SCBWI Ohio: North

Thank you to everyone who made our Skipping Stones Retreat such a wonderful weekend! We’re so grateful for the creativity, connections, laughter, and memories we shared!

SCBWI Ohio North serves the following counties in Northern Ohio

SCBWI Ohio North strives to help authors and illustrators reach their creative goals through monthly meetups, professional workshops, and critiques while building a sense of community. The Ohio North regional team works to help its members create stories that will reach the hearts and minds of children everywhere so they can laugh, dream, and feel seen on the page.

If you live in northern Ohio and want to explore your passion for writing or illustrating children's books, please join our SCBWI Ohio North creative community! As a member, you'll gain access to helpful resources, opportunities to connect with other professionals in the industry, and valuable insights into the art of creating and publishing children's books. Our chapter started in 1990 and continues to serve our members thanks to the dedication of our regional volunteers.

SCBWI Ohio North would like to offer our sincere gratitude to the wonderful, dedicated volunteers who came before us and helped shape this region into the incredible community it is today.

In this tender, lyrical picture book, a parent traces their child's growth from age one to ten through gentle, rhythmic verse that celebrates childhood milestones like first steps, starting school, and discovering unique talents. Jieting Chen's expressive illustrations capture the joy and wonder of these fleeting moments that shape a child's development. The poetic narrative, written by Laura Hays Hoover, builds to the bittersweet reminder that "It won't be long until you're grown," perfectly capturing the emotional journey of parenthood.

***Proceeds to benefit charities helping children with hair loss.*** Judy loves her "perfect" hair and won't risk a strand out of place. But when she encounters a girl who lost all her hair during cancer treatment, Judy makes the brave decision to donate her own! This choice changes both their lives, showing that true beauty comes from kindness.

Silvee loves three things: cooking, science, and solving mysteries. Not long after she and her siblings, Parker and Trina, move into an apartment above their dad’s restaurant, The Fried Pickle, someone breaks into Chef Spoon’s locked kitchen and leaves behind a popcorn-filled disaster! The clues are strange, the suspects are few, and the triplets are determined to find out who the culprit could be. First in the Silvee Spoon Junior Chef Mystery Series, The Popcorn Burglar is a tasty chapter-book mystery for ages 6-9 that features hands-on science, recipes, quirky characters, and their tag-a-long orange cat, Hashbrown. The series also includes teacher-friendly S.T.E.A.M. connections and NGSS-aligned learning.

(Book 2) Olly Appleton thought he had learned all of his grandfather’s secrets, the ones his grandfather died protecting. Those secrets involved hand-drawn maps, special keys, hidden tunnels, and the Spores—friendly and fantastical mushroom creatures living under his home on Oak Hill. With his friend Ember by his side, Olly learns of another secret. Other Spore communities are being built around the country in towns that share the name Littleton. The latest community is Sapphire Creek, an abandoned gold mine his grandfather purchased outside Littleton, Colorado. When Olly’s parents plan a surprise trip to visit the property, he and Em decide to share all of the secrets with their families at a special feast in the Spores’ Grand Cavern on Christmas Eve.• First Place - 2024 BookFest Award for Juvenile-Action & Adventure • The Golden Wizard Book Prize - 2024 • American Fiction Awards - Award winner 2024

(Book 1) Olly and his new friend, Ember, fight off school bullies, greedy mall developers, and nosey townspeople to protect their secret – that there’s a community of lovable mushroom creatures that have peacefully lived under Oak Hill for hundreds of years.• Book of the Year Finalist - The Golden Wizard Book Prize - 2024 • First Place - 2024 BookFest Award for Book Series–Childrens • Best Middle Grade Fiction - 2023 Page Turner Awards • Silver Medal - 2023 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards • Winner - 2023 BookFest Award for the audiobook

Charlie O'Neill is still grieving his mom and desperate for his dad's attention when he overhears three smooth-talking surfers planning the heist of the century. The target? The priceless gems of the American Museum of Natural History. The problem? Nobody believes a kid. So Charlie decides to stop it himself. What follows is a breathless night of locked iron gates, cut glass, a swaying rope five stories up ― and a choice that makes right and wrong a lot more complicated than Charlie expected. True Crime Files: Heist at the Museum! is inspired by the real 1964 theft of the Star of India sapphire, one of the most legendary jewel heists in U.S. history. The thieves were real. The gems were real. And the story is even wilder than you'd imagine.

This poignant and sensitively illustrated picture book captures the maelstrom of emotions that arise when a friendship has run its course. Illustrated with gentleness and warmth, this honest, moving text evokes an authentically childlike voice to help children master with hope and confidence the complex emotions that come from a changing relationship. From the Starred Review in The Horn Book: Restrained and emotionally honest, the book validates the pain of friendship loss while allowing young readers space to recognize the slow, uneven work of moving forward.