Author of over 400 Books for Children and Adults
Based on a family story that has grown enormously over the years, this book is about the time the Yolens lived in the Ukraine and the oldest boy Lev (my Uncle Lou) was a troublemaker. Sent away to a military academy–an enormous decision for a Jewish family–he gambled away the gold
This feminist counting rhyme origin story began when I saw Ruth Councell’s pictures for my book What Rhymes With Moon. She had hung all the pictures on clothesline around the inside of her house and had a party for viewing. The editor came, too, and we found ourselves gobsmacked in
The third of four music books I did for Boyds Mills. Adam was wonderful to work with, shipping me off the simple arrangements which I then played on the piano. We figured if I could sight read them, ANYONE could! Many were animal songs I’d taught him when he was a child. I picked the songs, wrote
An original fairy tale about a child whose sorceress stepmother leaves her out in the woods to die. Jane Dyer wanted to illustrate an original fairy tale and I had the first three pages of this one done, without a plot in sight. The editor Maria Modugno put it under contract and hoped I’d find a story in
Short stories and poems, all written by me and having to do with unicorns. Among the stories is the much reprinted “The Boy Who Drew Unicorns.” Each story and poem begins with a short introduction about how it came to be written.
An original fairy tale about a good woman, the devil, a bet between the angels and gargoyles on a French cathedral, and an ugly little boy. The climax takes place on Christmas eve. I began the story after a visit to Paris with my husband, where we spent the weekend with one of my editors who was
This is a book of nonsense poems, about made up animals. Like the Canterlope and the Raggit. As I am an incorrigible punster, I had a ball working on these rhymes. Obviously Janet Street enjoyed herself, too, as the ebullient pictures show.
My editor at Little Brown, the marvelous Maria Modugno, sent me a picture by a young artist named Laurel Molk. It was a charming water color of mice dressed in Halloween costumes and playing musical instruments. “We love her work,” Maria said, “but she can’t write a story. Can you do something for
This is a comic book for adults, not children. The artist Charles Vess–whose work in comics and illustrated books I had admired for a long time–asked a number of fantasy writers to try writing a comic book story based on a
Scottish/English folk ballad. I chose “King Henry,” a ballad in the Loathly Lady tradition.
The start of a series of the best original adult fantasy short stories and poems, including one of my own poems in each volume. Martin H. Greenberg and I sold the book together, but only my name appears on the cover because I edited the book. He handled the monetary details. Rave reviews, calling this the series that shows what fantasy is about. Few sales.