Nonfiction Nitty Gritty

Heidi E. Y. Stemple Bio

Heidi E.Y. Stemple didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published more than twenty-five books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children. Heidi lives and writes on a big old farm in Massachusetts that she shares with one very small cat who lives inside, and a dozen deer, a family of bears, three coyotes, two bobcats, a gray fox, tons of birds, and some very fat groundhogs who live outside.

Alyssa Mito Pusey Bio

Alyssa Mito Pusey is a senior editor at Charlesbridge, specializing in nonfiction. She firmly believes that there is nothing as astonishing as real life! Almost any topic, from black holes to mummies, can hook her—as long as it's approached with innovation.

Alyssa began her editorial career in the school division at Charlesbridge in 1997, working on reading, writing, math, and science curriculum materials. This experience proved invaluable when she made the leap to trade in 2004. Alyssa now edits fiction and nonfiction picture books and middle-grade books with an eye for both literary merit and classroom appeal.

Some of Alyssa's favorite books that she's edited include POPPY'S BEST PAPER by Susan Eaddy, GOLDY LUCK AND THE THREE PANDAS by Natasha Yim, OLD MANHATTAN HAS SOME FARMS by Susan Lendroth, THE INVENTOR'S SECRET by Suzanne Slade, BILL THE BOY WONDER by Marc Tyler Nobleman, CANDY BOMBER by Michael O. Tunnell, AT HOME IN HER TOMB by Christine Liu Perkins, THE WHITE HOUSE IS BURNING by Jane Sutcliffe, and A BLACK HOLE IS NOT A HOLE by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano.

Karen Boss Bio

Karen Boss is an associate editor at Charlesbridge where she works on fiction and nonfiction picture books and middle-grade novels. She holds a MA in Children’s Literature from Simmons College and regularly acts as a mentor for their Writing for Children MFA program. Karen also has an MA in higher education administration and worked at colleges and in the nonprofit sector for the first 15 years of her career. She still works part-time in development at Hyde Square Task Force, a nonprofit that works with at-risk youth in Jamaica Plain. Some authors she’s currently working with are David L. Harrison, Jane Yolen, Nancy Bo Flood, Rich Michelson, and debut author Tami Charles. Her favorite children’s book is The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White, and she thinks that Holes by Louis Sachar is quite possibly the best thing ever written.

Michelle Cusolito Bio

Michelle Cusolito spent her childhood mucking about in the fields, forests, and swamps around the farm where she grew up in southeastern Massachusetts. As an exchange student in high school, she temporarily traded rural living for city life in Cebu, Philippines. These early experiences set her on her current course exploring nature and culture like the locals. She also spent 10 years as a grade 4 teacher. Now, when she's not mucking around in the world, Michelle is usually in her office or local coffee shop weaving these experiences into stories for children.

Michelle was the recipient of the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award for her picture book, Flying Deep, which was published by Charlesbridge in 2018. The story invites young readers to imagine themselves as a pilot of deep-sea submersible Alvin, exploring two miles deep where alien-looking life forms thrive. Michelle has two additional nonfiction books under contract.