PETER B. MANDEL
Author
Peter Mandel is an adventure travel journalist and the author of nine children's books. Mandel's books have come out from HarperCollins, Penguin, Scholastic, Henry Holt, and Hyperion, among others, and have been featured in USA Today, and on ABC's "The Home Show." His titles have been part of exhibits at the Museum of Natural History in New York, at the Smithsonian, and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and Danish. Mandel’s literary agent is Emilie Jacobson at Curtis Brown Ltd. in New York, and his work is syndicated through Featurewell.com. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife, Kathy, and cats, Sam and Betty, having grown up in Manhattan and graduated from Middlebury College and Brown University.
Mandel's newest picture book for kids is BUN, ONION, BURGER, due out from Simon & Schuster in June, 2010. His other recent kids' books include PLANES AT THE AIRPORT and BOATS ON THE RIVER, both from Scholastic. The Boston Globe calls them “a great way to introduce the idea of travel in simple terms.” The Dallas Morning News lauds the books for "informing and calming very young travelers" and School Library Journal says that "spare phrases combined with bold graphic illustrations will entice busy toddlers" and that "a singsong text suitable for reading aloud makes these titles entertaining choices." Other positive reviews of PLANES AT THE AIRPORT and BOATS ON THE RIVER have appeared in Publishers Weekly and Booklist.
Another picture book, SAY HEY! A SONG OF WILLIE MAYS, came out from Hyperion Books for Children in March of 2001 and was named a Boston Globe "Quick Pick" for children, a Child magazine recommended title, a San Francisco Examiner "Bay City Best" and a featured book in USA Today's Sports Weekly. SAY HEY! is one of six titles selected for the newly published JUMP AT THE SUN TREASURY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PICTURE BOOKS and is featured in the "Baseball as America" exhibit curated by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and currently at the Museum of Natural History in New York.
His chapter book for children is MY OCEAN LINER: ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC ON THE GREAT SHIP NORMANDIE from Stemmer House, which Publishers Weekly called "a voyage in grand style" and which was featured on a special family sailing on Cunard's QE2. RED CAT, WHITE CAT, another children's book, came out in 1995 from Henry Holt & Co. and was an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists," a Kirkus Reviews "Best of the Issue," and a Working Mother magazine recommended book. In 1991, HarperCollins published his humorous book, THE OFFICIAL CAT I.Q. TEST. His more recent books include THE CAT DICTIONARY (Penguin) and THE OFFICIAL DOG I.Q. TEST (Bonus Books).
A contributing author of the best-selling collection, CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE CAT & DOG LOVER'S SOUL, Mandel has published his articles and essays in Harper's, Reader's Digest, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, Budget Travel and The Chicago Tribune, and is a regular contributor to the travel sections of The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and National Geographic ‘Kids’. One of his Boston Globe articles won the 2005 Lowell Thomas gold award from the Society of American Travel Writers for adventure travel article of the year. Another article, for The Washington Post, won a 2006 Lowell Thomas bronze award. One of his essays is included in the new anthology of travel humor published by Travelers’ Tales: “What Color is Your Jockstrap? Funny Men and Women Write from the Road.”
Winner of a 2003 Lowell Thomas award for his Washington Post feature on going cross-country by bus, Mandel has written about destinations abroad such as Bangkok, Florence, Glasgow, northern Hudson Bay, the African desert, Antarctica, and the southern tip of Chile and Argentina. Recipient of a Northern Lights award in 2006 from the Canadian Tourist Board, he also writes about unusual adventures including kayaking in New York harbor, watching polar bears and penguins in the wild, trekking in the tropical jungle, hiking a suburban strip mall, suiting up as a theme park character, and seeing America by metered cab. He likes baseball, ocean liners, Chinese food, and checking out just about any place he hasn’t been.
Coming Soon! 
Bun, Onion, Burger
by Peter Mandel
Reading level: Baby-Preschool Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (June 8, 2010) ISBN-10: 1416924663 ISBN-13: 978-1416924661 Pre-Order
| Available Now! |
Planes At The Airport by Peter Mandel (Author), Edward Miller (Illustrator) Reading level: Baby-Preschool Edition: Hardcover 8 pages ; Publisher: Cartwheel Books; Board edition (March 1, 2004)
ISBN: 0439564166
At the airport there are in-the-gate planes. This one blinks its lights. On the tarmac there are full-of-freight planes. This one loads with mail. There are spinning prop planes, parachute drop planes, and barely heard planes. "And at the playground, there are rubber-band planes. This one is your plane."
