about

Paula Wiseman Books was an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing from 2003 to 2024, publishing many award-winning and bestselling titles, including novels, picture books, and novelty books.

Many of the most beloved children’s book creators found a home at the imprint, 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.

Publisher Paula Wiseman retired in 2024 after a celebrated and decorated career. Now as an editor-at-large, she will continue to edit a select list of books by some of her longtime authors and illustrators, but she is no longer accepting submissions. Senior Editor Catherine Laudone and Associate Editor Danielle Collins have joined Beach Lane Books, and the Paula Wiseman Books backlist will also be stewarded by Beach Lane.

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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.

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