Erica Perl

Erica S. Perl (she/her) is the author of more than forty popular and critically-acclaimed books for children and teens. A former criminal defense attorney, she now writes picture books, early readers, chapter books, novels, and the occasional dramatic work. Erica has received fellowships from the Virginia Center on the Creative Arts, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the Yiddish Book Center. She has taught and shared her work at schools, libraries, and community centers throughout the country and internationally.

Erica’s middle grade novels include All Three Stooges, which won the National Jewish Book Award and was a Sydney Taylor Honor Book. She is also the co-author, with R.J. Palacio, of White Bird: A Novel. Erica’s picture books include Goatilocks and the Three Bears and The Ninth Night of Hanukkah, as well as Billy the Kid Makes it Big, which she wrote with Dolly Parton. She is also the author of the Truth or Lie non-fiction series.

Erica grew up in Burlington, VT but now lives in Washington, DC. She is an excellent baker, an overconfident skier, and a relentless woozler of dogs and guinea pigs. She is also a terrible gardener – except for orchids, which she swears thrive on benign neglect.

Novels

• White Bird: The Novel (co-author with R.J. Palacio), middle grade novel, Knopf, 2022
• All Three Stooges, middle grade novel, Knopf, 2018
• The Capybara Conspiracy, middle grade novel, Knopf, 2016
• Aces Wild, middle grade novel, Knopf, 2013
• When Life Gives You O.J., middle grade novel, Knopf, 2011
• Vintage Veronica, young adult novel, Knopf, 2010

Picture Books

• The Three Little Guinea Pigs, FSG, 2023
• When Carrot Met Cookie, Penguin, 2021
• The Ninth Night of Hanukkah, Sterling, 2020
• Ferocious Fluffity, Abrams, 2016
• Totally Tardy Marty, Abrams, 2015
• Goatilocks and the Three Bears, Beach Lane, 2014
• King of the Zoo, Scholastic, 2013
• Chicken Butt’s Back! Abrams, 2011
• Dotty, Abrams, 2010
• Chicken Butt! Abrams, 2009
• Ninety-Three In My Family, Abrams, 2006
• Chicken Bedtime Is Really Early, Abrams, 2005

Chapter Books & Early Readers

• Truth or Lie series (6 titles to date, Random House, ongoing)
• Whale, Quail, Snail series (2 titles to date, Simon & Schuster, ongoing)
• The Lucky Dogs (2 books, Penguin, 2020)
• Arnold and Louise series (4 books, Penguin, 2019-20)
• Craftily Ever After series (8 books written as “Martha Maker”; Simon & Schuster, 2018-21)
• Lego Meet-A-(Profession) series (3 titles to date; Ameet, ongoing)

Selected Writing Credits

• Everything is Different this Year, so why not add a ninth night to Hanukkah? (Op-Ed; Los Angeles Times, 12/10/20)
• Writing in the Time of Coronavirus (Essay; SCBWI Bulletin, Fall, 2020)
• Love Stories in Thirteen Words (Modern Love podcast, New York Times / WBUR, 6/1/18)

Selected Writing Awards And Honors

• National Jewish Book Award for Children’s Literature (All Three Stooges)
• Sydney Taylor Award silver medal (All Three Stooges) and two bronze medals (The Ninth Night of Hanukkah; When Life Gives You O.J.)
• DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship (received annually, 2016 - 2022)
• DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Teaching Artist Grant (2021)
• TENT: Children’s Literature fellow, Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, MA
• Fellow, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (multiple residencies)
• American Library Association Notable Book (When Life Gives You O.J. audiobook)
• State Book Award lists: FL, KS, MN, MS, VA, MA, VT, and RI (All Three Stooges, When Life Gives You O.J., Ferocious Fluffity, Goatilocks and the Three Bears, Arnold and Louise)
• Annual Best Books Lists including NPR, Amazon, Slate, and Tablet magazine (All Three Stooges, Aces Wild, When Life Gives You O.J., Ninety-three In My Family)
• Reuben Award for Best Illustrated Book (Ninety-three in My Family)
• Profiled by the NPR’s All Things Considered, Washington Post, Washingtonian magazine, DC magazine, International Literacy Association’s ReadWriteThink podcast, WETA’s Reading Rockets (incl. “Raising Writers” program), WAMU’s Bookends.

