about

Paula Wiseman Books is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing that, since 2003, has published many award-winning and bestselling books, including picture books, novelty books, and fiction and nonfiction. The imprint focuses on stories and art that are childlike, timeless, innovative, and represent many cultures and varied voices.

We publish thirty to forty books per year created by many of the most beloved talents working in children’s books today, including Matthew Van Fleet, Patricia Polacco, Lesa Cline-Ransome, James E. Ransome, Raúl Colón, Susan Vaught, Rosemary Wells, Lisa Mantchev, Stephen T. Johnson, Taeeun Yoo, Bryan Collier, Sandra Neil Wallace, Melissa Castrillon, Anita Lobel, Alexandra Diaz, and Matthew Forsythe.

Our mission is to publish books for children that enlarge their world and we strive to find books that will endure, especially stories told by underrepresented voices. We are committed to publishing new talent in both picture books and novels. We are actively seeking submissions from new and published authors and artists through agents and from SCBWI conferences.

Follow Paula Wiseman Books on Twitter @PWisemanBooks.

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our editorial team
Paula Wiseman
Vice President and Publisher

Paula Wiseman joined Simon & Schuster in 2002. She was previously Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Philomel Books, a division of GP Putnam and Vice President and Editorial Director of Silver Whistle Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her first job in children’s books was at Dial Books for Young Readers, now a division Penguin Random House. The Paula Wiseman list focuses on pictures books and middle grade manuscripts with strong voice and character. Paula looks for new talent from all corners of the globe and focuses on lyrical picture books, books by and about underrepresented voices, and books that will touch the hearts of the children who read them time and time again.

Anne Zafian
Vice President and Deputy Publisher

Anne Zafian spent the first half of her publishing career at what was then the TimeWarner Book Group—now known as Hachette—selling both adult and children’s books to every kind of domestic customer. She cut her teeth on children’s books with TW’s Little, Brown Books for Children, as well as TW’s distribution client, Hyperion Books for Children. Together these experiences fostered her love of children’s publishing, and in 2004, she joined S&S’s sales team, once again overseeing sales of both adult and children’s books, eventually managing our entire Distributor Sales and Retail Marketing team. In 2008, Anne made the move from sales to the Publisher’s office, where, as Deputy, she focuses largely on working with the Publisher and the sales, marketing, publicity, and supply chain teams to help usher our books into the world, from cradle to beyond. Working to get books into the hands of booksellers, children, parents, teachers, and librarians—and doing so with a dynamic list of books and authors—is her favorite job, ever.

Catherine Laudone
Senior Editor

Catherine first joined Simon & Schuster in 2013. She has the pleasure of working with New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Apryl Stott, Kaz Windness, Maggie Edkins Willis, Annie Silvestro, Don Tate, Cyndi Marko, Lisa Bentley, Susan Vaught, Wes King, and many others. Catherine acquires picture books and middle grade with a special focus on finding stories featuring underrepresented voices. She is especially passionate about stories featuring neurodivergent and disabled characters. For picture books, she is drawn to cozy, classic-feeling art and character-driven stories with a strong hook. She loves clever twist endings, fresh spins on timeless themes, and characters that make you laugh or cry. For nonfiction picture books, she is looking for biographies featuring positive role models and untold real-life legends, and accessible narrative nonfiction with STEAM and environmental tie-ins. For middle grade, Catherine is particularly drawn to coming of age stories with lots of heart, strong friendships, and sibling and intergenerational relationships. She is also open to some nonfiction, historical, light fantasy, or magical realism middle grade, and novels written in both prose and verse formats. Catherine has her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a published children’s book author. When not editing or writing, she enjoys baking, crocheting, and playing with her cat, Biscotti.

Danielle Collins
Assistant Editor

Danielle Collins joined Paula Wiseman Books in November 2020. Prior to starting at Simon & Schuster, she interned in the editorial departments at Sourcebooks and Yale University Press. She also serves as the assistant for the Beach Lane Books imprint at S&S. Danielle is drawn to both the factual and fantastical, or even a little bit of both, and she is passionate about stories that inspire curiosity and empathy in young readers. She enjoys picture books that explore themes of discovering identity and navigating feelings; nonfiction about lesser-known people, periods, and fascinating STEM topics; and middle grade that approaches big questions with an accessible voice. Above all, Danielle is seeking books with beautiful writing, memorable characters, and a whole lot of heart. Danielle grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, went to college in Los Angeles, and now lives in Brooklyn, where she can often be found at bookstores and bakeries.

resources

Seasonal Catalog
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Backlist Catalog
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Activity and Color Sheets
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