Dial Books for Young Readers

Dial_Young_Readers_penguin

Overview

Heartwarming beauties, lively humor, conversation starters, much-needed mirrors: classics in the making.

Dial publishes books for two through teen that aim to entertain, enrich, and encourage our readers. We care deeply about amplifying underrepresented voices and about artistic excellence, and we’re proud of the many awards that have highlighted our focus on these priorities.

Dial History

Established in 1961, Dial Books for Young Readers was an innovator of titles for the very young, including the first quality board books published in the U.S., Rosemary Wells’s Very First Books line, and some of the first wordless picture books, Mercer Mayer’s A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog titles. More recently we continue to publish acclaimed and kid-popular titles such as the New York Times Bestsellers Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri, The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak,andThe Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld, andJust Try One Biteby Adam Mansbach, Camila Alves McConaughey and Mike Boldt and The Circles All Around Usby Brad and Kristi Montague, as well as New York TimesBestsellers When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson and The Davenports by Krystal Marquis. 

Dial’s history of publishing change-making books by Black, Indigenous, and creators of color includes such classic titles as Mildred D. Taylor’s Newbery Medal winner Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Julius Lester’s Newbery Honor winner To Be a Slave, Leo and Diane Dillon’s Caldecott Medal winner Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, Jerry Pinkney’s Caldecott Honor winner The Talking Eggs (written by Robert D. San Souci), and Joseph Bruchac’s acclaimed Code Talker.

Dial Award-Winners

Our awards include Newbery Medal winner A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck, Newbery Honors for Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff,Roller Girlby Victoria Jamieson, Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, and Savvy by Ingrid Law; the Printz Medal for I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson; a Geisel Honor for The Bear in the Family by Maya Tatsukawa; the Morris and APALA Awards for Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram; a Caldecott Honor for One Cool Friendby Toni Buzzeo and David Small; a Coretta Scott King Honor for Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller, and How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson; a Sibert Honor for Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery; a Schneider Family Book Award for Popcorn by Rob Harrell, and Schneider Family Book Award Honors for Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit and When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed; Stonewall Honors for Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram and I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson; the Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration for A Maleta Full of Treasures by Natalia Sylvester and Juana Medina, the Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration and Text for De aquí como el coquí by Nomar Perez, the Pura Belpré Honor for Libertadby Bessie Flores Zaldívar andAniana del Mar Jumps Inby Jasminne Mendez, and National Book Award Finalists Huda F Cares? by Huda Fahmy and When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed.

We do not accept any unsolicited submissions.

Meet the Team

Jennifer Klonsky, President & Publisher

Jen joined Penguin Young Readers in 2018 and is the Publisher of G. P. Putnam’s Sons and Dial Books for Young Readers. Her select list includes authors Max Greenfield, Josh Gad, Ben Falcone, Sara Shepard, and Sloan Harlow. She previously held positions at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Scholastic.

Nancy Mercado, Associate Publisher and Editorial Director

Nancy Mercado (she/her) began her career in the Scholastic Book Clubs in 1999 and has held editorial positions at Dial Books for Young Readers, Roaring Brook Press and Scholastic Press.

Now back at Dial, she manages a team of brilliant editors and edits a select list of picture books, chapter books, middle grade & young adult novels, and graphic novels.

Thrilled to continue in the Dial tradition of publishing books that will have a lasting impact on the canon of children’s literature, Nancy is especially looking for diverse perspectives that remain underrepresented. She’d love to see more first- and second-generation immigrant stories, joyful stories featuring characters with disabilities, a MG or YA novel that explored white privilege or colorism in the Latinx community, a school-based story about an ICT or an ELL classroom, and overall more humorous family and friendship stories with a hopeful quality to them.

Lily Malcom, Vice President and Executive Art Director

Lily Malcom (she/her) is the VP and Executive Art Director of Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. As an art director, she has had the privilege to work with many talented, award-winning artists, among them David Small, Jon Agee, Jerry Pinkney, Judy Schachner, Erin E. Stead, Tao Nyeu, Zachariah OHora, William Wegman, and Corinna Luyken to name a few.

Lily enjoys working with longtime professionals as well as new, first-time illustrators. She is always on the lookout for unique, memorable characters and stories with a strong visual narrative.

