It’s Publishers Weekly official: My next middle grade novel, So Over Sharing, will come out in 2025! Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to learn more.

Hanukkah Upside Down was voted Best Picture Book in the Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania division of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Awards! It even comes with an engraved kite trophy–my first trophy ever! Kia ora and ngā mihi nui to all the authors and illustrators who chose Noah and Nora (and me) for this honor.

Hanukkah Upside Down received a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor at the ALA Youth Media Awards! *Huge* thanks to the awards committee and the Association of Jewish Libraries for recognizing this book. I’m kvelling!

Hanukkah Upside Down is one of School Library Journal’s Best Picture Books of 2023. It’s also one of Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of 2023, and in excellent company. Alongside new books by Mo Willems, Mac Barnett, and Jon Klassen, they call it a “new picture book classic.” Wow!

I was delighted to see a wonderful review of the “cheerful,” “exuberant” Hanukkah Upside Down in The Wall Street Journal!

I enjoyed chatting about Hanukkah Upside Down with Heidi Rabinowitz on the Book of Life podcast.

Deborah Kalb invited me on her blog to discuss the inspiration behind Hanukkah Upside Down. I really enjoyed answering her thoughtful questions.

I’m thrilled to share that Hanukkah Upside Down got a starred review from School Library Journal! “Appealing and accessible text is clear and deft, with nary a wasted word. The art is wonderful… Any library looking for Hanukkah books will want to add this unique international tale to their collection.” I hope they do!

This review of Hanukkah Upside Down from Cannonball Read is like a very early Hanukkah present! I especially love this line: “Author Elissa Brent Weissman and illustrator Omer Hoffmann make things clever, cozy and even if you do not celebrate Hanukkah, familiar (after all, do we not have competitions with our own cousins and/or siblings/the same generation as you?).” Good to know I’m not the only one.

It’s Publishers Weekly official: My debut picture book will come out in 2023! It’s called Hanukkah Upside Down and will be illustrated by the insanely talented Omer Hoffmann.

I spoke with the Baltimore Jewish Times (feature on page 8) about The Renegade Reporters, why I loved living in Baltimore, and what it’s like being a Jewish family in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Jewish Book Council praises the “gut­sy and valiant group of stu­dents” and the way “Yom Kippur is treated thoughtfully and substantively” in their review of The Renegade Reporters.

Do you live in California? The Length of a String is one of three finalists for the California Young Reader Medal, and voting is open until April 1!

Support independent bookstores during the coronavirus pandemic by ordering books throughbookshop.org. They have e-books too!

The Length of a String is now available in paperback with a beautiful new cover.

7/2019 – Elissa now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand! Check out this warm welcome interview with the Christchurch City Libraries.

7/2019 – The Girlfriends Book Club discusses The Length of a String on the Book Club for Kids Podcast. *Spoiler alert!* Don’t listen unless you’ve already read the book!

Elissa talks The Length of a String and the Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor with Emma Snyder of JMORE magazine

Mr. Schu Reads hosts Elissa as part of the official Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour

2/2019 – Elissa and other Sydney Taylor Book Award winners and honorees talk with Matthew Winner of the The Children’s Book Podcast

1/2019 – The Length of a String received at Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor for Older Readers! Huge thanks to the Association of Jewish Libraries and the American Library Association!

Our Story Begins is now available in paperback!

(cool) Progeny goes inside Elissa’s home library and learns her favorite ways to keep her own kids thinking creatively.

Elissa shares a photo and description of “her” Baltimore for Brooklyn-based hocTok magazine.

Read the story behind The Length of a String in Elissa’s Q&A with Deborah Kalb

5/2018 – The Jewish Times interviews Elissa about The Length of a String

Elissa goes “On the Record” with Sheilah Kast of WYPR to discuss The Length of a String

Our Story Begins is one of Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of 2017!

The Length of a String received a starred review from School Library Connection!

Our Story Begins is featured in Entertainment Weekly! Get a sneak peek at adorable, impressive, and hilarious childhood creations by Tim Federle, Alex Gino, Brian Selznick, and Kwame Alexander

Elissa returns to the Sunshine State with a mini-tour Presidents’ Day weekend. Check out the events page for details.

