Laurel Snyder

Graduate Adjunct - CLA

Biography

Laurel Snyder is the author of eight novels for children, including Hungry Jim, My Jasper June. Orphan Island, Bigger than a Bread Box, Penny Dreadful, Any Which Wall, Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains OR The Search for a Suitable Princess, and Seven Stories Up. She has also published eleven picture books: Charlie and Mouse; Charlie and Mouse and Grumpy; The Forever Garden; The King of Too Many Things; Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova; Inside the Slidy Diner; Good night, laila tov; Nosh, Schlep, Schluff; The Longest Night; Camp Wonderful Wild; and Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to be Kosher.  

Her numerous awards include a National Book Award Nomination, Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction, Golden Kite Honor, Sydney Taylor Medal, and Maine Student Book Award. Her many selections and Best lists include Junior Library Guild, ILA Children’s Choices, Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books, ABA’s Best Books for Young Readers, Amazon Best Book of the Month, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, PJ Library, ABC’s Best Books, Indie Next Pick, Smithsonian Notable, Georgia Center for the Book.  

In addition to her books for children, Laurel has published two collections of poetry: Daphne & Jim: A Choose Your Own Adventure Biography in Verse (Burnside Review Press, 2005) and The Myth of the Simple Machines (No Tell Books, 2007). She also edited an anthology of nonfiction, Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes (Soft Skull Press, 2006). A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and a former Michener-Engle Fellow, Laurel has published work in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Utne Reader, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Revealer, Salon, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. She is an occasional commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered. 

Publications

My Jasper June  
Walden Pond Press, 2019 

Hungry Jim 
Chronicle Books, 2019 

The King of Too Many Things
Rodale Kids, 2017

The Forever Garden
Schwartz & Wade, 2017 

Orphan Island
HarperCollins / Walden Pond Press, 2017

Charlie & Mouse
Chronicle Books, 2017

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova
Chronicle Books, 2015

Seven Stories Up
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2014

Camp Wonderful Wild
Two Lions, 2013

The Longest Night: A Passover Story
Schwartz & Wade, 2013

Good night, laila tov
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2012

Bigger than a Bread Box
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2011

Nosh, Schlep, Schluff: Babyiddish (Board book)
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2011

Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher
Tricycle Press, 2010

Penny Dreadful
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2010

Any Which Wall
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2009

Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2008

Five Children and It (Introduction)
Random House Books for Young Readers, 1902

The Myth of the Simple Machines
No Tell Books, 2007

Inside the Slidy Diner
Tricycle Press, 2008 

BOOKS FOR ADULTS 

The Myth of the Simple Machines
No Tell Books, 2007

Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes, editor
Soft Skull Press, 2006

Daphne and Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse
Burnside Review Press, 2005