Cheryl B. Klein
@cherylklein.bsky.social
I notice things for a living. Editorial director, Workman Kids; author of THE MAGIC WORDS: WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS and five picture books, most recently IT’S HARD TO BE A BABY; 6yo mom; Virgo/goofball. Opinions my own.
Pinned
Cheryl B. Klein
@cherylklein.bsky.social
· Nov 11
Hello, new followers! I'm a children's book editor with 24 years in the business & author of THE MAGIC WORDS: WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS and five picture books. I post about books, writing craft, politics, publishing, NYC, my 5-year-old son, & things that make me laugh.
My sympathy is somewhat for him (I hope he’s okay) but mostly for his book publicist, who already had a hard job and now has to cancel everything.
John Fetterman was taken to the hospital after suffering from a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” and falling near his home
John Fetterman Hospitalized After Fall
www.huffpost.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:41 PM
My sympathy is somewhat for him (I hope he’s okay) but mostly for his book publicist, who already had a hard job and now has to cancel everything.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Predictable but still amazing to watch people who spent literally years accusing every librarian, teacher, and trans person they could find of sexually grooming children suddenly throw themselves in with "actually it's ephebophilia"
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Predictable but still amazing to watch people who spent literally years accusing every librarian, teacher, and trans person they could find of sexually grooming children suddenly throw themselves in with "actually it's ephebophilia"
Hey @katiewritesbks.bsky.social, check out this beauty!
November 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Hey @katiewritesbks.bsky.social, check out this beauty!
Two fun sights from Rock Center this morning.
November 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Two fun sights from Rock Center this morning.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Kind of wild that while food assistance was withheld from millions of families, one Trump-supporting billionaire (Ellison) saw his net worth grow more this year than the entire SNAP budget. And the YTD gains of the other four richest men would’ve fully covered salaries for all 2M federal employees.
November 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Kind of wild that while food assistance was withheld from millions of families, one Trump-supporting billionaire (Ellison) saw his net worth grow more this year than the entire SNAP budget. And the YTD gains of the other four richest men would’ve fully covered salaries for all 2M federal employees.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
I’ve lost the ability to enjoy a number of authors whose works meant a lot to me because they turned out to be sex pests and I have much less attachment to politicians
November 13, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I’ve lost the ability to enjoy a number of authors whose works meant a lot to me because they turned out to be sex pests and I have much less attachment to politicians
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Fortunately, I already figured out the plots of the next several Toy Story films
November 12, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Fortunately, I already figured out the plots of the next several Toy Story films
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.
November 12, 2025 at 10:59 PM
This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
FYI, I have updated the section of my site where I give basic information about #kidlit agents--what they do, how to find one, how to assess their website, resources to use.
You can start here:
www.underdown.org/agents.htm
You can start here:
www.underdown.org/agents.htm
November 12, 2025 at 10:07 PM
FYI, I have updated the section of my site where I give basic information about #kidlit agents--what they do, how to find one, how to assess their website, resources to use.
You can start here:
www.underdown.org/agents.htm
You can start here:
www.underdown.org/agents.htm
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
To recap: Jeffrey Epstein offered a NY Times reporter photos taken in Epstein's kitchen of Donald Trump and girls in bikinis *and* implored the NYT reporter to put this information in the public discourse in 2015
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
“would you like photos of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?” -Jeffrey Epstein
November 12, 2025 at 8:05 PM
To recap: Jeffrey Epstein offered a NY Times reporter photos taken in Epstein's kitchen of Donald Trump and girls in bikinis *and* implored the NYT reporter to put this information in the public discourse in 2015
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
Rejoice with me: The doors of the F train closed in my face at Rockefeller Center, so I got on a B across the platform instead. It beat the F into West 4th and a minute later I had my F train and a seat on it! #Winning
November 12, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Rejoice with me: The doors of the F train closed in my face at Rockefeller Center, so I got on a B across the platform instead. It beat the F into West 4th and a minute later I had my F train and a seat on it! #Winning
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
i really truly wish any of the epstein furore was caused by a genuine concern for cruelty for teenage girls, for exploited kids. it would be a different country if it was, of course, but the discourse is sometimes jarring
July 23, 2025 at 11:47 PM
i really truly wish any of the epstein furore was caused by a genuine concern for cruelty for teenage girls, for exploited kids. it would be a different country if it was, of course, but the discourse is sometimes jarring
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
So I try not to give too many gory details about life with long covid, but I also think it’s important to give a clear picture of what can happen to anyone.
