With its timely themes of immigration and multiculturalism, “Islandborn” could help Mr. Díaz break into a lucrative new market. “A picture book is like a primer on how to be a human,” said Namrata Tripathi, the editorial director of Dial Books for Young Readers. Mr. Díaz obliged and began telling her a tale he made up on the spot. She later wrote out a transcript of the story and urged him to publish it, but Mr. Díaz didn’t think it was good enough. Mr. Díaz started a new story from scratch, and discovered that writing a picture book wasn’t much easier than writing for adults.

Source: New York Times July 18, 2017 21:56 UTC