James Preller's Blog

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I’ll be honest: Sometimes I look at photos that I receive from school visits and it’s a little bit stunning. There I am, speaking to all these kids, dancing as fast as I can. It’s such an honor — a privilege that I don’t take lightly. And, yes, there’s pride, too. I’m good at this. I may not be able to fix a car or figure out the television, but I can talk bo...

– All fan mail is wonderful. A connection, a gift. I’m grateful for every letter I’ve received over the past decades. But sometimes a particular one comes out of the blue and takes my breath away. – ...

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I’ve posted about this previously, but to quickly catch you up: Every book in my new middle-grade wilderness adventure series, THE SURVIVAL CODE, will feature a map. The first two books, Wildfire Rescue and Snow Blind,...

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Here’s another letter from a reader who enjoyed EXIT 13: The Whispering Pines. – It kind of kills me, because there’s a sad story here, one that I suspect...

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My education in children’s books began, oddly enough, in my adulthood. The youngest of seven children, I have little memory of reading books as a child — some P.D. Eastman, for sure — and no memory of either of my parents reading to me. That’s not a complaint; they had their hands full. In 1985, I was hired as a junior copywriter for Scholastic at a cool $11,...