Erin Soderberg Downing doesn’t just imagine her characters’ challenges; she often lives them! For her upcoming middle grade novel What Happened Then—which comes out September 2 from Scholastic—that meant writing the first ten chapters while staying on a remote, rugged island. For her adventure-packed novel Just Keep Walking (Scholastic, 2024), she undertook a hundred-mile [...]

Many of Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s books serve as compelling time machines, immersing young readers in riveting dramas as history unfolds across the pages of her stories. The Night War (Dial, 2024) is the latest of Bradley’s middle grade novels to be set against the backdrop of World War II, although in a different part of the world than her bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning [...]

Winning the 2024 Children’s Literature Legacy Award is only one of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s many distinguished honors. She is also the recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the PEN Center USA Award, and a Newbery Honor Medal. Ryan’s newest middle grade novel, El Niño, comes out May 6 from Scholastic Press. It is an absorbing mix of reality, mythology, and fantasy—both an [...]