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KATHERINE APPLEGATE is the author of dozens of books for children and young adults.With her husband, Michael Reynolds, she wrote Animorphs (Scholastic), the best-selling middle reader series. Her first free-standing novel, Home of the Brave (Feiwel & Friends / Macmillan), won the 2007 Golden Kite Award for best fiction from the Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators, the 2007 Josette Frank Award from Bank Street College of Education, and was selected as a Best Book of 2007 by School Library Journal. In spring, 2008, her new chapter book series for young readers, Roscoe Riley Rules, debuts with Harpercollins. The Buffalo Storm (Clarion) is her first picture book. JAY ASHER wrote New York Times bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why, which was named a Best Book for Young Adults, a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, a Borders Original Voices finalist, among many other honors. But it started out by winning a Work-in-Progress grant from SCBWI. BONNIE BADER is the Editor-in-Chief of Grosset & Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan, two imprints of the Penguin Young Readers Group. She acquires novelty books, chapter book series, and middle grade and YA paperback series in all genres. Her series include: Hank Zipzer, Katie Kazoo, Camp Confidential, Pirate School, and The Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff. TRACY BARRETT is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, including the award-winning YA biographical novel, Anna of Byzantium (Delacorte, 1999). Her most recent publications are The 100-Year-Old Secret (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2008), The Ancient Chinese World (Oxford University Press, 2005) and On Etruscan Time (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2005). Some of her past publications include: Growing Up in Colonial America (The Millbrook Press, 1995); Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, in the series Celebrate the States (Benchmark Books, Marshall Cavendish, 1997-1999); The Trail of Tears: An American Tragedy (Perfection Learning Corporation, 2000); "The Children' s Crusade" (AppleSeeds Magazine, December 2001); and Cold in Summer (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2003). Tracy is SCBWI' s Regional Advisor for the Midsouth and was awarded the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant in 2005. She holds a B.A. from Brown University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and currently teaches at Vanderbilt University. Visit her at www.tracybarrett.com. ANN BAUSUM writes about U.S. history for young people from her home in Beloit, Wisconsin. Her publisher, National Geographic Children's Books, will release her newest book in 2008: Denied, Detained, Deported: Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration. Her 2007 book Muckrakers earned the Golden Kite Award as best nonfiction book of the year from the Society of Children' s Book Writers and Illustrators. Freedom Riders (2006) gained Sibert Honor designation from the American Library Association and With Courage and Cloth (2004) received the Jane Addams Children' s Book Award as the year' s best book on social justice issues for older readers. In addition, Ann has written about the nation' s chief executives and their spouses: Our Country' s Presidents (2005, 2nd edition) and Our Country' s First Ladies (2007), as well as the intrepid explorer Roy Chapman Andrews (Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs, 2000). MICHAEL BOURRET joined Dystel & Goderich Literary Management after studying film and television production at New York University. Los Angeles wasn't calling, so he decided to try his hand at another love: books. The fit couldn't have been better. Michael is interested in a wide range of books, from middle grade and young adult fiction, to arts and entertainment, to serious nonfiction. His clients include the National Book Award Finalist Sara Zarr, author of Story of a Girl; Ellen Klages, Scott O'Dell award winner for The Green Glass Sea; Doug Lansky, author of the hilarious Signspotting and its sequel; Anne Rockwell, the acclaimed author/illustrator; and Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak, whose I Love You Through and Through has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. BRENDA BOWEN is vice president and publisher of The Bowen Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books. She has held many positions at many publishers, from secretary to associate publisher, from Henry Holt to Disney. The Bowen Press's first title, MySpace/OurPlanet: Change is Possible, releases on Earth Day, 2008. Titles recently acquired: Willoughby & the Lion, by Greg Foley; The Graphic Gettysburg, by C.M. Butzer; Let's Snuzzle, by Joost