BOOTCAMP: The ins & outs of educational & nonfiction kidlit

Jennie Dunham (AALA, SCBWI) founded Dunham Literary, Inc. in 2000 after working at three literary agencies. Her clients have been New York Times bestsellers and have won awards such as Boston Globe Horn Book Honor, New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, the Charlotte Zolotow Award, International Reading Association Award, and the Schneider Family Award. Her agency represents children's books for all ages from novelty and picture book through middle grade and young adult as well as literary fiction and non-fiction for adults.

Bonnie Kelso is an award-winning picture book author and illustrator from Las Vegas, Nevada. With a background as an exhibit designer for organizations such as Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic, and NASA, Bonnie enjoys taking complex information and distilling it into bite-sized pieces. Her passion for nature and environmental awareness shines through in her books, murals, and community art workshops. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and has seven published picture books. Her latest, Dexter the Stand Up Dog, received a California Reading Association Eureka! Silver Honor for nonfiction.

Julissa Mora is a Cuban American illustrator and author whose work celebrates family, culture, and the small moments that connect generations. Born and raised in Miami, she was introduced to illustration through her Abuelito, who would draw stories on napkins during Sunday gatherings. Her debut author–illustrated book, Baking With Mi Abuelita, was named one of Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, and her follow-up, My Cousin, the Quinceañera, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Julissa’s illustrations have appeared in books and magazines for Scholastic, Highlights, McGraw Hill, Penguin Random House, Curriculum Associates, and many others. She earned her degree in Illustration from Ringling College of Art and Design and is a proud member of the Girllustrators, a collective of women illustrators in Austin. She lives in Austin with her daughter, dog, and husband.

Shiho Pate (pronounced Sheeho Peit) was born in Hokkaido, Japan, and raised in Aichi. She started her career as an artist for several indie gaming studios in NYC before moving to Southern California. In her ten plus years in that industry, she published many social games and mobile games but her passion has always been children’s book illustration. Among many other books, she illustrated The Animated Science series (Scholastic) which was a Junior Library Guild selection and finalist for Kids' Book Choice Awards 2022. Visit shihopate.com/shihopatebooks for a full list of books Shiho has worked on.

Katie Heit is a senior editor at Scholastic working on fiction and nonfiction picture books and early readers. She works with several talented creators, including Mike Lowery, Charles R. Smith Jr., Christy Mandin, Dean Robbins, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, Sandra Markle, Nell Cross Beckerman, and many more! For fiction picture books, she is looking for offbeat characters and funny projects! For nonfiction picture books, she's on the lookout for environmental and animal based books.