best Books

3 Fun Facts

1. My left pinkie has camptodactyly, which means it can’t straighten, and I have worked it into the plot of a book.
2. I sang and acted in a Broadway show.
3. The letters of my full name can be rearranged into Sergeant Peril.

Hiranandani, Veera

Hiranandani, Veera

Veera Hiranandani is the award-winning author of several books for young people. Her most recent book, a companion to her Newbery Honor-winning THE NIGHT DIARY, is called AMIL AND THE AFTER. She’s also the author of HOW TO FIND WHAT YOU’RE NOT LOOKING FOR, which received the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award among other accolades. She earned her MFA in fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she’s now a faculty member with the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts. www.veerahiranandani.com

Awards

A Newbery Honor, A Sydney Taylor Award, A National Jewish Book Award Finalist, The Jane Addams Award, the New York Historical Society Children’s History Book Prize, a Walter Dean Myers Honor, and the Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature.

3 Fun Facts

1. I’m from Fairfield County, CT.
2. I LOVE cats.
3. I used to think I’d grow up to be a painter or an actor.

Abbott, Tony

Abbott, Tony

Tony Abbott writes books for young readers aged 6 to 14, including Kringle, Underworlds, and the long-running series, The Secrets of Droon. He is also author of the realistic novels Firegirl (2006 Golden Kite Award for Fiction) and The Postcard (2008 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery), and the civil-rights drama, Lunch-Box Dream. His latest novels are The Summer of Owen Todd (2017), Denis Ever After (2018), and The Great Jeff (2019). Tony has been on the faculty of Lesley University’s MFA in Creative Writing, is a frequent conference speaker and visitor to schools. www.tonyabbottbooks.com

3 Fun Facts

1. I play the guitar middling fair, the violin terribly, and the trombone not at all.
2. I wrote poetry for twenty years before writing novels for children, and am now combining the two disciplines.

Stamper, Vesper

Stamper, Vesper

Vesper Stamper’s debut novel, What the Night Sings, has been longlisted for the National Book Award and received numerous accolades for recounting the seldom-told story of what happened to Holocaust survivors in the aftermath of World War 2. For twenty years, Author-Illustrator Vesper Stamper has created work through which asks the central question: how do people, especially children, who suffer trauma, go on to rise above their experiences as victims and go beyond surviving to flourishing? She believes in the dignity of every human being as made in the image of God, and in the resilience of the human spirit. www.vesperillustration.com

Grimes, Nikki

New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes has received the 2022 CSK Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Medal, the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, the Coretta Scott King Award for Bronx Masquerade, and five Coretta Scott King Honors. Her recent titles include Printz Honor and Sibert Honor Ordinary Hazards, ALA Notables Legacy:Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and Southwest Sunrise, Kirkus Best Book Bedtime for Sweet Creatures, Kamala Harris:Rooted in Justice, Playtime for Restless Rascals, and Garvey in the Dark. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California. www.nikkigrimes.com

3 Fun Facts

1. Once sang on the stage of the Stockholm Philharmonic in Sweden.
2. In Sweden, I was known as a singer who also wrote.
3. In addition to writing, I also paint. The first time I exhibited my watercolors, I won a blue ribbon.