Elffers; The Year the Swallows Came Early, by first-novelist Kathryn Fitzmaurice. DONNA BRAY is Co-Publisher of Balzer & Bray at HarperCollins Children's Books, where she is actively acquiring picture books and middle-grade and YA fiction. Donna started her career at Henry Holt and Company, and was most recently the Editorial Director of Hyperion Books for Children, where she worked for twelve years. Among the books that Donna has edited are the Newbery Medal title Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi; National Book Award Finalist The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich; and the New York Times bestsellers Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker and Marla Frazee; I' d Tell You I Love You But I' d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter; We Are The Ship by Kadir Nelson; and Grace For President by Kelly DiPucchio and LeUyen Pham. Some of her recent favorite titles include The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth, The Princess and The Pea by Lauren Child, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. CHRISTOPHER CHENG is an award winning Australian children's author of fiction and non-fiction. Most recently he has been writing historical fiction titles on the Chinese immigrant experience in the Gold Rush times and the early 1900s, including the Melting Pot and New Gold Mountain. He is literacy ambassador for the Australian government's National Literacy and Numeracy Week initiative and co-RA for Australia & New Zealand. RACHEL COHN is the author of the teen novels Gingerbread, Shrimp, Cupcake and Pop Princess, and, along with David Levithan, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List. Her books have been selected as Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews, and have been ALA Best Books for Young Adults and Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selections. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is now a major motion picture from Sony Pictures starring Michael Cera & Kat Dennings, coming to theatres October 3rd. Visit her on the web at www.rachelcohn.com. NANCY CONESCU, an editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is looking for literary and commercial middle-grade fiction, edgy YA fiction, and inventive character-driven picture books. She is intrigued by dark humor, satire, and character-driven narratives. Under Megan Tingley, she worked on books by Stephenie Meyer, Holly Hobbie, Julie Anne Peters, Todd Parr, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Trenton Lee Stewart. Among her recent acquisitions are School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari and The Prophecy of the Sisters trilogy by Michelle Zink. Her upcoming titles include ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley, Ignatius MacFarland: Frequenaut! by creator of " Freaks and Geeks," Paul Feig, and Burn by Suzanne Phillips. Her previously published titles include the Vampirates books by Justin Somper, This is What I Did: by Ann Dee Ellis, and New Socks by Bob Shea. BRUCE COVILLE has published nearly a hundred books for young readers, including My Teacher is an Alien and Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. He is also the founder of Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company devoted to creating unabridged recordings of great children's and YA books with a full cast rather than a single reader. His books have sold over seventeen million copies, and are available in more than a dozen languages." SUZANNE CRUISE is an accomplished artist whose career includes a staff position as an illustrator at Hallmark Cards, Inc., founded her company, Cruise Creative, seventeen years ago. A well-established veteran of the design industry, Cruise has directed her company to be one of the top licensing agencies in the country, featuring many highly acclaimed artists. Cruise Creative proudly represents top selling artists for companies such as Leanin' Tree, Manual Woodworkers & Weavers, Crazy Mountain, Midwest of Canon Falls, and Pure Country Weavers, just to name a few. DEBRA DORFMAN recently moved from the Penguin Young Readers Group to Scholastic, where she had worked for 12 years from 1989 to 2001. In her new role at Scholastic she is Vice President and Publisher of Paperbacks, Cartwheel and Licensing . For the past 7 years she was the President & Publisher for Grosset & Dunlap/Price Stern Sloan, a division of the Penguin Young Readers Group. Her focus there was licensing series, brands and novelty books. Penguin licensing successes include Strawberry Shortcake, Angelina Ballerina, Charlie & Lola, Max & Ruby, Happy Feet, and Hairspray. They are also publishing Speed Racer, Journey 3D and Space Chimps this summer. Dorfman's series successes for Grosset include Hank Zipzer, Katie Kazoo, and Camp Confidential. Brands they