Kate Harrison, Editorial Director of Picture Books and Graphic Novels

Kate Harrison (she/her) spent much of her childhood in a tiny town in Southern Missouri that is best known for its “Throwed Rolls” restaurant, where you actually have to catch your bread in order to eat it. It inspired a strong work ethic, a true love of carbohydrates, and maybe a weird sense of humor. She went to college in North Carolina and worked at Harcourt Children’s Books before spending the last thirteen years at Dial Books for Young Readers. She feels extremely lucky to work with so many incredible authors and illustrators, including Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed, Rob Harrell, Cori Doerrfeld, Ingrid Law, Maya Tatsukawa, Ursula Vernon, Paul Griffin, Hannah E. Harrison, Samantha Cotterill, Jory John, Liz Climo, Vanessa Roeder, Gideon Sterer, Lian Cho, Brad Montague, and many others. Her goal with every book she publishes is to inspire laughter, empathy, introspection, courage, creativity, a new perspective, or hopefully all of those things together. You can often find her wandering around a park (with a small or large child climbing and/or wiping boogers on her), listening to an audiobook, bingeing on podcasts, or reading and eating ice cream late at night when her three kids are finally asleep.

Jessica Dandino Garrison, Executive Editor

Jessica Dandino Garrison (she/her) is an alumna of Emory University and joined Dial in 2004. She has edited bestselling authors, including Jandy Nelson and her Printz Award–winning I’ll Give You the Sun, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and her Newbery Honor–winning Fighting Words, Deborah Underwood, author of The Panda Problem, and David Soman and Jacky Davis, creators of the Ladybug Girl series. Newer to Jess’s list are rising talents Jack Cheng (See You in the Cosmos), Helena Fox (How it Feels to Float), and Shana Youngdahl (As Many Nows As I Can Get), plus picture book veterans Jane Godwin and Blanca Gomez (Red House, Tree House, Little Bitty Brown Mouse). Across all genres, Jess looks for nuanced and layered MG and YA fiction that has something to say. She seeks fresh voices, underrepresented points of view, a deep emotional pull, pacey storytelling, rich themes, and genre writing that transcends genre. A shot of humor also never hurts. Jess is drawn to clever pre-K fare and character-driven picture books that meld humor and empathy.

Ellen Cormier, Senior Editor

Ellen Cormier (she/her) is an editor at Dial Books for Young Readers, acquiring picture books, novels, and graphic novels with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ stories and creators. She is always on the lookout for voicey, character-driven books, especially ones that explore universal themes through the lens of hyper-specific experiences. She has a soft spot for witty banter, shenanigans that bring to mind The Parent Trap (1998), and bears. Ellen lives in upstate New York with two cats and several thousand honeybees.

Michelle Lee, Editor

Michelle Lee (she/her) received her M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the New School before joining Dial and is a an active mentor with the Representation Matters Mentorship Program and POC in Publishing. She acquires picture books, novels, and graphic novels, and is looking for stories that present the world through a clever lens, have fresh takes on tropes, and celebrate community-especially from marginalized creators.

Nan Munger, Editorial Assistant

Nan Munger (she/her) graduated from Stanford University with a major in Studio Art and minor in Education. She assists Nancy Mercado and Kate Harrison. Before joining Dial in 2024, Nan interned at Bloomsbury Children’s and Writers House, and taught middle school art for three years. She especially loves picture books and graphic novels with distinctive art styles, middle grade stories that represent neurodiversity or disability with nuance and joy, historical fiction centering underrepresented stories, and books across all ages that spark curiosity. She lives in New York City, where she enjoys running and being overly competitive at Bananagrams, but not at the same time.

JoJo Lee, Editorial Assistant

JoJo Lee (she/her) received her B.A. in English and Philosophy from Tufts University, where her long-held fascination with gender dynamics, women writers, and children’s literature culminated in her senior thesis “Reading Little Women and Anne of Green Gables Queerly.” Prior to joining Dial in 2024, she interned at Astra Books for Young Readers, W. W. Norton, and Yale University Press. She has always had a soft spot for middle grade, which she believes is the peak of literature, but she’s also partial to stories that get philosophical, that both affirm and unsettle, or that feature illustrations that make her laugh out loud. When she isn’t assisting Jess Garrison and Ellen Cormier, you can find her listening to an ever-growing rotation of podcasts, practicing yoga, or watching Bluey.