Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Anita Silvey
The author of 100 Best Books for Children and 500 Great Books for Teens, Anita Silvey has devoted 35 years to promoting books that inspire children to become lifelong readers. She published her own nonfiction book for children about...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Allen Say
Allen Say writes and illustrates picture books about family, culture, creative expression, dreams, and the immigrant experience. His story Grandfather's Journey tells of his father's own journey from Japan to the U.S. and back again. In...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Ashey Bryan
Ashley Bryan uses painting, poetry, music, collage, and prose to tell his stories. Bryan is known for retelling African folktales in a distinct, rhythmic prose that is heavily influenced by African-American poetry. Watch the interview to...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Andrea Beaty
Andrea Beaty is the author of the popular STEAM-themed picture books about curious kids who love asking questions, inventing, and making things. She has also written a rhyming series for very young readers starring Ted the bear, and...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada has written more than 200 books for children. Ada has mastered the art of retelling traditional folktales and nursery rhymes from across Latin America. A native of Cuba who has also lived in Spain, Peru, and the United...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Betsy Lewin
Betsy Lewin, the illustrator of Click, Clack, Moo, takes a playful approach to her work. In this video interview, Betsy Lewin discusses her career goals as a child and the inspiration she gets from exotic trips abroad. Watch the...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Carole Boston Weatherford
Carole Boston Weatherford is a children's book author and poet who has written books about African-American historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Jesse Owens, and Billie Holiday. Other books recount historical events such as the...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Chris Van Dusen
Author/illustrator Chris Van Dusen brings humor, adventure, lively language, and richly colored, kinetic illustrations to all of his children's books. He's created a number of unforgettable literary characters, including Mr. Magee (and...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Author Interviews: Charles Smith
Charles R. Smith is a talented children's book author and photographer. His expressive poetry - frequently about sports and music - has been praised for its playful language and clever rhymes, while his expressive photographs beautifully...
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...