have have published successfully into the mass market include Eric Carle, Corduroy, Skippyjon Jones and the re-launch of Dick & Jane. AMALIA ELLISON, after working for both Scholastic Inc and Random House, has found a new happy home at Harry N. Abrams where she is an Assistant Editor for Amulet Books. She works on both middle-grade and YA novels (and occasionally a picture book or two), where she has co-edited Cicada Summer by Andrea Beaty, A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy, and 50 Ways to Save the Earth by Anne Jankeliowitch. Her dream is to find the next Ellen Raskin, Avi, Shannon Hale, Natalie Babbitt or Stephenie Meyer. CONNIE C. EPSTEIN, former Editor-in-Chief of Morrow Jr. Books, is a contributing editor for the SCBWI Bulletin. She will report on current news and submission policies of all the major publishing houses. DILYS EVANS is the president of Dilys Evans Fine Illustration, the company she founded in 1978 representing many of the finest illustrators in children's books, including David Wiesner, the three time winner of the Caldecott gold medal. A painter, a past art director of Cricket magazine, and a contributing writer to The Horn Book, Booklinks, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, Dilys Evans is also a Curator of exhibitions of children's book illustrators and an occasional consultant to the Caldecott committee on The Fine Art of Illustration in Children's Picture Books. SID FLEISCHMAN is the author of some sxity books including his latest, The Trouble Begins At 8: Mark Twain in The Wild, Wild West. He has written screenplays and a musical based on his Newbery Award novel, The Whipping Boy. Regarded as a master of the comic novel, he has a long list of prize winning books, including The Entertainer and The Dybbuk, Bandit's Moon and the McBroom tall tales. He is published in 20 languages. DAVID GALE is Vice President & Editorial Director, at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. David acquires and edits single titles, hardcover, picture books through teen, for a retail market. Some of his recent titles include: Teen - The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen, Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger, You Know Where To Find Me by Rachel Cohn. Middle Grade - Georges Secret Key To The Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking, Picture Book – Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett, Skelly the Skeleton Girl by Jimmy Pickering. MELANIE HOPE GREENBERG began her career as an artist in 1981 publishing her illustrations on UNICEF greeting cards. Melanie' s first picture book was published in 1989. Since then she has illustrated sixteen picture books, six of which she wrote. She has illustrated books for Ann Rockwell, Miriam Cohen, Eve Merriam, Eileen Spinelli, and Brooklyn' s poet laureate, Norman Rosten. Her latest book, Mermaids on Parade (Putnam 2008) is based on Melanie' s real life experiences of marching with a local Brooklyn performance art troupe in the nations largest art parade at Coney Island in New York City. Melanie travels throughout the US presenting her author-illustrator workshops to elementary students, teachers, hopeful and published artists and writers at schools, libraries, conferences and museums. A former president and publicity director of NYC's Children's Book Illustrators Group (CBIG), she is currently on the steering committee of the SCBWI NY Metro Chapter and loves to travel to present her workshops at many SCBWI Regional Chapters. You can contact Melanie at her website www.melaniehopegreenberg.com. JUDY GOLDSCHMIDT is a senior editor at Penguin/Grosset & Dunlap where she acquires Middle Grade and YA series. Her titles include The Show, Nicola in Space, and CITs. She got her start at Alloy Entertainment where she developed the New York Times bestselling series, The A-List. She is also the author of the Raisin Rodriguez series. MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX is the author of more than twenty books for children and teens, including the Shadow Children series and the newly launched Missing series. Her books have won numerous state readers choice awards and the International Reading Association' s Children' s Book Award. DIANNE HESS started at Clarion Books where she worked under James Cross Giblin, Jim Murphy, and Ann Troy to edit a range of quality hardcover titles including picture books, novels, and nonfiction. From there, Dianne moved on to Scholastic where she helped to build Scholastic Press, the company' s first hardcover imprint, by attracting award-winning authors and artists as well as fresh new talent to our list. She is still looking to develop new talent as well as to stretch the boundaries of accomplished authors and artists of distinction, especially those who write humor, fantasy that is grounded in