Elm Books

Jennifer Monaghan (1933-2014) was an educator and a historian of literacy. As a reading tutor, she noticed that students weren’t being taught phonics. She believed phonics education could help children become stronger, more independent readers. This launched her career as a professor and historian of books and reading. It also led to the creation of The Illustrated Phonics Booklet , published by Elm Books! Understanding the importance of phonics and its life-changing potential, Jennifer saw this book as her gift to the world. Jennifer was also a mother, and she used phonics to help her own children learn to read. Leila Monaghan is Jennifer’s daughter, and publisher for Elm Books. I talked with Leila about the importance of phonics in children’s education. Phonics helps kids develop a toolkit for reading on their own. By learning to sound out unfamiliar words, kids can take more of a “DIY” approach to reading, with less teacher or parent intervention. Kids are considered “independent

This fall, we celebrated the launch of Estella Kuchta's Finding the Daydreamer   with a virtual book tour on Instagram! Launching a book during an unexpected global pandemic has been rough. But we're grateful for all the opportunities social media presents to make connections safely online. The "bookstagram" community is full of passionate, creative book lovers like us. So we knew it would be the perfect place to spread the word about such a beautiful novel! The tour ran for a week, during which our hosts took turns reviewing the book and showing off their copies in gorgeous photos. Here are a few of the highlights. Be sure to click the posts to read their reviews of the book!

  We’re gearing up for the release of Estella Kuchta’s historical romance novel, Finding the Daydreamer ! The book launches on September 10th, 2020. Pre-orders are available on our website , as well as Amazon or Smashwords . In Finding the Daydreamer , author Estella Kuchta addresses trauma, courage, and desire with the grace and insight of a practiced storyteller. I was awed by the beauty and inventiveness of this novel. The depth of emotion in Kuchta’s poetic style breathes life into compassionately imagined characters. Annabelle, motherly and courageous, exemplifies the struggle to be truly seen and loved by others. Finding the Daydreamer is a testament to human resilience in the face of disaster, something especially vital in our world today. I got the chance to interview Estella about the book and her experience as a novelist, researcher, and mother. She had some great insights to share about love stories, as well as questions to consider when writing them!

What does it mean to be a science fiction hero with a disability? The authors of Strange Flight know living with a disability can be challenging—facing social stigma, inaccessibility, and invisibility that feels like navigating an alien world. And, all too often, people with disabilities are stereotyped as weak or incapable. Elm Books aims to do better—to recognize the creativity, perseverance, and diverse modes of understanding people with disabilities bring to our shared struggle for existence. What could be more appropriate for science fiction?

If you thought steampunk was just glued-on gears and fake posh British accents, you will never be so happy to be proven wrong! Sure, the 19th century was a time of exciting scientific developments, but it was also an era of great social inequality and ruthless colonial expansion. With Death in the Age of Steam, Elm Books authors are reimagining steampunk through the colonized, marginalized, and otherwise ignored voices of the time period. Editor Jess Faraday writes, “My interest in steampunk writing arose from an argument with another writer, who said that no story could be truly steampunk unless the character were rich, white, able-bodies, Protestant, heterosexual, and male, as in the 19th century, these were the only people who ‘had agency.’ Gross historical inaccuracy and breathtakingly offensive generalizations aside, what I most took issue with was his idea that only the people on the top rungs of society have stories to tell. This is not the case, of course. We all have stories t

Volume 3: 1 June 12, 2016 Edited by Leila Monaghan Last year, Elm Book produced one great new collection, Death and a Cup of Tea, and a beautiful second edition of Christmas is for Bad Girls, now available in paperback as well as e-format. Lots of news to share and looking forward to a great year ahead! Leila Monaghan Indiegogo Campaign Introducing our first Indiegogo Campaign!   Only four days left so please help.   We are raising funds so that we can change the payment structure of Elm Books for our next cozy mystery collection, Death by Cupcake. We want to be able to give authors a lump sum of $100 rather than royalty payments.   Any and all contributions welcome.   Or just stop by to see the great video Jess Faraday put together for the campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-elm-books-create-its-best-anthology-yet/x/7635315#/ Publicity Happenings Twitter Our PR representative, @LilyCallahan, is now regularly tweeting for @ElmBooks. If you