DICK BELL
Dick has attended every Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua, where he has shared his knowledge and experience. Involved with Highlights for Children for forty-eight years, Dick knows the high-quality product expected from a children’s publication. Through many years of experience, the former teacher, headmaster, and principal has developed a sense of what writers need to offer to young readers.

Chairman of the board of Highlights for Children, Inc. for the past twenty-four years, Dick joined the corporation as director of sales in 1956, became president in 1963, and was named chairman in 1980.

KENT L. BROWN JR.
Kent is the Editor in Chief of Highlights for Children magazine and has been publisher of Boyds Mills Press since its introduction in 1990. A past-president of the Educational Press Association of America, Kent has served on the publications committee of the International Reading Association and is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the American Society of Magazine Editors, and the National Press Club.

Kent was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, a national, non-profit nature education organization located in Jamestown, NY.

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CHRISTINE FRENCH CLARK
Chris is the editor of Highlights for Children, responsible for the magazine in all its formats, including HighlightsKids.com, a subscription-based Web site for kids. Her twenty-plus-year career in children’s publishing includes stints as editor of Humpty Dumpty’s Magazine, Turtle, Jack and Jill, and Children’s Digest. She has also written more than one hundred stories, poems, and lesson segments.

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FLOYD COOPER
Floyd has illustrated more than fifteen books, many of them for such award-winning authors as Virginia Hamilton, Eloise Greenfield, and Patricia McKissack. His illustrations have won a number of honors, including the Coretta Scott King Honor Book recognition for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea (1994), Meet Danitra Brown (1995), and I Have Heard of a Land (1999). In May 2002, he was presented the Rutgers Medal for Children’s Literature (which had not been presented since 1956) by the New Jersey Center for the Book.

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ANDREA EARLY
Andrea has worked in children’s publishing as an author, editor, and publicist, and is currently a consulting editor for Highlights for Children, where she works on online projects. She is the author of two children’s books and has received the John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Nature Books for Children and two National Science Teachers Awards. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Highlights Foundation.

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ROD EBRIGHT
Rod has spent his career finding creative solutions to problems. He has given workshops in a variety of venues, helping others develop their creative identity and market their ideas. A graduate of Bowling Green (OH) State University, Rod holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He has extensive experience in concept development, design, and marketing in print and other media. He formerly served as Senior Director of creative and production services for Highlights for Children.

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PATRICIA LEE GAUCH
Patti is vice-president and publisher of Philomel Books as well as a respected author in her own right. She holds a doctorate in English literature, and has taught childrens literature on the college level and reviewed for The New York Times. Patti has written thirty-nine books for young readers, among them the highly acclaimed Thunder at Gettysburg. Her most recent title, Tanya and the Red Shoes, part of the celebrated Tanya ballet series, was published in spring 2002.

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KIM GRISWELL
Kim is the coordinating editor of Highlights for Children. Her service has spanned the worlds of publishing and teaching, leading her to positions as Senior Editor, Book Development Manager, a university instructor, and a teacher with the Institute of Children’s Literature. A prolific writer and committed editor, Kim has published over two hundred short stories, articles, and columns. Her children’s book, Carnivorous Plants, was recently published by Kidhaven Press.

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ANDREW GUTELLE
Andrew is a writer, editor, and editorial consultant who has participated in the development of many publishing projects for children. He has written non fiction books for many publishers, including Random House, Putnam, Workman, and Time-Life Books for Children. Andy received five Emmy nominations for his work on the television show Reading Rainbow.

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ROSANNA HANSEN
Rosanna is currently president of Hansen Associates, a consulting firm serving book and magazine publishers. Before setting up this business, she served as publisher and editor-in-chief of the Weekly Reader Corporation, supervising seventeen classroom magazines as well as books and e-publishing. In her spare time, she writes children’s books on topics ranging from dinosaurs to ballet. Her most recent titles include Caring Animals, Space, and Animal Rescuers, published by Children's Press.

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JUANITA HAVILL
Juanita Havill is the author of sixteen children's books, including Jamaica's Find, a Reading Rainbow Review Book, IRA-CBC Children's Choice, and Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Winner; Jamaica Tag-Along, an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists"; and Sato and the Elephants, an ALA Notable in the Field of Social Studies, which has been translated into five South African languages.
She is also the editor of Booklove: Creating Good Books for Children in an Age that Values Neither.

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KRISTI HOLL
Kristi has had over 150 short stories and articles published, 24 middle-grade novels, and an adult book, Writer's First Aid: Getting Organized, Getting Inspired, and Sticking to It (2003). Her first eleven books were published by Atheneum and included Just Like a Real Family, The Rose Beyond the Wall, First Things First, and Patchwork Summer. Kristi's whodunits include Cast a Single Shadow, The Haunting of Cabin 13 (winner of the 1990 Maryland Children’s Book Award), Danger at Hanging Rock, Deadly Disguise, and Stage Fright. Her most recent fiction includes Tangled Web and Chat Freak (2000), 4GIVE & 4GET and Fun E-Farm (2001).

