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Balzer + Bray | September 22, 2014

by Chris Hernandez (Assistant Editor, Harper Teen and HarperCollins Children's Books)

Balzer+%2B+Bray

Balzer + Bray is a boutique imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Established in 2008 by eponymous editors Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray, B + B has become known for publishing bold, creative, groundbreaking picture books and novels. The imprint strives to give authors and illustrators the freedom to take risks while trying to fulfill their unique visions.

The Balzer + Bray list features numerous best-selling, award-winning talents such as Candace Bushnell (author of New York Times bestseller The Carrie Diaries), Patricia McCormick (author of the National Book Award Finalist Never Fall Down), Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis (husband-and-wife team behind the New York Times bestselling Wildwood Chronicles), Kadir Nelson (author and illustrator of Coretta Scott King Author Award-winning Heart and Soul), Lincoln Pierce (creator of the bestselling Big Nate series), and Mo Willems (three-time Caldecott Honor and two-time Geisel Medal and Geisel Honor-winning author of Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, That Is Not a Good Idea!)

 

One exciting upcoming title:
Louise Loves Art by Kelly Light
A cross between Olivia and Fancy Nancy, Louise is a precocious girl who loves art more than anything. Well, maybe not more than Art, her younger brother. This charming celebration of family and art is the debut picture book from rising talent Kelly Light, who Publishers Weekly called, “a confident visual storyteller with a gentle sense of comic timing.”
Published in September 2014.

One classic title:
Extra Yarn by Max Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen  
In this modern fairy tale, a young girl finds a mysterious box filled with magical yarn and uses it to transform an entire community. Written by comedic master Mac Barnett and illustrated by celebrated artist Jon Klassen, Extra Yarn garnered numerous awards including a Caldecott Honor and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.
Published in January 2012.


One series you may not have heard about: 
Cold Cereal by Adam Rex
This hilarious, action-packed adventure is the first book in the Cold Cereal Saga: a trilogy about three kids who must save the world from an evil cereal company, which has been luring magical creatures to our world through a rift in the time-space continuum. It’s a clever, peculiar, and completely unique tale for middle-grade readers from the incomparably creative mind of Adam Rex.
Published in January 2013.

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