The 2025 Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review

You better not pout
You better not cry
Here’s a delightful reason why…
(drumroll, please)
The Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review
has arrived!!

Before we close the book on 2025, I welcome you to peruse my annual Writers’ Rumpus Year in Review. As with my first review post way back in 2017, my goal for 2025 is to showcase the breadth and depth of our offerings from our talented contributors with a single post from each. Click on a date link below, and you’ll be magically whisked to the complete post, no sleighs or reindeer required!

You can also access a treasure trove of helpful, inspiring, and entertaining information any time your heart desires—book reviews, author interviews, writing and editing tips, conference insights, submission guidelines, and so much more—by going to our main menu and scrolling through posts, clicking on an author’s name, or using the searching box to locate a specific title or subject.

Without further ado, I hope you’ll kick back and enjoy the 2025 Year in Review—with the festive spirit in your heart, a fuzzy blanket around your shoulders, and a loving pet at your feet (or in your lap). Please accept best wishes from all of us at Writers’ Rumpus for a holiday season jam packed with family, friends, light, warmth, and scrumptious cookies … and a happy, healthy, and EXCEPTIONALLY creative 2026.

Monica Acker
REVISE AND RESUBMIT:
MAKING A STELLAR SECOND IMPRESSION
June 24, 2025

Talented picture book author Monica confesses to loving R&Rs – and I’m not talking about rest and relaxation, though I venture to guess she loves that, too! The R&R covered in this post stands for Revise and Resubmit, which refers to receiving editor feedback with the invitation to resubmit if you, the author, agrees to the parameters set forth. This opportunity can be exciting yet daunting for many authors, but lucky for us, Monica and three other successful members of the PB Sunrays, Angela Quezada Padron, Srividhya Venkat, and Pam Vaughan, offer a host of tips and tricks to help all authors make a “Stellar Second Impression.”

Alumni & Guests – Vicki Fang
WELCOME TO AN INTRODUCTION TO WRITING CHAPTER BOOKS
June 6, 2025

We love ALL our guest posters! This is one excellent example, and I welcome you to peruse each guest post, as they are all delightfully unique and incredibly illuminating. Here, successful kidlit author/illustrator Vicki Fang demystifies chapter books in straightforward, easy-to-digest language. No matter your reason for checking out this post, Vicki’s introduction to chapter books will answer all your questions and more in an incredibly informative and enjoyable way. It helped me, and I know it will help you, too! AND … if you could use a little levity in your life and in your writing, I highly suggest you check out this related November 25th guest post entitled WRITING CHAPTER BOOKS WITH HUMOR by author Heather Preusser.

Amy Amberg
THE SECRET SAUCE
TO SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR VISITS FOR LIBRARIES
January 21, 2025

Check out this awesome photo! Among this fabulously talented group of authors, many are past and present bloggers on Writers’ Rumpus you may recognize. In the center of them all stands Amy, a children’s librarian with over 25 years of experience. I can personally attest to her incredible knowledge of kidlit and the children who read it, as I interviewed her and librarian Kate Belczyk on Writers’ Rumpus on April 27, 2018. In this incredibly detailed and helpful post, Amy shares tips to insure your author visits are engaging and well-attended. This is a MUST read if you’re planning an event for yourself or others!

Laura Fineberg Cooper
INTERVIEW WITH RAJANI LAROCCA, CELEBRATED AUTHOR OF SONA AND THE GOLDEN BEASTS
February 18, 2025

After devouring this magical, musical, heartfelt yet treacherous middle grade fantasy set in the fictional land of Devia, I was overjoyed when Rajani, who is incredibly busy in her author, professional, and personal life, graciously agreed to do another Writers’ Rumpus interview. In this post, readers will learn about Rajani’s inspiration and writing process, her detailed approach to creating well drawn and distinct characters (heroes and villains alike), and the insights she hopes readers will gain from reading Sona and Golden Beasts. The richly detailed setting, the memorable characters, the remarkable golden beasts, the nail-biting plot, and the thought provoking themes, make this an excellent mentor text as well as a heart pounding read. If you enjoy this interview, feel free to peruse our earlier discussions from 2020 and 2023!

Carol Ekster
MEET THE TALENTED #KIDLIT #DEBUT AUTHOR, DANNA ZEIGER, PLUS #GIVEAWAY
August 12, 2025

In this engaging post, prolific picture book author and staunch kidlit supporter Carol introduces our readers to friend and debut author Danna Zeiger and her exceptionally inspiring and well written picture book book biography about Dr. Kathleen Friel. Despite being born with Cerebral Palsy and facing challenges and bullying her whole life, Dr. Friel became a Ph.D scientist running her own research lab, with a focus on creating “New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability.” Interview questions and answers delve into Danna’s “less traditional” path to children’s book writing and her connection with Dr. Friel, who served as her undergrad mentor at Columbia Medical School. Congratulations to the winner of this giveaway! Even if you didn’t win, rest assured, you will still benefit greatly from reading this interview post and Rewriting the Rules.

Keri Demers
MORE THAN A PAGE TURNER: JULIE SOTO’S BOLD YA DEBUT IS A MUST-STUDY MENTOR TEXT
July 15, 2025

If you love to read and write YA, you can count on kindred spirit Keri to help you out. I attest that Keri absolutely nails it in this provocative, highly absorbing post about The Thrashers. Reading Keri’s sassy review compelled me to devour this novel, and I found myself returning to this post to make sure I’d digested the twisty-turny plot properly. Here’s a sampling in her authentic style: While doing my “market research” (procrastinating from writing) to find hot-off-the-press, buzzy, best-selling Young Adult novels to blog about as mentor texts, I stumbled on Julie Soto’s thriller, The Thrashers (May 6, 2025, Wednesday Books). The cover! The title! The blurb! Oh my! … Soto nails teen voice while tackling big themes like toxic friendships, guilt, grief, complicity, and justice—without ever sounding preachy.

