edited by Elissa Brent Weissman

About the Book

Here's a collection of quirky, smart, and vulnerable childhood works by some of today’s foremost children’s authors and illustrators—revealing young talent, the storytellers they would one day become, and the creativity they inspire today.

Everyone’s story begins somewhere…

Kwame Alexander
Tom Angleberger
Kathi Appelt
Ashley Bryant
Tim Federle
Candace Fleming
Marla Frazee
Chris Gall
Alex Gino
Chris Grabenstein
Gordon Korman
Jarrett Krosoczka
Thanhha Lai
Peter Lerangis
Gail Carson Levine
Grace Lin
Yuyi Morales
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
RJ Palacio
Linda Sue Park
Eric Rohmann
Dan Santat
Brian Selznick
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Elissa Brent Weissman
Rita Williams-Garcia

Read the Reviews

"This collection offers a lively glimpse of the artistic starts of twenty-six writers and illustrators for youth, with notable contributors such as Kwame Alexander, Dan Santat, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and Linda Sue Park … The snapshots of the artists as young men and women are engaging and irreverent … There are a lot of shoutouts to influential teachers, a lot of early imitation (rightly recognized as a valid exercise), and a clear message throughout that this early work counts, whether you finish it, whether it’s completely original, whether it wins you the regard you hoped… this has curricular use written all over it (there’s even tips for young writers at the end) and the encouragement is strong and valuable. Plenty of young readers will salivate at the notion of living the dream described by Jarrett J. Krosoczka: 'What I do now for my job is exactly what I did for fun when I was a kid.'" (BCCB July/August 2017)