reality, and history--in short, books that have a kind of emotional and spiritual resonance. GRETCHEN HIRSCH Gretchen Hirsch is an associate editor at HarperCollins Children's books, where she primarily edits YA fiction, with a few picture books and middle-grade novels on the side. Some current projects include the Pretty Little Liars series and several other titles in the HarperTeen imprint. Previously, Gretchen was an assistant editor at Harcourt Children' s Books. She came to publishing after working as a children' s department manager in a bookstore. She is the editor of Jan Thomas' s What Will Fat Cat Sit On? and A Birthday for Cow!, as well as the forthcoming novel Jessica' s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. Gretchen loves manuscripts with a bit of irony and irreverence, and is especially interested in offbeat picture books, sweet and classic middle-grade, unusual contemporary YA, very commercial YA for girls, and innovative nonfiction. MAC McCOOL (aka CHRISTIAN HILL) shares his expertise on children' s graphic novels in conferences and classes across the country. He has published more than a dozen articles on graphic novels, including in the 2009 Children' s Writer' s and Illustrator' s Market. He teaches at California State University, Fullerton. ALLYN JOHNSTON is Vice President and Publisher of a new west-coast-based imprint at Simon & Schuster. Previously she was editor in chief at Harcourt Children's Books. Among the authors and illustrators with whom she works are Lois Ehlert, Mem Fox, Debra Frasier, Marla Frazee, Cynthia Rylant, Avi, and M. T. Anderson. She is primarily interested in acquiring picture books and middle-grade novels. ALAN KATZ has written many books for children and adults, including the award-winning songbooks Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs and I'm Still Here in the Bathtub, Where Did They Hide My Presents?, Are You Quite Polite?, Don't Say That Word!, the interactive trivia series That's Right, That's Wrtong, and Stinky Thinking. He has also written family humor and puzzles for publications including Rosie Magazine, The New York Times and the New York Daily News. Among his most recent titles are a poetry collection called OOPS!, and songbooks On Top of the Potty and Smelly Locker. DAVID LAROCHELLE has been creating books for young people for twenty years. His titles include The End, 2007 Golden Kite Honor Book for picture book text, Absolutely Positively Not, 2005 Sid Fleischman Humor Award winner, and The Best Pet of All, a BookSense Book of the Year finalist. He also carves a pretty mean pumpkin. ELIZABETH LAW is VP and Publisher of Egmont Books USA, a new American children' s book imprint. Previously, Elizabeth was Associate Publisher of Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers and before that was an editor for many years at Viking Children' s Books. Egmont' s list will focus primarily on middle grade and young adult fiction, which are Elizabeth' s own specialities, although she enjoys and has worked on many genres. Some of her favorite books she has edited include No Talking by Andrew Clements, Black and White by Malorie Blackman, and Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman. ARTHUR A. LEVINE is a Vice President at Scholastic Inc. and the Editorial Director of Arthur A. Levine Books, a literary, hardcover imprint of Scholastic. LAURENT LINN, Art Director for Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, began his career as a puppet designer in Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop. With the Muppets for 11 years, he became the Creative Director for Sesame Street, winning an Emmy Award. Laurent illustrates; reviews over one hundred books a year as a member of the Children's Book Awards Committee at Bank Street College; and collaborates with noted editors, authors, and illustrators on picture books, middle-grade books and teen novels at S&S. Among Laurent' s titles as art director are Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, and Lloyd Alexander' s last book, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio. DOROTHY LOVE is the published author of twelve novels for young adults and middle grade readers as well as an illustrated work of nonfiction for younger readers. Her award-winning work comprises historical fiction, fantasy adventure, and contemporary fiction. She has presented more than a hundred writers workshops and conferences nationwide and was a 2006 associate writer in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Her most recent YA novel, Defying the Diva was published earlier this year. STEVEN MALK is an agent with Writers House, where he represents a wide range of projects for children and young adults. Malk opened a West Coast office for Writers House in 1998, and some of his clients include Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith, Kadir