The awesome book trailer for Our Story Begins made its debut on SLJ’s A Fuse #8 Production blog.

Read an interview with Elissa in Omnivoracious, the Amazon Book Review.

Elissa discusses Our Story Begins with Greg Berg of Wisconsin Public Radio‘s “The Morning Show.”

Elissa reveals “Ten Things I Want Readers to Know About Me” in leading UK women’s magazine, Female First

The buzz is already beginning for Our Story Begins: Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids. Publishers Weekly featured childhood writing and art from R. J. Palacio, Eric Rohmann, Chris Gall, Rita Williams-Garcia, Brian Selznick, and Yuyi Morales in their Spring/Summer Children’s Announcements edition!

Readers asked Elissa anything on her Reddit Books AMA

7/2017 – Listen to Elissa talk with Pat Thurston on KGO San Francisco!

Our Story Begins is an Amazon Best Book of the Month and a Bookfilter Top Pick of the Week on the Amazon Huffington Post!

Go “Back to School” with Our Story Begins writers in The Los Angeles Times

36,000 kids voted, and Nerd Camp won 2nd place in the Sunshine State Young Readers Award for 2016!

It’s official! Elissa’s newest novel, The Length of a String, will come out in 2018! Check out a short description in the Publishers Weekly announcement.

Thanks to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at Federal Hill Preparatory School, Elissa’s 3rd annual Authors for Earth Day visit raised over $250 for Blue Water Baltimore!

Elissa and Camp Rolling Hills author Stacy Davidowitz talk about all things summer camp with (cool) Progeny

Go nerds! Nerd Camp is on the list!

Elissa’s rewarding Authors for Earth Day visit raised $350 for Wildlife Conservation Society!

Look for Nerd Camp at your Scholastic Book Fair starting Fall 2015!

Don’t forget to vote for Lindy! The Short Seller is nominated for the Great Stone Face Book Awardin New Hampshire!

Nerd Camp 2.0 retainer cases are in! Just in time for Elissa’s mid-Atlantic tour. Check out the events page for tour stops to meet Elissa and get your own.

The Nerd Camps make the list of recommended summer series for kids on WYPR!

9/14 – Tune in to WJZ on Saturday, September 27th at 7:45am to see Elissa interviewed live from the Baltimore Book Festival!

Elissa talked about her books and how to get kids reading on Fox 45’s Straight Talk with Mike Gimbel.

WYPR! – Elissa spends Take Your Child to Work Day with the United Way of Central Rochester Women’s Leadership Council, and it makes the morning news

Don’t forget to vote for Lindy! The Short Seller is nominated for the Great Stone Face Book Award in New Hampshire!

10/14 – *Big* honor! An excerpt from Elissa’s collaboration with playwright Stacy Davidowitz, Here Goes Everything (a play! a novel! a plovel!), was a finalist for Hunger Mountain’s 2014 Katherine Paterson Prize in Young Adult and Children’s Writing!

Elissa chatted with Kimberly Palmer of U.S. News & World Report about The Short Seller, kids and investing, and her favorite books about money.

Listen to Elissa discuss summer camp and science trading cards (and Nerd Camp 2.0) with Lisa Morgan of The Signal.

Actress and bestselling author Danica McKellar can’t say enough good things about The Short Seller. Read her praise here.

Check out The Short Seller on WBALTV‘s hot summer read for kids!

Elissa writes about “Taking a Literary Risk” for the official blog for the Association for Library Service to Children(ALSC).

Elissa talks about inspiration and economic risk-taking on the Mother-Daughter Book Club blog.

The Short Seller is a Must-Read in the April/May issue of Girls’ Life magazine!

Girl Power! Elissa and fellow authors Elisabeth Dahl, Erica S. Perl, and Shawn K. Stout make the Publishers Weekly Children’s Bookshelf (scroll down).

6/13 – Listen to Elissa talk about stock trading, adventure stories, and what’s in store for The Short Seller on WYPR’s Maryland Morning with Tom Hall. (The fabulous Elisabeth Dahl is there talking about her book, Genie Wishes, too!)

