The acclaimed short-story author and poet transports readers from the teeming streets of India to the rolling Himalayas, in this lyrical, exotic, and rich middle-grade fantasy.

Updated, annual listing of where children's writers can sell their work.

This is the ultimate writer's and illustrator's reference to who's who in the children's publishing industry. Readers will uncover the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail and Web addresses for more than 250 book and magazine publishers, 500 children's book editors, 100 children's book agents and more.

In an ever-expanding city, one young man claims the job of his dreams, operator of the tallest crane around. Since others envy his position, he never leaves his crane, always eager for the day—and work—to begin. As the seasons pass, man and machine almost become one. "The crane was a giant with iron sinews, and the craneman was its heart." Then people begin to hoard their goods, grinning ravens multiply throughout the land, and war is at hand. But the craneman never falters, remaining at his post even when the land is flooded, ready for reconstruction to begin.

The emphasis throughout is on practical advice, based on the author's long experience as a publisher, as the author of more than a dozen published books and as a teacher of creative writing. This book is a guide to the intricacies of plotting. Michael Legat has written An Author's Guide to Publishing, Writing For Pleasure and Profit and The Nuts and Bolts of Writing.

A practical guide to self-publishing and marketing children's books including how to set up face-to-face events and promote your children's book online.