Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Candace Fleming
Candace Fleming has always been a storyteller. As a preschooler, she told neighbors all about her three-legged cat named Spot, and in kindergarten, she told classmates about the ghost living in her attic. Her parents encouraged these...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Brian Selznick
Brian Selznick strives for authenticity in his illustrations. For one book, he spent six months in Washington, DC doing research at libraries and museums. For another, he went to London to sketch, photograph, and climb inside the famous...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Chris Raschka
Chris Raschka has written and illustrated more than 50 books for children. Raschka has received several awards, including a Caldecott Honor Award for Yo? Yes! His lively illustration style captures the experiences of young children, the...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Chris D'lacey
Chris d'Lacey has written more than 25 books for kids. Though he's best known for his dragon novels, he's also written about polar bears, pigeons, squirrels, snails, pirates, ducks, and soccer (called football outside the U.S.) Some...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Bryan Collier
Illustrator Bryan Collier began creating art at the age of 15. Using his signature style, a vibrant mix of watercolor and collage, he brings stories to life. Collier is the winner of numerous Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards. Watch...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Beverly Cleary
In this video [18:07], Beverly Cleary answers a baker's dozen out of 500 questions submitted by her readers. Listen in as Mrs. Cleary talks about her favorite teddy bear, where the character Ralph came from, the pleasures of reading and...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Cece Bell
Meet Cece Bell, the award-winning author/illustrator of children's books including the Rabbit and Robot stories, the Sock Monkey series, and the graphic novel memoir, El Deafo, which won a Newbery Honor and the Geisel Award in 2015....
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Buzz Aldrin
Mechanical engineer, U.S. Air Force pilot, decorated war veteran, graduate of MIT with a PhD in Astronautics, Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut, inventor, Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee, author of books for children, teens and...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Deborah Heiligman
Deborah Heiligman writes fiction and nonfiction for kids of all ages. She's published more than 26 books, exploring topics as diverse as religious celebrations around the world, babies, butterflies, honeybees, and a particularly charming...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Christopher Paul Curtis
Christopher Paul Curtis only became a published author in his 40's. Before that, he worked in an automobile factory, which became so unbearable that he began having semi-hallucinations at night of car doors and assembly lines moving...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Dav Pilkey
Dav Pilkey wrote and illustrated the Captain Underpants and Dog Man graphic novel series, as well as picture books like Dog Breath and The Hallo-Wiener. Pilkey has spoken out about his own struggles growing up with ADHD and dyslexia, and...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Dallas Clayton
Dallas Clayton is an artist, children's book author, and philanthropist. He successfully self-published his first two books, An Awesome Book! and An Awesome Book of Thanks! Clayton has also founded An Awesome World Foundation, which...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Christopher Myers
Christopher Myers comes from a long line of creative storytellers. In this video interview, he talks about his Brooklyn neighborhood, his work, and how reading touches every part of his life. Watch the interview to learn more about him...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: David Adler
In David Adler's popular mystery series, Cam Jansen is a heroine with a photographic memory. Alder has also written picture book biographies for children. In this interview, David Adler discusses his teaching career, simple math methods,...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Gene Yang
Gene Luen Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 2006, his graphic novel, American Born Chinese - a memoir about growing up as an Asian American - became the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association's...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Emily Jenkins
Emily Jenkins writes picture books and chapter books for young readers. She says, "Growing up, I spent large parts of my life in imaginary worlds: Neverland, Oz, and Narnia, in particular." Jenkins believes that all stories are part of a...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Deborah Hopkinson
Deborah Hopkinson writes history and historical fiction books for young children and teens. In this interview, Hopkinson discusses her mission to make history come alive for students, her meticulous attention to historical details, and...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Emma Walton Hamilton
Emma Walton Hamilton is an author, editor, arts educator, arts and literacy advocate, and a parent. She has co-authored 16 children's books with her mother, Julie Andrews, including board books, picture books and The Great American...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Emily Gravett
British author and illustrator Emily Gravett brings a fresh perspective to her children's books. Orange Pear Apple Bear is a funny, charming, completely engaging picture book - and it uses all of five words to tell its story. Gravett has...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Denise Fleming
As a young girl, Denise Fleming spent many hours in her father's workshop cutting, gluing, carving, and building things. Today she spends those hours in her own workshop making the paper that she uses to illustrate her picture books. Her...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Erin Entrada Kelly
Erin Entrada Kelly writes books for tweens and teens that explore coming of age with sensitivity and honesty, dealing with issues such as bullying, building friendships, and feeling like an outsider. In this interview, Erin talks about...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Eric Rohmann
Eric Rohmann believes that each story needs illustrations that match its tone, content, and sensibility. As a children's book illustrator, this means knowing how and when to use different media and techniques, such as oil paints, wood...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Erica S. Perl
Erica S. Perl is the author of the wonderfully silly picture books about Chicken Butt. Perl's other titles for young readers include Dotty, a gentle story about school days and imaginary friend,s and Ninety-Three in My Family, a lively...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: E. B. Lewis
As a children's illustrator, E.B. Lewis has contributed beautiful watercolors to The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, Fire on the Mountain by Jane Kurtz, Down the Road by Alice Schertle, and many other titles. Lewis's illustrations have...