Nelson, Cynthia Rylant, Marla Frazee, Sara Pennypacker, Adam Rex, Elise Primavera, Karma Wilson, Sonya Sones, and Jennifer Donnelly. LEONARD MARCUS is one of America's leading writers about children's books and the people who create them. He has been Parenting magazine's regular book reviewer since 1987 and is a frequent contributor to the NY Times Book Review and Horn Book. His own books include Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; A Caldecott Celebration; The Wand in the Word; Golden Legacy; and most recently Minders of Make-Believe. Visit his web site at www.leonardmarcus.com. KRISTA MARINO is an editor at Random House Children's Books at Delacorte Press, where she is now an Editor. She works on Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction solely and is always looking for new voices, innovative concepts, and great stories for her list. Recent books she has edited include King Dork by Frank Portman, The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott, and Prom Dates From Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore. MARK MCVEIGH is the Editorial Director of Aladdin Paperbacks, an imprint of Simon and Schuster' s Children' s Publishing Division. A Massachusetts native, he graduated from Boston University and moved to Paris for two post-collegiate years before completing a Masters in Early Childhood Education at New York University. He taught in the Brooklyn Public School system for four years before taking his first job as an editorial assistant at Golden Books. In the ten years since then he has worked at Scholastic, Random House, HarperCollins, and Dutton Children' s Books. He has worked with many talented people, including Maurice Sendak, Eileen Spinelli, Gregory Maguire, Steve Jenkins, Kathleen Krull and James St. James. One of the last books he edited at Dutton, Freak Show by James St. James, appeared on the Best Books of 2007 lists in Kirkus and SLJ and was named one of the top three YA book of the year by the Washington Post. STEPHEN MOOSER, Co-Founder & President of the SCBWI, is the author of nearly sixty books for children. He began as the author of a number of reading programs including those for SWRL/Ginn, ABC and Harcourt. But most readers know Stephen for his trade books, which began with the publication of 101 Black Cats (Scholastic) in 1975, and continues through is most recent series, Goofball Malone, Ace Detective. He has written in every genre: picture books (The Ghost with the Halloween Hiccups), to series books (The Creepy Creature Club; It's a Weird, Weird School), to nonfiction (Lights! Camera! Scream!), to novels (Elvis Is Back and He' s in the Sixth Grade). YUYI MORALES has created some of the most celebrated Latino works for children' s books since she migrated to the USA from Mexico in 1994. Yuyi is a two-time winner of both the Pura Belpre Medal and winner of the Tomas Rivera Award for her illustration in Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, and Los Gatos Black on Halloween. Her book, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (written by Kathleen Krull), received the Christopher Award and the Jane Adams Award, and was deemed one of the best books of 2003 by Child Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, and School Library Journal. Her book Little Night, won the 2008 SCBWI Golden Kite Award. DIANE MULDROW is an editorial director at Golden Books/Random House. She has worked in publishing for twenty years, editing mass market, licensed, and trade picture books for young children. Diane is also a prolific author of books for kids of all ages, including the middle-grade series Dish (Grosset & Dunlap). Random House recently published Mama, Where Are You?, her lift-the-flap book for toddlers, with more to follow next year. LIN OLIVER is the Executive Director and co-founder of the SCBWI. She is the author (with Henry Winkler) of the New York Times best-selling Hank Zipzer book series. Her new middle grade series, Who Shrunk Daniel Funk? has just hit bookstores with the first title, Attack of the Growling Eyeballs. Her television projects on which she' s served as writer and producer, include the animated Trumpet of the Swan currently airing on Nickelodeon, and Way Side based on the beloved books by Louis Sachar SUSAN PATRON was a librarian for 35 years at the Los Angeles Public Library, Susan has taught courses in children's literature, reviewed children's books for various print media, published articles and given lectures on aspects of juvenile materials collection development, and served on many local, state, and national children's book award committees. Susan is also a children's book writer with four picture books, a chapter book called Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe, and a novel, The Higher Power of