Marianne Knowles
ATMOSPHERIC POETRY: NEW STEM PICTURE BOOK UP, UP HIGH JOINS DEEP, DEEP DOWN
January 28, 2025

As well as being a talented writer and critique group leader, Marianne works at the Museum of Science in Boston and is an expert in creating science education for young children. When she introduces nonfiction picture books that blend science with poetry such as this engaging and informative duo by author Lydia Lukidis, I encourage all readers and writers of kidlit to take notice. You need to read this post to get Marianne’s insightful and lyrical review in entirety, as I can’t possibly do it justice. But here’s a snippet to entice you: These are not just reference books to read once and return. Both books offer readers multiple ways to enjoy and learn from the journey up through the atmosphere and down through the ocean’s depths. This versatility makes the books appeal to multiple readers and stand up to multiple readings. This is just the precipice of Marianne’s review, and I urge you dive into it or view from above—your choice!!

Marti Johnson
SUNRISE ON THE REAPING BY SUZANNE COLLINS
April 29, 2025

Marti, a talented YA novel writer herself, has an eye for introducing readers and writers to “must read” novels, and I love the way she tells it like it is. This 5th book in Suzanne Collins’ world-renowned Hunger Games franchise somehow missed my radar, and I’m so grateful that Marti discovered Sunrise on the Reaping and shared it with all of us. This is a prequel starring Haymitch Abernathy, and here’s a spot-on paragraph from her post: Hunger Games fans will note that Haymitch isn’t exactly lovable when we meet him in the later trilogy. And yet, Collins had me rooting for his younger self so intently I outwardly wept for the character in the second chapter of his prequel. This post made me rush out and read the book, and I’m thankful that I did. Are you intrigued? Click on the date link to read more of Marti’s spot-on post!

Hilary Margititch
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR JANICE HECHTER…AND A GIVEAWAY!
July 1, 2025

Hilary is a writer of children’s books for the educational market, cheerful supporter of kidlit, and author of a debut picture book coming out in 2028, and Writers’ Rumpus readers will be grateful to her for introducing author-illustrator Janice Hechter and her outstanding nonfiction picture book. Here is the premise of the story: On a field trip to Central Park, a group of NYC girl scouts noticed that among 21 statues, there wasn’t a single one to commemorate deserving women. Did these young girls forget about it? Not at all, and their passion and persistence is a powerful model on how to campaign to correct unjustices. Although the giveaway has ended, I’m issuing you a call to action: read both this inspiring interview and Where are the Women?!

Marcia Strykowski
NEW 2025 PICTURE BOOKS!
May 27, 2025

After 15 years as a librarian acquiring books for children, Marcia has a keen eye for spotting delightful picture books for lucky Writers’ Rumpus readers to learn from and enjoy. And that’s not all! She is also the talented author of middle grade novels and a picture book called The Puffin Who Whispered, debuting in 2026 (check out the charming cover and pre-order link here). I always make it a point to check out all the books Marcia recommends – having recently read Hazel the Handful, I can absolutely see why she included it! I also thoroughly enjoyed In the Autumn Forest. Marcia has six more picture books to recommend in this post and shares links to her Goodreads reviews for those, so make sure you read the post in entirety to view her complete list.

Joyce Audy Zarins
A WARBLER’S JOURNEY: A PICTURE BOOK BY NOTED NATURALIST SCOTT WEIDENSAUL
April 15, 2025

“Imagine a tiny bird “the color of a ripe lemon” who can fly 4,000 miles through storms and across a sea. This yellow warbler’s saga begins in a verdant Nicaraguan rain forest, where she eats and eats in preparation for her long journey, and ends in a lake in far northern Canada. Joyce, a gifted writer and sculptor herself, has a poetic way of describing not just the plot, but also insightful details about the illustrations. In this enlightening post, she shares quotes from noted naturalist Scott Weidensaul about his interaction with the illustrator and his trip to Nicaragua with a free crate of books for the community. A Warbler’s Journey shares three ways people can help migrating birds on their perilous journey, and this post as well as the gorgeous book itself are sheer delight.

Danna Zeiger (DrZatHome)
INTERVIEW WITH #JEWISH #KIDLIT AUTHOR MARCELLA PIXLEY ABOUT MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL-IN-VERSE NESHAMA
May 13, 2025

A fan of novels-in-verse, Danna writes in this amazing interview post, “I cried, I shrieked, I gasped. I devoured the entire book in one sitting on a quiet Shabbat and I could. Not. Put. It. Down.” Main character Anna communicates with the ghosts of her ancestors and faces issues such as antisemitism, bullying, and grief. The book has been called haunting, mesmerizing, sensitive, spooky, and affirming, and I’m so thankful to Danna for interviewing Marcella Pixley about her inspiration and research, as well as about the book’s evolution. The story behind the story is so fascinating, I urge you to read this post and afterward, grab Neshama! Like Danna, I consumed it in a single night and was utterly blown away.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. It’s always hard to limit myself to a single post from each contributor, so if I missed your favorite, please share it in the comments section below. Thank you for your dedication!! We appreciate every one of you!!