what I’m looking for

I acquire for Roaring Brook Press and I’m eager for submissions from creators of marginalized identities. I’m looking for strong storytelling across all age ranges and genres. I want stories that readers will carry with them long after reading. More specifically, here’s what I’m most interested in:

picture books

  • for fiction and nonfiction: a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end

  • expressive, commercial art across all genres

  • sister stories, especially about middle children

  • trees, gardens, flowers, or forests with lush, saturated illustrations

  • a New Orleans story by someone from New Orleans

what I’m not looking for

I’m not the right editor for:

  • chapter books

  • anthologies

  • circus stories

  • time travel set in our world (unless it’s used for hijinks in a picture book)

  • sports- or music-focused novels (unless they’re thrillers or horror)

middle grade

  • a gothic boarding school mystery

  • speculative fiction exploring difficult truths

  • a childhood game of make-believe turned real, with supernatural elements, high stakes, and lots of emotion

young adult

  • atmospheric, unsettling ghost stories and fairy tales

  • epic fantasy stories with thoughtful worldbuilding and complex characters

  • all things southern gothic

  • messy characters making huge mistakes

  • more favorite elements: life-defining friendship, monsters, sweeping romance, revenge, heists, stolen identity, an unreliable narrator