Lucky, (Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book) which was awarded the 2007 Newbery Medal. ANN WHITFORD PAUL writes picture books, poetry and early readers. Her books have won numerous awards including NY Times Notable books, Carl Sandburg Award for Children' s Literature, Bank Street College Best Books list, Notable Science and Social Studies Books, National Parenting Centers Seal of Approval, 2001 Recognition of Merit from the George C. Stone Center for Children' s Books of the Claremont Graduate University, and been nominated for numerous state reading awards. She teaches writing at UCLA Extension and her new titles include Count on Culebra, If Animals Kissed Good Night and Snail' s Good Night. SARA PENNYPACKER is the New York Times Best-selling author of eight children's books, including Clementine, The Talented Clementine, Clementine's Letter, Stuart's Cape, Stuart Goes To School, Pierre In Love, and the upcoming Sparrow Girl, and starting next year, she will take over the Flat Stanley series. Her books have won numerous awards and have appeared on many 'Best Books' lists. Under the name Sara Young, she has recently published her first mainstream novel for adults. ALICE POPE has been editor of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market for more than fifteen years and serves as Managing Editor of the Writer' s Digest Books Market Books department. In addition to working on ten market books annually, she acquires and edits trade books, most recently Writing & Selling the YA Novel, by K.L. Going; and Forgotten Fashion: An Illustrated Faux History of Outrageous Trends and Their Untimely Demise, by Kate Hahn. She had a short and unspectacular run as a SCBWI Regional Advisor (a job she thinks is much more difficult than being an editor); reads numerous picture books about trucks (at the insistence of her a 4-year-old son); puts out a monthly CWIM newsletter (to which you can subscribe at cwim.com); teaches online children' s writing courses (for Writers Online Workshops); and maintains Alice' s CWIM Blog at http://cwim.blogspot.com (on which you' ll find not-quite-up-to-the-minute reports on this conference). LAURA RENNERT is a Senior Agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She' s been with the agency for almost ten years, and specializes in all categories of children' s books, from picture books to young adult, graphic novels, fiction and nonfiction. She also specializes in literary fiction, crossover fiction (works that come out in the YA market and cross into the adult market, or vice versa), mysteries and thrillers, and narrative nonfiction. Some of her representative and forthcoming titles are The Five Ancestors Series (Random House); Glass (Margaret Mcelderry/Simon & Schuster); The Day I Killed James (Knopf); Thirteen Reasons Why (Razorbill/Penguin Group); Revolution Is Not A Dinner Party (Holt); Evolution, Me, And Other Freaks Of Nature (Knopf); Becoming Chloe (Knopf); Ghost Medicine (Feiwel & Friends/Holtzbrinck); The Squishiness of Things (Knopf); True Blue, Protect And Serve (St. Martins); Love In The Present Tense (Doubleday); Chasing Windmills (Doubleday); and Madapple (Knopf). ADAM REX illustrated his first picture book, The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake, which was published by Farrar Strauss Giroux in 2003. Then came Ste-e-e-e-eamboat A-Comin'! by Jill Esbaum, and the LUCY ROSE series by Katy Kelly. Tree Ring Circus, Adam's first book as both author and illustrator, was published by Harcourt in 2006. Later that year he followed it up with Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, a collection of stories about monsters and their problems. 2007 saw the release of his latest picture book, Pssst!, a story about learning to say no when zoo animals ask too many favors, and of his first novel, The True Meaning of Smekday, which is his favorite thing he's written so far. JOHN ROCCO studied illustration at Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts. Upon graduation, Rocco collaborated with actor/comedian Whoopi Goldberg, creating the picture book Alice for Bantam. Rocco then spent the next twelve years working as an art director for theme parks, television and film, including pre-production art director for the top grossing animated feature Shrek as well as many of the attractions at Disney' s Epcot Center.In 2005, Rocco shifted his focus back to children' s books and created Wolf! Wolf!, which garnered several awards including the Borders Original Voices Award for best picture book. Rocco also illustrates the covers for the YA bestselling series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He is currently writing and illustrating several picture books for Hyperion Books for Children. ABIGAIL SAMOUN is a project editor with Tricycle Press, the children' s book imprint of Ten Speed Press, in Berkeley, California, where