Authors in Forthcoming Volumes

Below are some of the authors and illustrators that will be featured in upcoming volumes of SATA. These include new entries on the swiftly rising stars of the field, as well as completely revised and updated entries (indicated with *) on some of the most notable and best-loved creators of books for children.

*Julie Andrews ▮ Although she is best known as a singer and actress, star of such musical films as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, Andrews has also become a prolific children's book writer under the name Julie Andrews Edwards. She has recently published several new installations in her "Dumpy" series, co-written with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.

*Charles Ghigna ▮ Charles Ghigna, sometimes known as Father Goose, is a popular poet for both children and adults. His Returning to Earth was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. He is best known to young people for his rhyming books that offer amusing portraits of animals and holidays. His newest works for children include If You Were My Valentine and Dylan the Smokey Dragon.

Kes Gray ▮ A background as an award-winning advertising copywriter prepared British author Gray for a career in picture books. Since winning the overall prize from the Federation of Children's Book Awards in 2001 with Eat Your Peas, Gray has written a number of titles, including Cluck O'Clock and Baby on Board, that have made a quick transit from England to America.

Alan Horsfield ▮ Horsfield is an Australian-based author who has published more than fifty books, many of them educational texts in literacy and numeracy. His first children's fiction was published in 1996. Since then he has had more than fifteen works of fiction published, including his latest, Cadaver Dog, and the picture book NO Signs.

Bruce Koscielniak ▮ Writer and illustrator Koscielniak has produced a number of books, mostly for preschoolers and readers in the early grades. His characters are usually animals, and include the pigs Hector and Prudence, the mailman Euclid Bunny, the farmers Bear and Bunny, and the self-styled weather man Geoffrey Groundhog. He has recently turned to nonfiction with Johann Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press and About Time: A First Look at Time and the Clocks That Measure It.

Kathleen D. Lindsey ▮ Through her many contributions to the understanding of African American history, Lindsey has come to be known as "Miss Kat." Lindsey and her sisters created a stage performance called Seven Quilts for Seven Sisters that uses their own quilts, music, and drama to show how African Americans have communicated through this art form from the earliest days of slavery to the present era.

Judd Palmer ▮ Palmer has reworked several classic fairy tales into slightly twisted picture books in the Preposterous Fables for Unusual Children series. These books sprang from Palmer's work with the puppet company that he founded, Old Trout Puppet Workshop. His 2002 work, The Tooth Fairy began its life as a play that Palmer wrote and the Old Trout Puppet Workshop performed.

*Tamora Pierce ▮ Pierce's fantasy novels for young readers are noted for their strong female protagonists and their imaginative, well-drawn plots. In her Song of the Lioness quartet, Pierce features the character Alanna, a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to train as a knight, and then uses her physical strength and her capabilities as a healer to serve Prince Jonathan and engage in numerous medieval adventures. Pierce's latest works include Trickster's Choice and its sequel, Trickster's Queen.

*Nick Sharratt ▮ English author and illustrator Sharratt is known for his child-appealing early-reader books. Sometimes his texts teach numbers, counting, or colors, but usually they are just plain fun for children who are learning to read. Sharratt generally illustrates his work in bold, bright colors to portray situations from the everyday to the adventurous. His most recent self-illustrated works include retellings of The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Goldilocks.

*Todd Strasser ▮ Strasser writes critically recognized realistic fiction for preteens and teenagers. In works ranging from Friends Till the End, the story of a young man stricken with leukemia, to Wildlife, a study of the breakup of a successful rock group, Strasser blends humor and romance with timely subjects to address various concerns of teens, including drugs, sex, illness, popularity, and music. Strasser's latest endeavor is his Impact Zone series.

*Jacqueline Wilson ▮ Wilson is considered one of England's best known writers for young readers. Her works feature young female protagonists, many of them from dysfunctional backgrounds, who struggle with the reality of their world, trying to make the best of what they are given. Often told with humor as well as pain, Wilson's award-winning books include Nobody's Perfect, The Other Side, The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Suitcase Kid, Bad Girls, and Double Act. Her most recent U.S. releases are new installments in her "Girls" series.

Kazumi Yumoto ▮ Yumoto's novels speak to the universal nature of human feelings while also capturing elements of Japanese urban culture. Translated for an English-speaking audience by Cathy Hirano, Yumoto's award-winning works show children and teenagers wrestling with the big issues of life and death, not from idle curiosity but with deep engagement and commitment. Yumoto's first novel, The Friends, won the prestigious Boston Globe-Horn Book award for fiction, and it announced the themes that would pervade her work: confrontation with death, the power of inter-generational friendships, and the understanding of the arc of life that comes with maturity.