Over the past few months, The Booking Biz has welcomed amazing new authors and illustrators into our family. Meet Nelly Buchet, Michael Garland, Aimee Lucido, Baptiste Paul, Miranda Paul and Brian Weisfeld.
If you’ve been watching HBO’s Big Little Lies, you might know Nelly Buchet as the nanny Juliette. We know her as the author of the picture book CAT DOG DOG: THE STORY OF A BLENDED FAMILY, which received a starred review from Kirkus. As well as an actor and author, Nelly is a speaker and musician with a mission to do good in the world. While studying philosophy at McGill University in Montreal, Nelly created a non-profit project to bring books to refugee children. She’s also taught nonviolent conflict resolution in schools, and has spoken at conferences like the Ethical Leadership Assembly in the Bay Area. Learn more about Nelly Buchet.
Michael Garland is well known to the kidlit world. He’s the author/illustrator of more than 30 picture books, plus he has illustrated more than 40 books for other authors. His books have won numerous awards, including his MISS SMITH’S INCREDIBLE STORYBOOK, which won the California and Delaware State Reading List Awards. Among the books he’s illustrated for other authors is SANTAKID for James Patterson, which was the inspiration for Sak’s Fifth’s Avenue’s Christmas holiday window display in New York City. As well as an author/illustrator, Michael is also a fine art painter, and many of his paintings can be found in private and corporate collections around the country. Learn more about Michael Garland.
Not many kidlit authors can also claim to be a cruciverbalist, but Aimee Lucido can. If you’re not sure what that is, don’t worry, neither were we. But Aimee will enthusiastically tell you it’s a crossword puzzle architect. Aimee is also a software engineer, and she pours all her skills into the stories she writes. Her debut novel EMMY IN THE KEY OF CODE combines her love of music, poetry and computer science. It garnered her numerous kudos, and she’s following it up with RECIPE FOR DISASTER, which answers the question of what it means to be Jewish. Learn more about Aimee Lucido.
Caribbean-born author Baptiste Paul writes stories of love and appreciation for our Earth, among other topics. His debut picture book THE FIELD tells of the love of soccer and is infused with Creole words from the author’s home island of St. Lucia. The book got starred reviews from Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Booklist. He has since co-written picture books ADVENTURES TO SCHOOL and I AM FARMER with his wife, Miranda Paul, and the two regularly present together. Learn more about Baptiste Paul.
A former teacher, Miranda Paul is the award-winning author of numerous picture books. Her debut picture book, ONE PLASTIC BAG: ISATOU CEESAY AND THE RECYCLING WOMEN OF THE GAMBIA, earned a spot on more than 10 state lists and was a Green Earth Book Award Notable title. And her kudos haven’t stopped. WATER IS WATER won a Highly Commended notation from the Charlotte Zolotow Book Award Committee, among others, and her 2019 book, NINE MONTHS: BEFORE A BABY IS BORN won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for nonfiction. A co-founding member of We Need Diverse Books, Miranda also co-authors picture books with her husband Baptiste Paul. Learn more about Miranda Paul.
Brian Weisfeld also writes about his passion–entrepreneurship. Brian has been building businesses since grade school when his first product was gummy bears and his first employees were his school friends. When he was a teenager, he sold mixtapes, nuts, dried fruit and more gummy bears. And as an adult, he has helped build billion-dollar companies including IMAX Corp. and Coupons.com. When his daughters were growing up, he wanted to empower them to do whatever they wanted, so he created The Startup Squad and turned it into a book series co-authored by Nicole C. Kear. Learn more about Brian Wiesfeld.