she has worked since 2000. Abigail has edited board books, picturebooks, middle-grade fiction, and early young-adult novels. These include the 2003 SCBWI Golden Kite winner for best picturebook text, George Hogglesberry: Grade School Alien by Sarah Wilson, illustrated by Chad Cameron; and the 2004 New York Public Library Ezra Jack Keats award-winner, Yesterday I Had the Blues by Jeron Frame, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Abigail edited the middle grade series Edgar & Ellen, which has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide, been translated into eight languages, and launched a cartoon series on Nickelodeon. To learn more about Abigail, the books she edits, and Tricycle Press, visit www.wordpavillion.com. MICHAEL STEARNS brings nearly twenty years' publishing experience to his role as agent at Firebrand Literary. Formerly editorial director and foreign acquisitions manager for HarperCollins Children's Books, and before that Senior Editor, Director of Paperback Publishing for Harcourt Children' s Books. Among the books he' s published are Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge; Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy; A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly; Tangerine by Edward Bloor; Gone by Michael Grant; Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson; East by Edith Pattou; and a slew of books by Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, Bruce Hale, Vivian Vande Velde, Andrew Auseon, and Diane Duane, among others. He has taught a dozen classes on writing, edited three anthologies of original stories, and published a half dozen pieces of his own fiction for both adults and children. JULIE STRAUSS-GABEL is the Associate Editorial Director at Dutton Children' s Books. Julie edits picture books and middle grade and young adult fiction. Some of Julie' s books include Printz Medalist Looking for Alaska, and Printz Honor Book An Abundance of Katherines, both by John Green, as well as John' s upcoming Paper Towns (October 2008); Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee; Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus; Thirteen by Lauren Myracle; Edgar Award Winner Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready; and Safe by Susan Shaw. MARK TEAGUE is the illustrator of such award-winning books as How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?, Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School, the Poppleton Series, and the First Graders from Mars series. His books, such as Baby Tamer, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, The Trouble With the Johnsons, and Pigsty, tackle common childhood fears and challenges with imaginative flights of fancy and idiosyncratic humor. NAMRATA TRIPATHI is a Senior Editor at Hyperion Books for Children and Jump at the Sun. She acquires everything from fiction and nonfiction picture books to middle grade and YA novels. She has the pleasure of working with Donna Jo Napoli, Christopher Myers, Chris Raschka, and Rosemary Wells among others and has also launched several debut author-illustrators. She is very interested in finding picture books for the JATS list and older fiction with a unique voice and diverse characters. LISA YEE, winner of the first Sid Fleischman Humor Award, was also named the 2007 Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residence. Her books include Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, So Totally Emily Ebers and Good Luck, Ivy, an American Girl novel. Visit Lisa's website at www.lisayee.com or check out her blog at www.lisayee.livejournal.com. PAULA YOO, author of Good Enough (HarperCollins ' 08), Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (Lee & Low Books '05), is also a TV drama screenwriter (NBC's "The West Wing" and Lifetime's "Side Order of Life" ), and a professional freelance musician (violin) specializing in both classical and rock music. CECILIA YUNG is Art Director and Vice President at Penguin Young Readers Group, where she oversees illustration and design for hardcover titles for two imprints: G. P. Putnam's Sons and Philomel Books. LINDA ZUCKERMAN has been a children' s book editor for nearly 40 years, having held executive editorial positions at Viking, HarperCollins and Harcourt. She is the editor of three books that were awarded the Caldecott Medal and two that received Newbery Honor citations, among many other notable books. Recently she turned to writing and her first book, I Will Hold You 'Til You Sleep, illustrated by Jon J Muth, was published in 2006; her novel for middle grade readers, A Taste for Rabbit, was published in 2007. Linda is also the director of the Pacific Northwest Children' s Book Conference, held annually on the Reed College campus in Portland, Oregon.
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