Over the last yearish, I’ve become allergic to more than 70 foods. Today I lost soy. I’m not how long I can keep eating at all.
Over the last yearish, I’ve become allergic to more than 70 foods. Today I lost soy. I’m not how long I can keep eating at all.
November 12, 2025 at 2:53 AM
So I try not to give too many gory details about life with long covid, but I also think it’s important to give a clear picture of what can happen to anyone.
Over the last yearish, I’ve become allergic to more than 70 foods. Today I lost soy. I’m not how long I can keep eating at all.
Over the last yearish, I’ve become allergic to more than 70 foods. Today I lost soy. I’m not how long I can keep eating at all.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
I consistently share this anecdote any time I hear anyone opine on how the poor spend their money then move on to the fact that UBI experiments pretty solidly indicate that poor people overwhelmingly do not do this when you give them money
There's this story about how CS Lewis was out with a friend and stopped to give a vagrant some money. Lewis's friend chided him, saying "you know he's just to buy liquor with it, right?"
Lewis responded, "Well, so was I."
Lewis responded, "Well, so was I."
The right's obsession with SNAP recipients buying popsicles is a modern version of a centuries-old tradition of scolding the poor for what they eat. It mimics verbatim Victorian complaints about the poor indulging in tea and sugar, mistaking consumption as a cause of poverty instead of a symptom.
November 11, 2025 at 6:40 PM
I consistently share this anecdote any time I hear anyone opine on how the poor spend their money then move on to the fact that UBI experiments pretty solidly indicate that poor people overwhelmingly do not do this when you give them money
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
New York, 2004. 📸 by Richard Avedon.
November 11, 2025 at 11:31 PM
New York, 2004. 📸 by Richard Avedon.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Are you working on a YA or MG novel? Want to explore the middle of your novel in a generative writing retreat at the beautiful @highlightsfound.bsky.social this June? @exrpan.bsky.social & I are hosting Spotlight on the Middle of Your Novel June 11–14! www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshop/spo...
Spotlight on the Middle of Your Novel: A Generative Retreat - Highlights Foundation
www.highlightsfoundation.org
November 8, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Are you working on a YA or MG novel? Want to explore the middle of your novel in a generative writing retreat at the beautiful @highlightsfound.bsky.social this June? @exrpan.bsky.social & I are hosting Spotlight on the Middle of Your Novel June 11–14! www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshop/spo...
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
More National Book Award-winning writers need to spend the later portion of their careers picking one billionaire and just absolutely going to town.
November 11, 2025 at 3:34 AM
More National Book Award-winning writers need to spend the later portion of their careers picking one billionaire and just absolutely going to town.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
This isn't "internal recriminations." It's voters expressing overwhelming opposition to what the people they elected to represent them are doing, and anyone--either in journalism or politics--who characterizes it as infighting is either not seeing and hearing what's right in front of them or lying.
The sooner we get past internal recriminations and back to fighting united, the better off we all are — the likelier our victory next November.
November 10, 2025 at 11:14 PM
This isn't "internal recriminations." It's voters expressing overwhelming opposition to what the people they elected to represent them are doing, and anyone--either in journalism or politics--who characterizes it as infighting is either not seeing and hearing what's right in front of them or lying.
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
ICYMI for writers from over the weekend
For querying writers: I did a critiques today for an SCBWI conf & got questions about what kind of books you can cite as comps, & I think it’s worth distinguishing between *pitching* comps and *selling* comps. A brief 🧵:
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
ICYMI for writers from over the weekend
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Maybe Zohran Mamdani should have come out for ending the shutdown so Democratic Senators could have opposed it.
November 10, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Maybe Zohran Mamdani should have come out for ending the shutdown so Democratic Senators could have opposed it.
Fine, I’ll do it. I’m a resident of New York State and I’ll primary Chuck Schumer.
#IVolunteerAsTribute
#IVolunteerAsTribute
November 10, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Fine, I’ll do it. I’m a resident of New York State and I’ll primary Chuck Schumer.
#IVolunteerAsTribute
#IVolunteerAsTribute
Reposted by Cheryl B. Klein
Every educated adult in the U.S. knows this but the senate shouldn't exist. There is no justification for North Dakota and South Dakota to have four senators between them when the combined population of both states is smaller than that of Chicago.
November 10, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Every educated adult in the U.S. knows this but the senate shouldn't exist. There is no justification for North Dakota and South Dakota to have four senators between them when the combined population of both states is smaller than that of Chicago.