Author Archives - Page 15 of 25 - Hudson Childrens Book Festival

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.

Connor, Leslie

Connor, Leslie

Leslie Connor is the author of the middle grade novels, Crunch, Waiting for Normal, winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, a finalist for the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, and A Home for Goddesses and Dogs. Leslie’s most recent title is Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? about an unusual pair of devoted friends. She lives with her husband and two rescue dogs in a little house in the Connecticut woods. www.leslieconnor.com

Finalist for the National Book Award
Two-time winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award.

3 Fun Facts

1. I’m surprised that I’m a writer.
2. I eat weird things like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.
3. I love being upside down.

Roy, Jennifer

Jennifer Roy is the best-selling, multiple award-winning author of YELLOW STAR. Her books MINDBLIND, JARS OF HOPE and PLAYING ATARI WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN also won numerous awards. Roy also co-authored the TRADING FACES series with her twin sister Julia DeVillers. Jennifer‘s latest books are for American Girl, where she and her twin wrote the books for the first historical twin dolls – NICKI and ISABEL! Roy’s books, NICKI’S JOURNAL and MEET ISABEL AND NICKI, were published in February and August 2023, along with the dolls and merchandise they helped envision. Roy lives in Saratoga Springs, New York with her family.

Awards

YELLOW STAR – Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award, New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, National Jewish Book Awards Finalist, School Library Journal Best Book, Sydney Taylor Book Awards Honor Book, ALA Notable Children’s Book, William Allen White Award (Kansas State), Lamplighter Award AudioFiles “Headphones Award” (Recorded Books), and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and School Library Journal. MINDBLIND received a starred review from Booklist and was a ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults. It was also on numerous state book lists. JARS OF HOPE – Magnolia Book Award. PLAYING ATARI WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN – Sunshine State Young Readers Award Books 2019-2020 List for Grades 6-8 and Bank Street Books Best Children’s Books of the Year.

3 Fun Facts

1. I’m a twin author!
2. I have a rescue pug named Bridget!
3. I love to paint!

Stewart, Melissa

Stewart, Melissa

Melissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 nonfiction books for children, including Can an Aardvark Bark?; No Monkeys, No Chocolate; and Feathers: Not Just for Flying. She holds a degree in biology from Union College in Schenectady, NY, and a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. Melissa believes that nothing brings nonfiction writing to life like firsthand research. While gathering information for her books, she has explored tropical rain forests in Costa Rica, gone on safari in East Africa, and swum with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands. www.melissa-stewart.com

3 Fun Facts

1. My favorite research experience was observing hippos from a hot air balloon floating over the African savannah.
2. I often write in my pajamas.
3. My favorite punctuation mark is the question mark because I’m so curious.

Wallmark, Laurie

Award-winning author Laurie Wallmark writes picture book biographies of women in STEM as well as fiction. Her books have earned five starred trade reviews, been chosen by Junior Library Guild, and received awards such as Outstanding Science Trade Book, Crystal Kite, Cook Prize Honor, and Parents’ Choice Gold Medal. Her titles include Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life, Code Breaker, Spy Hunter, Dino Pajama Party, and Her Eyes on the Stars. Laurie has an MFA in Writing from VCFA and is a former software engineer and computer science professor. . You can find Laurie at www.lauriewallmark.com and @lauriewallmark.

Awards
Outstanding Science Trade Book, Best STEM book, Cook Prize Honor Winner, Crystal Kite Winner, Junior Library Guild Selection, Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award

3 Fun Facts

1. I was the only girl in a boys-only architectural drawing class in junior high.
2. My high school principal told me I would never take advanced math classes because I was a girl, but he was wrong.
3. I used to teach computer science to students on campus and also those in prison.

Kimmelman, Leslie

Leslie Kimmelman is the author of more than fifty popular books for children, whose subjects range from the rainforest adventures of a bat and sloth, to a hot dog picnic Eleanor Roosevelt hosted for the king and queen of England, to the New York City marathon. lesliekimmelman.com

Awards

Five Sydney Taylor Honor and Notable Titles. Many state awards, such as the Charlotte award, given by the New York State Reading Association.

3 Fun Facts

1. I know the way to Sesame Street; I worked there for almost 25 years.
2. If I hadn’t been a children’s book author, I would’ve loved to be a wildlife photographer.
3. My cure for writer’s block (and everything else) is dark chocolate.

Olien, Jessica

Olien, Jessica

Jessica is the author and illustrator of four books for Balzer+Bray/Harpercollins including RIGHT NOW, ADRIFT: AN ODD COUPLE of POLAR BEARS, THE BLOBFISH BOOK and SHARK DETECTIVE. Jessica’s cartoons have been published in the New Yorker and the New York Observer and Conde Nast Traveler and her writing for adults has been published in Slate, the Atlantic, McSweeney’s and many others. www.jessicaolien.com

3 Fun Facts

1. When I’m stressed I look at pictures of Corgis.
2. My favorite fruit is pomegranate.
3. I used to live in Egypt.

McDonough, Yona Zeldis

McDonough, Yona Zeldis

Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of 28 books for children, including several in the highly popular WHO WAS…? series. She has also published seven novels for adults as well as articles, essays and short fiction. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, photographer Paul McDonough.

3 Fun Facts

1. I love Pomeranians and I’ve had as many as three at once.
2. My husband built a doll house for me. It inspired one of my books (The Doll House Magic) and it has pride of place in our living room.
3. I like to memorize poetry an know over sixty poems by heart.

Ventresca, Yvonne

Ventresca, Yvonne

Yvonne Ventresca is the award-winning author of two young adult suspense novels: Black Flowers, White Lies (a psychological thriller) and Pandemic (about teens surviving a deadly illness that strikes our contemporary world). Her latest fiction, The Third Ghost, was selected as the title story for the middle grade adventure anthology, Voyagers: The Third Ghost. Yvonne’s other work includes two nonfiction books and several additional short stories selected for anthologies. You can learn more at YvonneVentresca.com, where she also features resources for teen writers.

3 Fun Facts

1. I’m a Yondan (fourth degree) Black Belt in Isshinryu Karate.
2. Purple pens are my favorite for editing my stories.
3. My family rescued a “schneagle” —a part-Beagle, part-Schnauzer dog named Luna.

Castle, Jennifer

Castle, Jennifer

Jennifer Castle grew up writing stories in her head on long school bus rides and was constantly looking for ways to turn her ideas into reality. Eventually, one of her “big ideas” became a published novel, and since then she has written twelve books for kids and teens, including Butterfly Wishes series, Together at Midnight, and Famous Friends. Jennifer lives in New Paltz with her husband, two daughters, and two striped cats, who also work part-time as her writing assistants. www.jennifercastle.com

3 Fun Facts

1. Blaire Wilson, American Girl’s Girl of the Year 2019, and I share two things in common: we both live in the Hudson Valley and we both have food sensitivities.
2. I’m a Ravenclaw.
3. My favorite book of all time is A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET by Madeleine L’Engle.