January 2023

Upcoming January Speaker Program

A Zoom conversation with author and illustrator Jessie Sima

Thursday, January 26, 1:00 p.m.

Jessie Sima (they/them) is an author and illustrator of picture books. Their debut picture book Not Quite Narwhal became a New York Times bestseller five years after publication. The book is the first in a trilogy, which includes Perfectly Pegasus and the last book, Weather Together, which comes out in May from Simon & Schuster.

Not Quite Narwhal was optioned by DreamWorks Animation and is currently being turned into an animated series that will air on Netflix in 2023.

Jessie has written other pictures books including Love Z, Hardly Haunted and Spencer's New Pet. They are currently working on a book about time travel and cookies which will be out in 2024.

They grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey and now write and draw in a creaky house in New York state. When not making books, Jessie can be found reading graphic novels, watching spooky movies, and playing outside with dogs. Find out more about Jessie here.

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Member News

Kitson Jazynka has a new book coming out in early 2023 for young wildlife lovers. Explore! America's Wildlife (illustrated by Hannah Bailey) investigates and beautifully brings to life the native flora and fauna that live in all corners of the United States. Published by Macmillan Children's Books.

Katherine Marsh's latest middle-grade novel The Lost Year comes out January 17th. The book is set in Ukraine and Brooklyn in the 1930s and New Jersey at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and is partly inspired by Katherine’s Ukrainian family history. Check out this Publishers Weekly article about the making of the book which Kirkus called “a moving presentation of a long-suppressed piece of history,” Veera Hiranandani called “a must-read especially for these times" and is a Junior Library Guild selection. Please join Katherine at a launch event at Politics & Prose on January 17th at 7pm where she will be in conversation with the journalist Julia Ioffe.

Erica S. Perl is excited to announce that she worked on Dolly Parton's forthcoming picture book, Billy the Kid Makes it Big. The book, illustrated by MacKenzie Haley, is about a French Bulldog who goes to Nashville to follow his dream of being a country music star. It will be published in April, 2023 by Penguin Random House.

Mary Quattlebaum is delighted to announce publication of her early reader Adorable Animals (National Geographic Kids). She says what’s cute about these animals is often what helps them to survive, including the harp seal pup’s thick, white fur, the fennec fox’s large ears, and the fruit bat’s big eyes.

Brenda Seabrooke is thrilled her story The Vampire Matter is included in the tenth anniversary edition of The Proceedings of the Pondicherry Lodge, Volume 10, Issue 2, 1 December 2022 edited by Jayantika Ganguly.


Susan Stockdale is excited to announce the publication of her picture book, Line Up! Animals in Remarkable Rows, on January 10. She warmly invites you to Line Up! book launch events at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Avenue in Wash, DC on Thursday, January 19 from 10:30am to 11am and The Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE in Wash DC, on Saturday, January 21 from 11am-Noon.


Stephanie Tolan and Katherine Paterson have just been in Bristol Tennessee for the "World Premiere" of their Christmas play, Good King Wencelas. Katherine says this play reflects about 20 years of writing, rewriting and numerous rejections, "so it was a joy to see it on the stage at last. Next step is publication, when that happens, we hope all of you with theater connections will read it and pass it on."

Please join five Guild friends (Debbie Levy, Jennifer O'Connell, Mary Quattlebaum, Susan Stockdale and Joan Waites) for this lively afternoon program. In a wonderful coincidence, they all have new animal books out.