2011 Children / Teens Participants

Listed in alphabetical order

Elizabeth Atkinson

Read and Bead - Saturday 10:00 AM

Elizabeth Atkinson’s debut middle grade novel, From Alice to Zen & Everyone in Between(Lerner Books, 2008), was included in the Bank Street College of Education’s BEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS 100th Anniversary Edition. Her new tween book, I, Emma Freke (Lerner Books), was released in the fall of 2010 to critical acclaim, earning a gold medal Moonbeam Award for pre-teen fiction and a starred review in the School Library Journal. "Atkinson deftly portrays the intense self-consciousness that is an inherent part of the transition between childhood and adolescence" (Kirkus Reviews). She is also the author of the YA non-fiction book, Glee! An Easy Guide to Gluten-Free Independence (Clan Thompson LLC, 2009). Elizabeth will be offering a fun “Read and Bead” event at the festival for tweens and kids of all ages.

Elisha Cooper

Eye Candy: The Art of the Picture Book - Saturday 9:30 AM

Elisha Cooper is the award-winning author of Beach, which won the 2006 Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. Other picture books include Farm, Beaver is Lost, Magic Thinks Big, and Dance!, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. His adult books include the memoir Crawling: A Father’s First Year. Elisha Cooper lives with his family in New York City.

Jacqueline Davies

Lemonade Wars, Criminalized - Saturday 1:30 PM

Jacqueline Davies has seven published children's books to her credit. The Lemonade War (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) tells the story of a brother and sister who make a bet to see who can sell the most lemonade in five days.  Her latest book, Lost (Cavendish, 2009), is also historical fiction and is written for the young adult reader. It tells the story of a sixteen-year-old girl caught up in the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Her next book, which will be available on May 2, 2011, is a sequel to The Lemonade War entitled The Lemonade Crime.  Ms. Davies’s books have won numerous awards, including the NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12, the John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, The Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, the New York Library’s Best Books List, the NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, the IRA/CBC Children’s Award Notable Book for Fiction, the Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books, and the CCBC Choices Award.  Ms. Davies lives in Needham, Massachusetts with her three children (Sam, Henry, and Mae), and their dog (Harley). Photo credit: Paula Swift Photography

Jack D. Ferraiolo

What's So Funny? - Saturday 2:30 PM

Jack D. Ferraiolo’s first novel, The Big Splash, has been called “thrilling & entertaining” by the New York Times Book Review, and was recently nominated for a 2009 Edgar Award, in the Best Young Adult category. It’s also received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, was featured as a Great Advanced Read and a Sure Shot Pick for Boys on James Patterson’s Readkiddoread.com, and was named a “Top of the Top Shelf” pick in VOYA’s 2008 Top Shelf Fiction for Middle Readers. His second book, Sidekicks, comes out from Amulet in May. Also in the works is The Quick Fix, the sequel to The Big Splash. Jack is a Development Executive and Emmy Award winning writer on WordGirl (PBS). He lives in Amesbury, MA with his wife and children.

Lucia Greene

What's So Funny? - Saturday 2:30 PM

Lucia Greene, a former assistant editor of children's books, is a career reporter for People Magazine and freelance web journalist who currently writes for several Washington DC-based non profits. She and her husband have three grown children and live in Newburyport, MA.

Stephanie Greene

Calling All Princesses! - Saturday 11:00 AM

Stephanie Greene has been writing children's books for more than 15 years. Her newest middle grade novel, Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley, made the Horn Book Fanfare list of the Best Children's and Young Adult books for 2010. The first book in her new early chapter book series from Putnam, Princess Posey and the First Grade Parade, was in Indie Hot Summer Pick in 2010. The second book, Princess Posey and the Perfect Present, will be published in February 2011, followed by Princess Posey and the Next Door Dog in September. She is the author of the popular Owen Foote chapter book series, as well as the Moose and Hildy early chapter books from Marshall Cavendish. Her books have been named ALA Notable, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, and Junior Library Guild Selections, as well as on the Children's Choice list in many states around the country. She holds her MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College.

Judith Moffatt

Paper Chains and Snow Showers - Saturday 1:00 PM

In 1990 Judith Moffatt illustrated her first book using her 3-dimensional cut paper style. Since then she has illustrated over 50 books for young children. The Sun-Maid-Raisin Play Book was a Children’s Book of the Month Club main selection, and the I Am a... Nature Reader science series won the Oppenheim Best Book Gold Award. Her most recent books ABC Animals A Bedtime Story and The 12 Days of Christmas have been her most rewarding books given the complexity of the designs. Moffatt lives with her husband Bill Hoffman, a digital illustrator. For the past two years they have begun to share their talents, and have collaborated on several magazine illustrations using both traditional & digital styles. Moffatt & Hoffman each have their own studios in an antique farmhouse in Medway, Massachusetts. They share this space with a charismatic Airedale terrier, who can often be found in their illustrations.

Gregory Mone

Fish Tales - Saturday 2:30 PM

Gregory Mone is a novelist and science writer. His first novel, The Wages of Genius, centered on an office worker who thinks he's the reincarnation of Einstein. Some people thought it was funny. The Truth About Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve, his next book, explains the science behind St. Nick's seemingly impossible annual mission. It's actually for adults, but these days he's mostly writing for kids. His first middle-grade novel, Fish, came out last year, and he's also finishing another novel for young readers, due out from Roaring Brook in 2012. He's married with three kids, lives south of Boston, and works standing up.

Rodman Philbrick

The Mostly True Adventures of a Full-time Novelist - Saturday 11:00 AM

Rodman Philbrick grew up on the coast of New Hampshire and has been writing novels since the age of sixteen. For a number of years he published mystery and suspense novels for adults. Two of his detective novels were nominated for the Shamus Award. Brothers & Sinners finally won the Shamus outright in 1993. In that same year his debut young adult novel Freak the Mighty won numerous awards and was made into the feature film ‘The Mighty’, starring Sharon Stone and James Gandolfini. Freak the Mighty has become a standard reading selection in thousands of classrooms worldwide, and now has more than two million copies in print. In 2010 his novel The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P.Figg, set at the time of the Civil War, won a Newbery Honor. Philbrick continues to write thrillers for adults. His latest, Measure of Darkness, will be published in 2011 under the pen name Chris Jordan. He and his spouse, writer and editor Lynn Harnett, divide their time between Kittery, Maine and the Florida Keys.

Leila Sales

What's So Funny? - Saturday 2:30 PM

Leila Sales grew up outside of Boston and graduated from the University of Chicago. Now she lives in Brooklyn and works in the mostly glamorous world of children's book publishing. Leila spends her time thinking about sleeping, kittens, dance parties, and stories that she wants to write. Her debut novel, Mostly Good Girls, is available now, and her next novel, Past Perfect, is due out this fall. Learn more at www.leilasales.com