Kristi is involved in the development of nonfiction for the new Faithgirlz Series at Zonderkidz. She has a 90-day devotional for middle-grade girls due out from Zonderkidz in October.

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PETER P. JACOBI
Peter is professor emeritus of journalism at Indiana University and a consultant with magazines and corporations, helping CEOs, writers, and editors learn to express their ideas more effectively. His articles have appeared in World Book, The New York Times, Highlights for Children, and others. His two guidebooks, The Magazine Article: How to Think It, Plan It, Write It and Writing with Style: The News Story and the Feature, are standard reference sources for journalists.

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RONALD JOBE
Dr. Ronald Jobe has served on the jury for the American Library Association’s prestigious Newbery Award, the Caldecott Award, the Batchelder Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Awards, as well as the international jury for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, given by the International Board on Books for Young People. He is a professor in the Department of Language Education at the University of British Columbia where he teaches children’s literature and communication courses. His books include Canadian Connections, Cultural Connections, and Reluctant Readers.

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LINDA SUE PARK
Linda Sue won the 2002 Newbery Medal for A Single Shard (Clarion Books, 2001), her third of four novels for young people. Her fourth novel, When My Name Was Keoko (Clarion, 2002), was named a Jane Addams Honor Book and a Child magazine Best Book of the Year. Ms. Park’s most recent titles are two picture books, Mung-mung! (Charlesbridge, January 2004) and The Firekeeper’s Son (Clarion, April 2004). Much of Ms. Park’s work draws on her Korean ancestry, which she began researching to better appreciate her immigrant parents’ native culture.

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LAURENCE PRINGLE
Larry is a renowned writer with more than one hundred books to his credit, mostly nonfiction, including One Room School, Naming the Cat, which Kirkus called warmly appealing, and Dog of Discovery: A Newfoundland's Adventures with Lewis and Clark. His most recent releases are Whales! Strange and Wonderful and Bear Hug.

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RANDI RIVERS
After earning a bachelor's degree in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College, Randi Rivers went on to become an associate editor for a magazine publisher based in the Los Angeles area. During this time she also cowrote and performed in the sketch comedy show "The Untitled Boat Show" at the Raven Playhouse in North Hollywood. Randi also put her comedy skills to the test by performing as a clown at children's parties and working part-time as a children's bookseller. While in L. A., she coauthored the play Heart of the Matter, which was later produced by the Dunwoody Stage Door Players in Atlanta, Georgia. Currently an assistant editor for Charlesbridge Publishing, Randi works on four to six books per season. She credits her love of children's books to her parents, who never refused to buy her a book when she was a child.

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MARILETA ROBINSON
Marileta made her first sale to Highlights in 1976 and joined Highlights in 1988 as an assistant editor. Currently a senior editor, Marileta edits fiction and nonfiction for young readers and writes each month’s installment of the popular "TheTimbertoes" feature. She holds a master’s degree in bilingual education and is a regular speaker at SCBWI conferences around the country.

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LARRY ROSLER
Larry is editorial director of Boyds Mills Press, where he has broad responsibilities for acquiring manuscripts and developing them for publication. Before coming to Boyds Mills, Larry was a manager of New Morning Books in New York and worked for Henry Holt and Company, first in marketing and later in editorial on both adult and juvenile titles.

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EILEEN SPINELLI
Eileen is an award-winning author and poet whose work includes the 1991 Christopher Award winner, Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch; Lizzie Logan Wears Purple Sunglasses; When Mama Comes Home Tonight; Sophie’s Masterpiece; Kittycat Lullaby; and Summerbath / Winterbath. Currently, Eileen has eighteen new books under contract.

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JERRY SPINELLI
With titles like Do the Funky Pickle, There’s A Girl in My Hammerlock, and Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, Jerry Spinelli has won the hearts of many young readers. His 1991 release Maniac Magee won the Newbery Medal, and his eighteenth book, Wringer, received a Newbery Honor. Jerry's latest, Milkweed (Knopf), has been called "stunning" by Kirkus Reviews.

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CLAY WINTERS
Clay, president of Boyds Mills Press, has been in publishing since 1960. Before coming to Boyds Mills Press, he was president of Putnam/Grosset Books for Young Readers, the children's book group of G.P. Putnam & Sons. Clay has taught the rudiments of publishing to aspiring writers and an entrepreneurial course in marketing for several different institutions.

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CAROLYN YODER
Carolyn is a writer and an editor for the New Jersey Historical Society and senior editor of history for Highlights for Children. From 1983 to 1996 she served as editor in chief and assistant publisher of Cobblestone Publishing, Inc., publishers of nonfiction magazines and books. She also served as the executive director of the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society. Carolyn writes frequently on historical subjects, research, and nonfiction writing.

Carolyn was recently named editor of Calkins Creek Books, a new history and historical fiction imprint of Boyds Mills Press.

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