Vote for nerds! Nerd Camp is a finalist for the 2013 Maine Student Book Award!

Listen to Elissa talk about The Short Seller with Jeremy Hobson on NPR’s here and now!

Read Elissa’s personal essay about the first moment she met her daughter in the May 2013 issue of American Baby magazine.

The Trouble with Mark Hopper is now available in Korean! And it’s such a beautiful edition!

Check out the lovely article about Elissa and other children’s writers in the September 2012 issue of Baltimore’s Style magazine.

Nerd Camp is the 2011 Cybils Award winner for middle grade fiction! What an incredible honor!

In a more personal departure from children’s books, check out Elissa’s parenting essay in the New York Times Motherlode blog.

Elissa’s Long Island signing was chosen as a best pick in the January 11th edition of Newsday!

Are you a proud nerd? Show it off with some Nerd Camp gear.

Wired Magazine’sGeekDad blog loves Nerd Camp!

Listen to Elissa speak with Tom Hall on WYPR’s “Maryland Morning.

Scholastic’s Instructor Magazine recommends The Trouble with Mark Hopper as a best summer pick for new middle schoolers!

Little Willow interviews Elissa about activism, identity, mismatched socks, and drawing koalas on Bildungsroman.

Look for an interview with Elissa in the June edition of SoBo Voice magazine.

Nerd Camp was featured as a best summer novel for kids in The Washington Post!

Elissa’s one of those writers who keeps her latest project top secret until she’s done writing it. Read about why in her guest post on Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Cynsations blog.

Elissa talks about the cover of Standing for Socks in her guest-post on the Baltimore Sun Read Street Blog.

Watch the Johns Hopkins University video proile of Elissa and CityLit Kids for the university homepage and alumni magazine

An interview with Elissa in Baltimore’s Child magazine in June 2010–just in time for the Standing for Socks paperback!

CBS Baltimore named Elissa one of the thirteen best authors in Maryland!

Are you Mark Hopper? Do you know a Mark Hopper? Just how many Mark Hoppers are there? Visit http://www.whoismarkhopper.com/

The June issue of Baltimore’s Child features a story about CityLit Kids, a writers-in-classrooms program Elissa helped create. Want to know more? Check out the video of the fourth graders reading their work.

Elissa talks about Nerd Camp, math, and Baltimore with The Jewish Times.

“Special Features: Standing for Socks” now up on the Cybils Awards Challenge blog. Leave a comment with creative sock puns!

Standing for Socks will soon be part of Scholastic Book Club and Book Fairs! Look for it starting in Feburary 2012.

One character in Nerd Camp gets his name from a 7-year-old competitive ping pong player! Get the scoop in Elissa’s spotlight interview with Biblio Reads.

Read about Elissa in her hometown newspaper, Merrick Life.

“Embrace Your Inner Geek”: Elissa talks with BookPage about summer camp, nerdiness, and her latest projects.

Check out Elissa’s interview in Newsday with Kidsday reporters from her hometown, Merrick!

Elissa talked about both books on Eyewitness News! Watch the morning segment or afternoon segment.

Listen to Elissa talk about her name–and how to pronounce it–on TeachingBooks.net.

Do you live in California? The Length of a String is one of three finalists for the California Young Reader Medal, and voting is open until April 1!

It’s Publishers Weekly official: My debut picture book will come out in 2023! It’s called Hanukkah Upside Down and will be illustrated by the insanely talented Omer Hoffmann.

Jean Westmoore of The Buffalo News says The Renegade Reporters is “entertaining [and] thought-provoking.”

I got to discuss The Renegade Reporters on the Reading with Your Kids podcast.

Check out my conversation with some impressive young journalists from CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth

The Length of a String audiobook is narrated by the incredible Tyla Collier and Carlotta Brentan!

The Renegade Reporters audiobook is narrated by the fantastic Keylor Leigh!

Listen to me discuss The Renegade Reporters with Sheilah Kast of WYPR’s On the Record.

Missed the virtual launch of The Renegade Reporters with New York Times bestselling author Joelle Charbonneau? Watch a recording of the conversation here.

The Renegade Reporters is one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month for 9-12-year olds!