Rebecca E. Hirsch's Blog: Rebecca E. Hirsch

On April 22 (Earth Day), the Nature Generation announced the Green Earth Book Awards. A winner and one or more honor books were chosen in 5 categories: picture book, children’s fiction, young adult fiction, children’s non-fiction, and young adult non-fiction. Where Have All the Birds Gone? was named an honoree in young adult nonfiction. What an honor and congrats to all the selected books! You can see all the GEBA winners here.

Birds was also named to Bank Street Children’s Book Committee’s Best Books of 2023 list. I’m thrilled to have Birds on this list alongside so many wonderful books. Thank you, Children’s Book Committee! You can see the complete list here.

Rise to the Sky has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist. Here are excerpts and links:

★ “Hirsch teaches basic plant biology through the example of the world’s “tallest living thing”—trees—in this awe-inspiring text.… Posada’s expertly rendered cut paper collage provide texture that feels touchable.” —Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review

★ ”Written with clarity and illustrated to help viewers understand the ideas discussed, this handsome book offers an appealing, informative introduction to trees.” —Booklist, Starred Review

★ “Hirsch’s poetic text… is splendidly illustrated with Posada’s textured, stylized, though accurate cut-paper collages and watercolors.… A well-focused, beautiful, and informative introduction to the arboreal world.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Both of my 2022 books, Where Have All the Birds Gone? and Sensational Senses, have recently received some nice awards.

Sensational Senses and Where Have All the Birds Gone? have won the Dogwood Readers Award from the Missouri Association of State Librarians. The award honors outstanding works of children’s nonfiction. Thank you MASL!

You can read more about the award here.

Kirkus has named Where Have All the Birds Gone? as one of its Best Young Adult Books of 2022. Thank you Kirkus!

Read more and see the complete list here.

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the UW-Madison School of Education has named Where Have All the Birds Gone? to its list of the best children’s book of 2022. Wow and thank you, CCBC!

You can read more and see the complete list here.

Finally, Booklist has named Where Have All the Birds Gone? one of its Top 10 Books on the Environment & Sustainability for Youth for 2023. Thank you Booklist!

See the complete list of books here.

If you write children’s books, your approach will differ depending on whether you write for the trade market or the education market.

You will approach trade and educational publishers differently. Your goal with your book will be different, too.

Trade vs. educational publishers

For trade publishers, you want your book to stand out.

When you write for a trade publisher, you write the book you want to write. You choose the age, the length, the topic, and the angle that will make your book stand out from other books on this topic. Then you try to sell your manuscript to a publisher.

Approaching educational publishers

When you write for the educational market, your approach is different. You don’t start with a manuscript. You try to land an assignment.

First, you identify publishers you want to work for. You approach them and try to convince them to hire you. You do this with an introductory packet that shows you are a professional who is capable of doing this type of work.

When you receive an assignment, you write the book that the publisher is asking for. Your editor will tell you the age, the length, the topic, and the angle.

Nailing the assignment

Most educational books are part of a series. Below you can see me holding a book called Siberian Tigers: Camouflaged Hunting Mammals. It was one of 8 books on mammals I wrote for a series called “Comparing Animal Traits.”

My job was to make those books fun to read and informative. But I also had to make them fit seamlessly into the series.

For educational publishers, you want your book to fit in. Your job is to follow the guidelines carefully. You want your book to be well-written, but you also want to make sure it blends seamlessly with the other books in the series.

RISE TO THE SKY: HOW THE WORLD’S TALLEST TREES GROW UP has received a starred review from Kirkus! Here is an excerpt and a link:

★ “Hirsch’s poetic text… is splendidly illustrated with Posada’s textured, stylized, though accurate cut-paper collages and watercolors.… A well-focused, beautiful, and informative introduction to the arboreal world.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

In the previous post I talked about the two kingdoms of kid-lit, the trade market and the education market. Trade books are titles you can find in a bookstore. You probably won’t find many educational books in a bookstore. But you might find a few.

What is the education market?

The education market is made of books for school libraries to buy. These books may be about high-interest topics that kids are naturally curious about, like Minecraft, the musician Lizzo, or the Bermuda triangle.

These books also include topics that kids may have to write a report about. Think endangered animals, the Civil War, or the latest Mars rover.

Why you can’t judge a book by its cover

Trade books and educational books can be tough to tell apart. You can’t necessarily tell by where you’ll find them. Many trade books can be found in schools and libraries. And some educational books are sold in bookstores.

What’s more, educational publishers work very hard to make sure their books appeal to kids. So, they make them look like trade books. That can make it nearly impossible to tell the two types of books apart.

Why you can’t judge a book by its publisher

You can’t always tell the books apart by the publisher. For example, Scholastic published my Rookie Read-About series on the continents (education market). They also published Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (trade).

With so much overlap, how can you tell the types of books apart? There is an easy way.

How you can figure out a book’s market

Here’s a quick way to recognize an educational book: flip to the back pages.

If it’s a book for the education market, you’ll probably see glossary words, a recommended book list, or other features. This is called “back matter.” Teachers love back matter.

If it’s written exclusively for the trade market, you probably—but not always—won’t see any back matter.

Why is the education market useful for writers?

If you want to write for children, you should know that the trade market is highly competitive. It’s a difficult place for a new writer to break in. Not impossible, just difficult.

The education market is much friendlier to new writers. It’s where I got my start. It’s a good option if you want to get started writing for children right away.

© Antony McCallum, Wikimedia

I love writing for the education market. It’s where I got my start as an author. I’m a big believer in it as a market that is very friendly to new writers. You should know about it if you want to break into kid-lit.

In this series of blog posts, I’m going to teach you about this market and show you how you can get started writing for it.

The kingdoms of kidlit

Children’s book publishing in the U.S. is made of two markets. You can think of them as two kingdoms. The kingdoms sit side by side. They get along. They work together. They even share territory.

These kingdoms are the trade market and the education market.

What is the trade market?

Trade books are the books you’ll find at a bookstore. These are books like If Animals Kissed Goodnight, or Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, or Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, or Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

When people say they want to write children’s books, they’re usually thinking of trade books.

They may not realize there is a whole other kingdom out there.

The SCBWI Impact and Legacy Fund has announced the longlist for the new Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World. This award recognizes a nonfiction book for children or young adults that contributes to our understanding of how to make our world and society better.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIRDS GONE? NATURE IN CRISIS was named as one of eleven finalists. It’s an honor, and congratulations to all the finalists! The winner will be announced on December 1, 2022.

Read more about the award here.

RISE TO THE SKY: HOW THE WORLD’S TALLEST TREES GROW UP springs into the world next April!

This new picture book explores the life cycle of the world’s tallest trees, eight species that all reach higher than 300 feet. Follow along as they sprout from seeds no bigger than a ladybug, and then grow up, up, up to the sky. With gorgeous collage art by Mia Posada, who also illustrated PLANTS CAN’T SIT STILL. Perfect for learning the life cycle of plants.

Preorder a copy here.

This was fun! I had a chance to virtually join other creators whose books were chosen for the Great Reads from Great Places program. Our books were chosen to represent five Eastern states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island) at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

My book, Night Creatures: Animals That Swoop, Crawl, and Creep while You Sleep, was chosen by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.

The interview was hosted by Rocco Staino, director of the Empire State Center for the Book. You can watch the whole thing by clicking below. My part of the interview begins at 15:57.

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