Verse novels, anthologies, epic fantasy, space opera sci-fi, or gross-out humor.

I started out wanting to write books, so I got my MFA in creative writing at the University of Iowa. But after grad school I worked for a reading textbook company in Chicago and became interested in children’s books, which led to my first editorial job at Albert Whitman and Company. Eventually I became an author too, but being an editor is a little more fun.

The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson; Doll Bones by Holly Black; Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love; Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald; Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy; The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert; The Cousins by Karen McManus. Plus every few years I re-read a few childhood faves, like Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game.

help them recognize their best instincts and show them the brilliant moves they didn’t even know they were making.

on four different shelves in different parts of the house, three different e-readers, my iPad, my phone, and my nightstand.

The Book Cellar in Chicago’s Lincoln Square has hilarious and brilliant events, and you can get a glass of wine there.

seeing old movies at the Music Box Theatre with my husband, tromping around nature trails by the Chicago River, and taking blurry photos of the goldfinches that visit my backyard.

Publishers Lunch, PW Daily, the Book Riot podcast, and Twitter.

wendy.mcclure@sourcebooks.com; Twitter @Wendy_Mc