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.
K.P. Bath ▮ A medieval European city that time forgot is the setting for Bath's fantasy novels The Secret of Castle Cant: Being an Account of the Remarkable Adventures of Lucy Wickwright, Maidservant and Spy and Escape from Castle Cant. In this tiny, technologically backward kingdom, Bath's humorous, fantastical fables center on a young servant girl embroiled in a series of dastardly court intrigues; meanwhile, readers can delight in Bath's sea of puns, similes, alliteration, and other wordplay.
Maurine F. Dahlberg ▮ Dahlberg won critical acclaim with her debut children's book Play to the Angel. Centering on a twelve-year-old Viennese girl who aspires to become a concert pianist, the story, with its World War II setting, focuses on how the tragedy of war changes people's lives. Other novels by Dahlberg, such as Escape to West Berlin, continue the author's focus on brave teens forced by circumstance to deal with extraordinary times.
Adam Gopnik ▮ Gopnik's byline has become well known to readers of the New Yorker through his work as a cultural and art critic. While living in France with his young son during a stint as the magazine's Paris correspondent, the literate journalist was inspired to dabble in fiction, with the YA fantasy The King in the Window the result. A sophisticated mix of fantasy, wordplay, and whimsy, Gopnik's novel can be read on several levels, entertaining both teens and adult readers.
Murray Kimber ▮ Raised on the Canadian prairie, Kimber was inspired to begin his career as a painter after discovering the superhero comics of the 1930s and 1940s. Now an award-winning artist and illustrator, Kimber's work appears in mainstream magazines as well as in picture books such as an illustrated version of Alfred Noyes' classic poem The Highwayman and Jim McGugan's Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story, the last earning Kimber the 1994 Canadian Governor General's Award for illustration.
∗Margaret Mahy ▮ Considered a national treasure in her native New Zealand, Mahy shows respect for her young readers through her sophisticated use of language, imagery, and metaphor. Winner of the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award—one of many other honors she has received in her long career—the prolific Mahy is known for combining fantasy and the supernatural in young-adult novels such as The Haunting. Her many beginning readers seduce budding wordsmiths by weaving whimsy into an easy-to-read text, while her picture books are consistently cited for their engaging rhyming texts.
Frances Park ▮ Together with sister Ginger Park, Park is known for creating picture books that reflect her family's Korean heritage. In books such as My Freedom Trip: A Child's Escape from North Korea and Good-bye, 382 Shin Dang Dong she focuses on young children forced to leave familiar surroundings due to changes in the adult world that they cannot understand. In the more light-hearted Where on Earth Is My Bagel? Park helps young children learn to embrace such changes by introducing a Korean boy who longs to sample a different way of life.
∗Philip Ridley ▮ Ridley's knack for storytelling, which developed as he created tales as a way to calm his nervous younger brother, has resulted in a successful career as a dramatist and screenwriter. In addition to screenplays such as The Krays, Ridley's energetic wit and engaging, off-kilter characters have also found a perfect home in children's literature, as evidenced by books such as Dakota of the White Flats, Meteorite Spoon, and the comic fantasy Krindlekrax; or, How Rushkin Splinter Battled a Horrible Monster and Saved His Entire Neighborhood.
∗Elizabeth Ann Scarborough ▮ A popular author of fantasy fiction, Scarborough blends humor and fantasy to create stories featuring strong female protagonists who befriend charming animal characters and embark on exciting quests. In addition to fantasy series and standalone novels such as The Lady in the Loch and the Nebula Award-winning The Healer's War, Scarborough collaborates with fantasist Anne McCaffrey on the popular "Acorna" series for young adults. Her "Acorna" books, as well as her other novels, are acknowledged for their originality, fast pace, and unconventionality as well as for their author's wit and light-hearted approach.
Victor E. Villaseñor ▮ Award-winning author, journalist, and motivational Villaseñor is known for penning compelling memoirs such as Rain of Gold and Burro Genius that focus on young Latinos making a life for themselves in a new country, where both opportunity and discrimination exist. The author of novels, short fiction, and nonfiction, Villaseñor has also inspired younger Latinos with pride in their Hispanic heritage and culture through his bilingual picture books, which include Little Crow to the Rescue/Cuervito al rescate and Mother Fox and Mr. Coyote/Mama Zorra y Don Coyote.
Adrienne Yorinks ▮ The versatile Yorinks has worked as a dog groomer and breeder as well as a writer, illustrator, quilt artist, and textile designer. With Quilt of States: Piecing Together America she combines several of her talents, using colored and patterned fabrics to create a hand-stitched history of the fifty states that is enhanced by short narrative histories contributed by librarians from around the country. Other projects that have benefitted from Yorinks' textile collage art include the picture book Quack!, by Arthur Yorinks, and Marian Wright Edelman's nonfiction title Stand for Children
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