Rise X Penguin Workshop

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Overview

Our mission:

To engage, empower, and evolve the youngest readers (ages 0-5) with authentic, relevant, and elegant books.

Publishing books for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers is an immense responsibility. At RISE, we have the power to inspire our readers to become a generation of empowered, confident, self-loving, empathetic, and resilient people… all through the power of exposure. Every book we publish serves to help children feel smart, capable, important, safe, and loved.

Our authors are experts in their subjects, either lived or learned, writing in language that is age-specific. Our illustrators are artists and creators in their own right, making art infused with experience, passion, and purpose. Together, we create books with imagery and information that authentically interest our readers and grow them into people who love books and love themselves. What could be more important than this?

Follow us on Instagram @risebooks

Submission guidelines

At RISE, we welcome any submission, text or art, that sits within our mission to empower the youngest readers, ages 0-5. We accept submissions from agents, previously published authors and illustrators, and aspiring authors and illustrators. 

Established or aspiring authors, please send work that you create from a place of expertise, lived or learned. 

Established or aspiring illustrators, please send samples that show your voice and feel like part of a larger idea or body of work. Concept-driven passion projects encouraged. No prior experience in the 0-5 realm is necessary, just a spark of relevancy and applicability to our mission. 

For those who do not have an existing contact/relationship with someone at RISE or Penguin Workshop, please send your submission to: penguinworkshopsubmissions@penguinrandomhouse.com and add RISE to your subject line. We will do our best to get back to you, but based on volume, we unfortunately cannot guarantee a response to every submission.

RISE x Penguin Workshop Launch

Take a look at our launch catalog

People are talking about RISE:

  • Olu & Greta, How to Say Hello to a Worm, Solitary Animals, The Catalogue of Hugs, and Yes! No!: A First Conversation About Gender were named 2023 Best Children’s Books of the Year by Bank Street College of Education (link)
  • How to Say Hello to a Worm is a Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner (link)
  • Olu & Greta is a AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers Winner (link)
  • Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race named an American Library Association Notable Book of 2022 (link)
  • Order The Knowing by New York Times Bestselling Author and Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco (link)
  • Read Kirkus’ STARRED REVIEW of What a Map Can Do (link)
  • Read Booklist’s STARRED REVIEW of Eat Your Superpowers!  (link)
  • Cecily Kaiser’s Interview with Horn Book Magazine (link)
  • Nicole Fox on “Penguin Young Readers Emerging Voices – Picture Books” panel (link)
  • Maria Elias on “ADC – Judging a Book By Its Cover” panel (link)

Meet the Team

Cecily Kaiser, Vice President & Publisher

Cecily Kaiser joined Penguin with a mission to create engaging, empowering, and elegant books for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. She launched the RISE x Penguin Workshop imprint in 2020, and has since published groundbreaking books for 0-5 year olds, including  ALA Notables, an Ezra Jack Keats Medal winner, Original Art Show selections, and most importantly, kid-favorites. Cecily also oversees the World of Eric Carle publishing program, proudly continuing Eric Carle’s legacy by creating new books for new generations.

Cecily was previously the Children’s Publisher at Phaidon Press, and prior to that, launched the Appleseed imprint for 0-5 year olds at Abrams Books. She began her career 25 years ago at Scholastic, first as a Book Clubs manager, and then as Editorial Director of the Cartwheel imprint for 0-6 year olds. Cecily earned a degree in child development at Tufts University and a Masters in Business from NYU. She is devoted to her young readership, bringing a developmental perspective to her editorial work, and a commitment to authentic ingenuity.

Nicole Fox

Nicole Fox, Editor

Nicole was born and raised in Mexico City, but spent most of her adult life in Texas. She holds a BA in English Literature from St. Edward’s University, and is a graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute.

Before joining RISE in 2021, Nicole worked in advertising at Third Ear and adult publishing at Greenleaf Book Group and A Strange Object. She then went on to edit children’s books at Simon & Schuster, where she uncovered her passion for bringing purposeful, essential, and inspirational stories to young children.

Nicole spends her free time letting her Wauzer, Gatsby, take her on long walks, rock climbing, and adopting too many plants.

Maria Elias, Senior Art Director

Maria grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and has been art lover since she could hold a crayon. She has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied design, printmaking, and photography. And is also a graduate of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia H.S. magnet art program.

Maria joined Penguin Young Readers in 2019, and previously designed for Random House, Disney Hyperion, and Workman Publishing. Before falling in love with book design, she worked in news and magazine. Maria’s work has been recognized by AIGA 50 Books/50Covers, the Type Directors Club, and the New York Book Show. She is also a member of the Latine/LatinX in publishing community and supports diversity in books.

When she is not designing, Maria blogs about outstanding covers on Book Design Heroines and writes the Some Things Covered column for Spine magazine. She also takes many long walks with her husband, Art Director Tam Nguyen, and their dogs, Bodhi and Ashoka.

Rae Peckman, Designer

Rae is a Philadelphia based designer with a love for thoughtful and intentional design. They believe that good design should bring joy, clarity and hope to others. Rae holds a BFA in Graphic and Interactive Design from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Prior to joining the RISE team in 2022, they worked at Running Press book publishers on a wide range of books—from memoirs to mini-kits, and everything in-between! When not designing, Rae is usually gardening, hanging out with their cats, or cycling through an ever-expanding list of crafts and hobbies.

Mariam Syed, Editorial Assistant

Prior to joining PRH in 2024, Mariam interned at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (MCPG). She also worked as a freelance proofreader with a focus on children’s literature, including graphic novels, picture books, middle-grade, and YA novels. She then became a children’s librarian, where she developed her passion for finding and sharing engaging and empowering stories for young readers.

Mariam holds a BS in Communication from Boston University and a Master of Library & Information Science (MLIS) from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). When not working, she enjoys discovering new coffee shops, reading a book from her ever-growing TBR list, and being supervised by her two cats.