Betsy Groban

Contributor at Publishers Weekly

Contributor at The Boston Globe

TES. 18 ans. got/sherlock/ahs/bbt/ et d'autre trucs qui me rend sociale. /MARVEL/

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Articles

Reading with Olympia, Ira, Harry, and Bhoomi: Three Out of Four Ain’t Bad!

2 weeks ago | publishersweekly.com | Betsy Groban

I treasure my strong reading relationships with my three older grandkids. They all love books and are always happy to be read to for extensive periods of time. Then there’s Bhoomi, age one, a sweet and adorable kid who’s perfect in all ways but one: she shows much less interest in books, beyond throwing them on the floor. Lord knows we’ve tried, and continue to try, with every conceivable kind of interactive book board, but it’s just not happening in a big way right now.
Between Fiction and Reality: The Playground of Metafiction

1 month ago | hbook.com | Cathryn M. Mercier |Nancy Upper |Emma Otheguy |Betsy Groban

Metafiction calls attention to how narrative works within the narrative work. Crockett Johnson provides an early example. In Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955), the title characters collaborate to show off the elements of story and of picture book creation. Harold takes center stage as the primary character whose journey to walk in the moonlight begins once he takes the crayon in hand.
Preview May/June 2025 Horn Book Magazine

2 months ago | hbook.com | Nancy Upper |Emma Otheguy |Betsy Groban |Karida Brown

Special Issue: Perception and RealityOriginal cover art by Edel Rodriguez. Cathryn M. Mercier on the “playground” of metafiction in picture books. A Publisher’s Perspective: Charlesbridge editor Karen Boss reflects on the “two-brained intersection” between creativity and commerce.
When Fingers Are Fearless

2 months ago | hbook.com | Shifa Safadi |Emma Otheguy |Betsy Groban |Karida Brown

My name is Shifa,spelled S-h-i-f-a,for most of my life pronounced shee-fa,sometimes said Shiff-a,but really in Arabic it’s she-faa’ with an emphasisat the endlike a silent t...
Generational Ties in Children's Book Translation

Mar 17, 2025 | hbook.com | Emma Otheguy |Betsy Groban |Karida Brown |Charly Palmer

I first met Cuban-born translator Emily Carrero Mustelier through poet and translator Alexis Romay. I was working on my middle-grade novel Sofía Acosta Makes a Scene, a book about a girl whose family danced with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Alexis read a draft of the book and immediately put me in touch with Emily, who had studied at the Escuela Nacional de Ballet in Cuba as a child.
Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson: Scenes from a Remarkable Marriage

Mar 11, 2025 | hbook.com | Betsy Groban |Karida Brown |Charly Palmer |Carole Weatherford

I recently picked up Philip Nel’s 2012 dual biography of children’s literature luminaries, Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature, and was immediately riveted. Nel did amazing due diligence: eighty interviews! Nearly six hundred (unobtrusive) footnotes! Research at three dozen archives! All his work paid off handsomely.
Reading with Olympia, Ira, Harry, and Bhoomi: And Then There Were Four!

Sep 17, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Betsy Groban

In March, I welcomed my fourth grandreader, a beautiful girl named Bhoomi, into the world and into our family. Her older brother, Ira, has already introduced her to many things, including books. So far she seems to prefer cloth books, preferably with mirrors (no surprise there), but we also get a kick out of reading and singing her namesake book, the rhythmic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert.
Horn Book Reminiscences: Small, Important Tasks

Aug 22, 2024 | hbook.com | Michelle Campbell |Heather Barrett |Betsy Groban |Jack Gantos

In honor of our centennial, we asked interns from over the years to share their reminiscences. After graduating with an English degree, I moved to Boston to take a publishing course. During my publishing program, I was able to intern at the Horn Book in the editorial department. Way back then in 2009, I knew I wanted to work with books and share important stories with young people. Interning at the Horn Book introduced me to what an incredible community the world of children's books can be.
Horn Book Reminiscences: What I Learned at the Horn Book

Aug 22, 2024 | hbook.com | Michelle Campbell |Heather Barrett |Betsy Groban |Marisa Finkelstein

In honor of our centennial, we asked interns from over the years to share their reminiscences. I was both an editorial and design intern at the Horn Book in the fall of 2012. It was my last internship before graduating from Emerson College as well as before I started a full-time job in book publishing. The editorial internship taught me a lot about metadata and data input, along with just how many books all children’s publishers put out over the span of several months (so many boxes to open!).
Horn Book Reminiscences: Stories That Matter

Aug 21, 2024 | hbook.com | Heather Barrett |Betsy Groban |Jack Gantos |Tanya Lee Stone

In honor of our centennial, we asked interns from over the years to share their reminiscences. I was an intern during the summer of 2007, the year before I graduated from Wellesley College. At the time, I was trying to decide what I was going to do with my English major, and I felt a lot of discouragement and uncertainty.