Rita Williams-Garcia

May 10, 2024 | hbook.com | Kevin Henkes |Erin Kelly |Rita Williams-Garcia |Peter Reynolds

Earlier this year, the Horn Book's eighth (and current) editor in chief, Elissa Gershowitz, spoke with longtime editors in chief numbers six and seven: Anita Silvey (from 1985–1995) and Roger Sutton (from 1996–2021). Currently an adjunct professor at Simmons University, Silvey is an author (Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book, Roaring Brook, 2009) and frequent lecturer and guest speaker.

May 9, 2024 | hbook.com | Kevin Henkes |Erin Kelly |Rita Williams-Garcia |Peter Reynolds

The memory of my first trip to the Horn Book offices is both hazy and vividly clear. I had to do a bit of detective work to figure out the date, but I’ve deduced that it must have been in July of 1991. I’d gone with editor Susan Hirschman to Boston to speak at the Simmons College (now University) Summer Institute in Children’s Literature. Sometime after the conference I made a trip to the Horn Book offices on Beacon Hill for an arranged visit.

May 8, 2024 | hbook.com | Erin Kelly |Rita Williams-Garcia |Peter Reynolds

A fifth grader once told me — with all the blunt honesty that comes with being a ten-year-old — that her mother didn’t like any of my books. “I like your books, but she doesn’t. We just read You Go First and she didn’t like that one, either,” this girl — let’s call her Alice — said. “She said your characters should talk to their parents more. That way, the parents can solve their problems for them.”“That’s a nice thought,” I said. And it is.

May 7, 2024 | hbook.com | Rita Williams-Garcia |Peter Reynolds

Back in the 1990s, Editor in Chief Roger Sutton invited me to write a short article for the Horn Book on family literacy. I wrote about the Garcias’ Sunday afternoon ritual of strolling through our tree-lined neighborhood. My husband, Peter, daughter Michelle, and I walked with reading materials in hand, while my youngest, Stephanie, would sing her made-up “Cookie Song.” Stephanie was dyslexic and struggled with reading.

Mar 2, 2024 | loc.gov | Rita Williams-Garcia

March is Women’s History Month! On Saturday, March 9th, you’re in for a full day of discovering more about women who have made a difference in the world. As part of Family Day: Women’s History Month, we are hosting Chelsea Clinton, author of the picture book “She Persisted” and the related “She Persisted” chapter book series; Rita Williams-Garcia, a celebrated author of novels for young adults and middle-grade readers; and Meg Medina, current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.