Faculty Bios

Marla Frazee has written and illustrated many acclaimed books for children, including the three Caldecott Honor Books, In Every Life, All the World (written by Liz Garton Scanlon), and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. Her picture book, The Boss Baby, has been turned into a DreamWorks animated feature film and TV series. She is the illustrator of The Seven Silly Eaters, the NYT bestselling Clementine series, the picture book It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton, and the poetry collection How Elegant the Elephant. Her wordless picture book The Farmer and the Clown won the 2015 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Picture Book and a Best in Book Illustration Award from the National Cartoonist Society—and is the first book in The Farmer Books trilogy. The mother of three grown sons and the grandmother of two grandsons, she lives in Pasadena, California.

Sasha Illingworth is the Associate Creative Director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, where she oversees a diverse range of formats including picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, middle grade, and teen novels. After earning her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, she moved to New York City and began her publishing career as a designer, illustrating more than 30 book covers. Sasha has designed and art directed a wide range of bestselling and award-winning titles, including Thank You, Omu! and Saturday by Oge Mora; Brown Girl, Brown Girl by Leslie Honore and Cozbi A. Cabrera; Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai and Kerascoet; When the Stars Came Home by Brittany Luby and Natasha Donovan; Hello, Tree! by Ana Crespo and Dow Phumiruk; Parks and Recreation: Leslie for Class President by Robb Pearlman and Melanie Demmer; Strong Mama by Robin Arzón and Addy Rivera Sonda; and many more.

Sarah Stephens is a children’s book enthusiast in every sense. She has worked as an editor, author, and indie bookseller, and before that she was a book-loving kid. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz, Sarah moved to Rhode Island and got her first editorial job at Houghton Mifflin. When East Coast winters grew too long, Sarah returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where she continued her editorial career at Chronicle Books and Lucasfilm Licensing. Though she eventually left the office for the flexibility of freelance, Sarah never left children’s books and has continued her work as a freelance editor, author, and indie bookseller. Sarah joined Red Fox Literary in 2021 where she loves to champion creators making books that delight, entertain, illuminate, and inspire. She is interested in elevating the voices of marginalized individuals, amplifying stories that need to be heard, and connecting children with nature.

Sophie is the Global Rights Assistant and Literary Assistant to Naomi Davis at BookEnds. She studied writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College, graduating in the spring of 2023. In 2024, she began slowly but surely building up her kidlit list, primarily through referral. In the spring of 2025, Sophie opened up her QueryManager account and began actively building her list of authors and illustrators. Now, she represents clients ranging from illustrators and picture book authors to writers of adult fantasy and more.

Esther Hernandez is an editor at Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She edits picture books and graphic novels (up to middle grade). A proud daughter of Peruvian immigrant parents, Esther graduated from Occidental College and Columbia University. Originally from Los Angeles, California she currently resides in Nashville, TN with her husband and puppy.

Danielle Collins is an Associate Editor at Beach Lane Books at Simon & Schuster, where she works on fiction and nonfiction picture books. Danielle is drawn to stories that inspire curiosity, empathy, and joy in young readers. She’s looking for books that tackle big feelings with a light and lyrical touch, and is especially interested in those that explore themes of identity, self-discovery, and self-expression, as well as fun-forward nonfiction about lesser-known people, periods, and fascinating STEM topics. Above all, Danielle loves books with captivating writing, memorable characters, and a whole lot of heart. Danielle grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, went to college in Los Angeles, and now lives in Brooklyn, where she can often be found at bookstores and bakeries.