Imprint Profile: Charlesbridge Moves
An imprint of Charlesbridge.
The CBC is happy to host Imprint Profiles, where we shine a light on imprints dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in the books they publish. Below, Vice President & Publisher, Yolanda Scott, answers our questions about Charlesbridge Moves.
How did your imprint start out?
Charlesbridge Moves began in 2022 when we acquired publishing veteran Eileen Robinson’s company, Move Books. The imprint reflects Eileen’s desire to publish middle-grade books that pull reluctant readers back to literature, with an emphasis on boy readers. We’re losing kids to screens, and publishing shorter, engaging, exciting stories is one way to lure them back to books.
We launched the first Charlesbridge Moves titles in 2024 (The Kid by Jeff Schill, Hum by William David Thomas, Wings to Soar by Tina Athaide, and Saving Kenny by Corinne Gail), and we’ve been publishing 4-6 new books each year since then. We’re especially drawn to adventure, science fiction, fantasy, historical and realistic fiction, mystery, and humor. Though Eileen is no longer with Charlesbridge, each book still respects her focus on reluctant readers and the kinds of stories that will get them interested in reading for fun.
What is your imprint most known for?
Each Charlesbridge Moves book has a poster on the flipside of the jacket and a dedicated website with activities and other book-related fun to increase kid engagement. Eileen knew when she first conceived of this imprint that bringing kids back to reading might need a little more than just what’s on the page. Charlesbridge is thrilled to offer these extras for this imprint.
We pay extra attention to all the visual elements of each Charlesbridge Moves title, from the font selection to the page design to the overall page count and chapter length. We’re also really passionate about including hybrid graphic novel elements in many of our books. We’ve found that breaking up prose chapters with paneled sequential art is a terrific way to engage today’s visual learners. And of course, we publish a few full graphic novels, too, since that format is a perennial kid favorite.
Which title have you recently rallied behind?
We’ve got mother/daughter kidlit powerhouses Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple both on the Charlesbridge Moves list with trilogies.
Jane’s series, Monsters of Fife, invites readers to meet Cat Douglas—monster hunter. This historical fantasy adventure series is set in Scotland. Full-color graphic novel inserts by illustrator Celia Lowenthal blend seamlessly with the gripping plot and pull readers into the story. Sea Dragons (06/03/25) starts the trilogy off with the Royal & Ancient hunters, Terror Birds (07/14/26) follows, and The Water Horse (09/07/27) finishes it off.
Heidi’s trilogy, The Avian Adventurers, includes Charlesbridge Moves’s first nonbinary character, Jet, and their new friend, Michael, who would rather play soccer than anything else. But soon Jet convinces Michael that birdwatching is anything but boring. Interior illustrations by Natasha Donovan enhance Snowy Owl Rescue (02/17/26), which starts the series, as well as by Win It for the Warblers (02/09/27) and Osprey 911 (2028).
Which title do you feel deserved more love than it got?
Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics is an absolutely brilliant and unique book, written by poet Renée LaTulippe and illustrated by comic artist Chuck Gonzales. The poems chronicle a musical revue from auditions to opening night, with each poem taking the POV of a part of the theater. The script, the rehearsal piano, the dressing room mirror, and more tell their stories, bringing the whole set to life in a spirited homage to the theatre.
Which upcoming titles are you buzzing about?
We can’t stop smiling about the amazing cover of our forthcoming title The Barbary Chronicles: The Lost Prince (10/06/26), written by Bobbi Millier and with cover art by Allyssa Adams. Oliver Twist meets Deadwood in this action-packed novel set along San Francisco’s notorious Barbary Coast in the 1870s.
We’re also looking forward to Polterghost (01/26/27), a good old-fashioned ghost story complete with a new group of friends, a haunted house and graveyard, and a lot of humor. Kerry Hansen’s debut will sing, and the cover art is by veteran Sarah Coleman.
And don’t miss The Hunt for Shadowclaw (04/06/27) by Alison James and illustrated by Wastana Haikal. This one follows a group of unlikely animal friends as they race to find an escaped panther in New York City. With prose text and more than 80 pages of graphic novel panels, this one is perfect for our intended audience. (And it already has a film adaptation in the works!)
Finally, The Creepy Creature Catchers: Hunting for Cuca, the Alligator Witch (08/17/27) is first in a planned three-book series by Ana Siqueira, illustrated by her niece Camila Siqueira. A group of kids are convinced their teacher is a cuca—but is she?
Which of your frontlist titles would be great for a school library or public library?
All of them! Teachers and librarians consistently report that they need books to get kids reading, and Charlesbridge Moves books fit that bill!
What else would you like to tell us about your imprint and the passionate work you all do?
This imprint wouldn’t exist without the hard work and initial vision of editor Eileen Robinson, and we are grateful to her for getting the imprint up and running. Charlesbridge Moves is now an integral part of the Charlesbridge list with a clear publishing mission and exciting new titles coming out each season. Starting later this year, we will be releasing each title simultaneously in hardcover and paperback to reach as many kids as possible—these stories are too good to wait for!
Thank you, Charlesbridge Moves!