Editorial Reviews
| From Booklist Busy and bright, these larger-than-average board books whir with vehicles in motion. Spare, rhyming words introduce each plane or boat, but the language is sometimes perplexing. Instead of using common names such as helicopter or submarine, Mandel uses phrases that describe what each vehicle does--"whirly-bird plane" and "go-below boats." The final spread in each book falls particularly flat, ending with a confusing reference: "This one is your [boat or plane]," accompanied by a picture of a toy children probably won't own. The illustrations more than make up for the over-reaching language, though. Using vivid, solid colors and simple geometric shapes reminiscent of Byron Barton's style, Miller creates exciting scenes of boats, planes, and passengers in action, while the uncluttered spreads and easily definable shapes invite counting practice for chubby-handed preschoolers. Pair these with Tana Hoban's Construction Zone (1997) for the Tonka Truck crowd. Gillian Engberg Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved |
Boats On The River by Peter Mandel (Author), Edward Miller (Illustrator) Reading level: Baby-Preschool Edition: Hardcover, 8 pages; Publisher: Cartwheel Books; Board edition (March 1, 2004) Editorial Reviews From Booklist Busy and bright, these larger-than-average board books whir with vehicles in motion. Spare, rhyming words introduce each plane or boat, but the language is sometimes perplexing. Instead of using common names such as helicopter or submarine, Mandel uses phrases that describe what each vehicle does--"whirly-bird plane" and "go-below boats." The final spread in each book falls particularly flat, ending with a confusing reference: "This one is your [boat or plane]," accompanied by a picture of a toy children probably won't own. The illustrations more than make up for the over-reaching language, though. Using vivid, solid colors and simple geometric shapes reminiscent of Byron Barton's style, Miller creates exciting scenes of boats, planes, and passengers in action, while the uncluttered spreads and easily definable shapes invite counting practice for chubby-handed preschoolers. Pair these with Tana Hoban's Construction Zone (1997) for the Tonka Truck crowd. Gillian Engberg Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved ISBN: 0786804807 A Jazzy picture book about Willie Mays, one of baseball's immortal players Editorial Reviews From The Boston Globe My Ocean Liner : Across the North Atlantic on the Great Ship Normandie by Peter Mandel, Betsey MacDonald (Illustrator), John Maxtone-Graham (Introduction), Reading level: Ages 9-12, Hardcover - 48 pages (December 2000) Stemmer House Pub; ISBN: 0880451491 "It was April, and the year was 1939. I was nine years old, and my mom and dad and I were leaving our home in Manhattan to visit England and France. In those days, few people traveled by airplane. They sailed across the Atlantic in huge ships called ocean liners. I couldn't stop thinking about it." So begins this well-crafted chapter book recounting the adventures of the boy Paul, traveling from New York to France on the legendary ocean liner Normandie. Unlike the tragic stories of the passengers on the ill-fated Titanic, this one is filled with the pleasures and novelties of life at sea, with friends made and several unexpected adventures for Paul to retell for the rest of his life. As he finishes his tale with nostalgia for that lost world, the reader will share his memories and know something of the look, feel and smell of the ship, and the excitement of being a passenger on the great ocean liner in its glory days. Editorial Reviews ISBN: 1566250153 Editorial Reviews by Peter Mandel, Clare MacKie (Illustrator) Cats of many colors and different dispositions cavort through this book as they introduce the idea of opposites. Playful, easy-to-read rhyming lines are accompanied by wacky illustrations that depict cats in a variety of likely and unlikely situations. Full color. ASIN: 0060965924 Peter Mandel makes school visits to elementary, middle, and high schools in all regions of the US and abroad. He's also a frequent speaker at libraries and to a wide range of writers' and community groups. He teaches an adult education seminar in Boston, MA, Washington, DC, and Providence, RI., called "Write Your Children's Book (And Get It Published)." In addition to talking to kids about writing books and about writing as a career, Peter often speaks to adults who are interested in learning the ins and outs of the publishing world, and in breaking into print. His school visit and speaking fees vary depending on the group, but normally range from $200 - $300 plus travel expenses. Peter Mandel Phone (401) 831-5227 To return to state page click HERE. 01/03/10 date last edited
ISBN: 0439564158
Spare phrases combined with bold graphic illustrations will entice busy toddlers. Mandel uses adjectives to describe the vehicles instead of their proper names. For example, submarines are "go-below boats," helicopters are "whirly-bird planes," and sailboats are "circle-slow boats." The final spread in both titles incorporates a child's world by depicting boats floating in the bathtub and youngsters playing with toy planes in an open field. Miller's clear, flat artwork combined with a singsong text suitable for reading aloud make these titles entertaining choices for transportation enthusiasts.–Olga R. Kuharets, Broward County Libraries, Fort Lauderdale, FL Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Say Hey! : A Song of Willie Mays
From Booklist February 15, 2000 Hall of Fame centerfielder Willie Mays could do everything possible on a baseball field, and he did it all with a playground exuberance that is almost unimaginable in the modern era, when ballplayers discuss stock portfolios between innings. Mandel's sing-along text, using Mays' nickname, the Say Hey Kid, as the basis for its refrain, and Tate's computer-generated art effectively capture Mays' enthusiasm and irrepressible style. Bill Ott 
From Publishers Weekly. Part travelogue, part nostalgic ramble through the heyday of great ocean liners, this story shoehorns a fair amount of information into a simple chapter book about a five-day trip across the Atlantic. ...readers will know that this is a voyage in grand style. MacDonald's carefully researched water colors (at least one per spread) provide charming period window dressing, and the narrative offers an appealing glimpse of a bygone shipboard life. 
The Official Dog I.Q. Test by Peter Mandel, illustrated by Lisa Nash, Paperback - 47 pages (March 1995), Bonus Books;
From Pet Life, magazine. Described as "The gift book of the year for pet owners everywhere."
Is your dog a genius or a dolt? Does he compose operas or howl at the moon? If you've never given much thought to the mysterious ways canine intelligence reveals itself, you might pick up a copy of THE OFFICIAL DOG IQ TEST....Mandel's hilarious exam culminates in the assessment of your dog in one of the same intelligence categories used to evaluate human tests, Here is a sample question: On hearing their master's distinctive whistle, some dogs drop whatever they're doing and go to him.
Your dog:a) hides in the laundry basket, b) checks the tea kettle, c) listens for further instructions, d) whistles back, and continues trimming his toenails. 
Red Cat White Cat
ASIN: 080502929X
A Working Mother magazine recommended title
The Official Cat I.Q. Test
by Peter Mandel, June Otani (Illustrator)
feline characteristics.
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Edition: Mass Market Paperback, 32 pages
Publisher: Millbrook Press; (September 2004)
ISBN: 0761328009 
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Providence, RI 02906
