The first celebrities I idolized weren’t actors or singers; they were children’s book creators—people who had never met me but somehow managed to see into my very soul. Poring over “about the author” sections of books, I loved finding parallels between their lives and mine: Ann M. Martin adored animals and was a quiet introvert; Judy Blume grew up in the suburbs, reading everything she could get her hands on. Several new picture books and middle-grade works consider beloved kid lit creators, offering insights into the artistic process and making these larger-than-life figures feel like old friends; hopefully, they’ll also spur burgeoning writers, illustrators, and even editors to follow their own dreams.

With the picture-book biography JIM!: Six True Stories About One Great Artist: James Marshall (Dial Books, 2025), Jerrold Connors depicts real-life people as anthropomorphic animals who resemble the characters from Marshall’s own books. Portrayed as a winsome cartoon fox, Jim is by turns bold, irreverent, and insecure (“I could write a thousand stories and they wouldn’t be as beautiful as yours,” he tells fellow writer Maurice Sendak, depicted here as a bulldog). Above all, he respects his young audience enough to be honest with them—as does Connors, who incorporates Jim’s partner, Billy, into the narrative and gently but matter-of-factly closes with Jim’s death in 1992 from AIDS.

Charnelle Pinkney Barlow’s picture book Two Artists, Grandad and Me (Doubleday, Jan. 20) is simultaneously a tribute to the author/illustrator’s late grandfather, Caldecott Medalist Jerry Pinkney, and a moving account of a gifted creator coming into her own. Grandad welcomes young Charnelle into his studio, teaching her the names of the colors he uses, comforting her after she spills a jar of water and assuring her that “every artist sees the world differently.” Mixed-media artwork with a three-dimensional feel and elegant prose blend for a tale that explores another side of this luminary—a loving and empathetic mentor.

Before Judy Blume broke ground writing about adolescents’ complex feelings toward their changing bodies, she was a young girl wracked with uncertainties of her own. Selina Alko chronicles the acclaimed author’s coming of age in her picture book Otherwise Known as Judy the Great: A Poetic Ode to Judy Blume (Christy Ottaviano Books, Feb. 17). Her exuberant verse speaks to Judy’s concerns, some lighthearted (a desire for freckles like Doris Day’s), others more serious, like overseas “news of food rationing, sirens, [and] bombings” as World War II rages. Poems from Judy’s perspective, coupled with Alko’s collages, make for an intimate portrait of a writer still in touch with her inner child.

Behind every great writer is a great editor—a potentially eye-opening revelation for young readers. Nancy Hudgins’ middle-grade biography Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books (Abrams, March 24) profiles the woman who ushered Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are, and other classic works into the world. Hudgins focuses on the subtle yet crucial editorial decisions that can make or break a book while eloquently praising her subject’s passion, respect for children, and, above all, courage: Nordstrom frequently challenged assumptions about kid lit—and we’re all the better for it.

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.