What reference books can you recommend for authors and illustrators?

Q: In the last issue of “To Market” readers were asked what reference books they use most in their work. The following is a list of responses. For an additional list of recommended resource books, send for SCBWI’s “From Idea To Completed Project…Resources You Can Use.”

  • American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd. ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1992, $45.

  • American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd. ed., Dell, 1994, $12.95 paper.

  • Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market 1996, Writers Digest, $22.95 paper.

  • The Copyright Handbook, Stephen Fishman, Nolo Press, 1994, $24.95, paper.

  • Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words, Bruce Ross-Larson, Norton, 1995, $9, paper.

  • The Elements of Style, William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White, 3rd. ed. Macmillan, 1979, $5.95, paper.

  • Indexing Books, Nancy C. Mulvany, University of Chicago Press, 1994, $29.95.

  • A Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Authors, Editors, & Publishers, 14th. ed., University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff, University of Chicago Press, 1993, $40.

  • A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman, Random House, 1990, $22; $12 paper.

  • Roget’s International Thesaurus, Peter M. Roget, HarperCollins, 1994, $4.99 paper.

  • Roget’s International Thesaurus, 5th ed., Robert L. Chapman, HarperCollins, 1992, $18.95.

  • SCBWI Bulletin, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

  • The Storytellers Sourcebook, Neal Schuman, edited by Margaret Read MacDonald, 1995, Gale, $99.

  • Webster’s II New College Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin, 1995, $18.95

  • Writing & Publishing Books for Children in the 1990s; The Inside Story from the Editor’s Desk, Olga Litowinsky, Walker & Co., 1992, $17.95; $11.95 paper.


These books are out of print, but may be available at your local library.

  • The American History Sourcebook, Edited by Joel Makower

  • The Awful Truth About Publishing, by John Boswell

  • The Storyteller’s Sourcebook, by Margaret Read MacDonald

  • A Writer’s Guide to Contract Negotiations, by Richard Balkin

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