Selected Writing Instruction Experience

Writing Workshop Instructor

• Aspen Summer Words, Aspen, CO (teaching middle grade workshop to adult students)
• The Writer’s Center, Bethesda, MD (teaching writing for children to adult students)
• David Gordon Louis Daniel Foundation Creative Writing Scholars Program (teaching writing to middle school students in Washington, DC and McLean, VA)
• Alice Deal Middle School, Washington, DC (leading afterschool writing workshop)
• Find Your Voice Writing Workshop, Jewish Federation of Reading, PA and Exeter Community Library (leading in-person and virtual writing workshop series)
• Writing Workshop, WETA/PBS Kids Writing Contest (virtual writing instructor)
• Find the Creative Spark, Washington, DC (virtual writing instructor)

Individual Mentoring and Small Group Writing Instruction

• SCBWI National; Mid-Atlantic (provided manuscript critiques as conference faculty)
• Yeah Write, Bethesda, MD (co-teaching essay writing boot camps)
• Private Writing Coach (mentoring students on college and graduate school essays)
• ESP Editorial Services (providing critiques and book doctoring to private clients)
• Drash Mentor (guiding b’nai mitzvah students on writing projects)

Visiting Author at schools nationwide, in-person and virtual visits
Writer in Residence, American International School of Lusaka (Zambia)

Selected Speaking Engagements

Speaker/Presenter/Panelist at national conferences, including:

• International Literacy Association
• American Library Association
• National Council of Teachers of English
• American Federation of Teachers (TEACH)
• National Head Start Association
• School Library Journal Leadership Summit
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
• PJ Library International Conference

Visiting Author/Presenter to educators and/or students at institutions including:

• American University
• Washington & Lee University
• University of Maryland
• Frostburg State University
• Shenandoah University
• Northport School District, NY (professional development to educators)

Teaching artist at literacy programs including:

• An Open Book Foundation
• First Book
• PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools
• Turning the Page
• The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing
• Hope for Henry Reads
• The Reading Connection
• Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center

Additional Professional Experience

Vice President, Publisher and Author Relations
First Book, Washington, DC, 2009 - 2016
Senior leadership team member responsible for developing, expanding and leading the content team for the award-winning nonprofit social enterprise the First Book Marketplace.

• Designed, launched and led The First Book Stories for All Project, which provided a market solution to the need for diverse and multicultural children’s literature.
• Designed, launched and led First Book Authors and Illustrators in Action, which motivated authors and illustrators to connect kids in need with resources.
• First Book Marketplace: provided leadership for content expansion, curation, contentbased marketing of an ecommerce social enterprise serving children in need.

Writer, Editor, and Creative Content Developer
Erica S. Perl Editorial, Boston, MA & Washington, DC, 2000 - 2009
Writer, editor and developer of creative content, including educational books, television program scripts, online content and educational outreach materials.

• Clients included: Harvard University, Abrams Books for Young Readers, Powderhouse Productions, Media Education Consultants, WGBH, Hooked on Phonics, Discovery Kids; The New York Times, Huffington Post, Slate, PBS.org

Staff Attorney
The Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division, New York, NY, 1996 - 2000
Trial lawyer in a busy, urban public defender office. Represented clients from arraignment through disposition, incl. plea negotiations and trials; represented teenagers charged as adults.

Organizational Memberships And Community Service

• Children’s Book Guild of Washington, DC (President, 2021-2022)
• Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Fellowship Review Panelist, 2019-present)
• Temple Micah, Washington DC (Board of Directors, 2022-2025)

Education

• Tulane Law School, Juris Doctor (Order of the Coif; Tulane Law Review Board of Editors)
• Hampshire College, Bachelor of Arts
• Harvard University, continuing education (Harvard Extension School fiction writing workshops)
• The New School, continuing education (coursework in writing and illustrating for children)