children’s books

Yesterday I got bored during a meeting, so I wrote a children’s book manuscript.

Shouldn’t I have been paying attention to the meeting? Well, yes, and in a way I was. But my business partner had it handled, and she has a tendency to talk a lot anyway, so I just let her go. And I wrote a children’s book manuscript.

It wasn’t anything fancy, and it was done in a few hours–if that. It was inspired by a thought the night before that reminded me of my childhood.

Perhaps you’ll read it someday. But right now, I’m busy publishing other people’s children’s books. And what a wonderful task that is.

-hrg

Check out some of the books I’m working with right now:

Five Hungry Mice won a Moonbeam Award in November! We just signed a contract with this illustrator for her next book (it involves monsters!

Tillie is a memoir, written in a diary-like fashion by Tillie’s son, Mark Goldman, a Buffalo historian. It may seem like your average memoir, but Tillie tells the story of New York City during a unique and vibrant era–from the perspective of a Jewish girl, no less. This launches on Mother’s Day, but is available for pre-sale, and I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks!

One of my favorite niches in the publishing world is children’s literature. I’ve collected children’s books since I was a child. My mother—a pre-kindergarten teacher—read to me each night and I volunteered in her classroom frequently growing up. The two of us still go into bookshops and look at children’s books. I start reading them aloud, then she tells me “No, No. You’re not reading it right!” And she reads the rest of the book aloud to me as if she’s putting on a play.

WNY Book Expo 2018_Group Shot — The authors gathered at the end of the 2018 WNY Children’s Book Expo for a group photo!

So when I spent the day surrounded by children’s book authors and illustrators from around the country at the Western New York Book Expo, I was thrilled. The Expo, hosted by local children’s bookstore Monkey See, Monkey Do, saw 37 authors in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center to sign books, do readings, and meet the kids (and adults—many teachers, librarians, and book lovers come childless!) of Buffalo and WNY.

Continue reading “Children’s books are magical—and so are the creators” →