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Sarah Lynne
Award Winning Animator
Children’s Author and Illustrator
Travels from: Boston, MA

“Reul’s bright, colorful cartoons perfectly capture the love and humor of learning to bake…Young readers and their grands will feel the love and connect to their own family traditions.” ― Kirkus Reviews

Sarah Lynne Reul is an author, illustrator and award-winning animator who likes science, tiny things and drawing on photos. Originally from Brooklyn, she now lives just north of Boston with her family.

After some years in science museum education and non-profit admin, she was lured back to school by the magic of making drawings come to life. Armed with an MFA degree in 2D animation, Sarah Lynne now strives to pack the energy of animation into each illustration. She spends her workdays drawing lots of animals, writing silly and serious stories, and laughing with kids during school author visits throughout New England and beyond. She has also illustrated several large-scale murals for Boston’s Museum of Science, featuring New England forest animals as well as urban, coastal and forested landscapes.

Sarah Lynne Reul’s picture books include THE BREAKING NEWS from Roaring Brook Press, NERP! and ALLIE ALL ALONG from Union Square & Co, BUBBIE & RIVKA’S BEST-EVER CHALLAH (SO-FAR) from Abrams, as well as PET THE PETS and FARM THE FARM from Little Simon. Her first early-reader graphic novel series, THE FIX-ITS, debuts from Harper in February 2024.

The Fix-Its: Nail Needs Help (I Can Read Comics Level 3)

HarperAlley |
Children’s

The Fix-Its: Nail Needs Help is the latest in I Can Read Comics, an early reader line that familiarizes children with the world of graphic novel storytelling and encourages visual literacy in emerging readers.

Meet Nail and Hammer, two pals in this STEM-focused story by author-illustrator Sarah Lynne Reul. When Nail gets stuck, Hammer is ready to lend a helping hand. But will Hammer’s hard-headedness make things worse?

The Fix-Its: Nail Needs Help is a Level Three I Can Read Comic, an engaging story for children starting to read on their own.

Bubbie & Rivka’s Best-Ever Challah (So Far!)

Harry N. Abrams |
Children’s

Bubbie and Rivka are not the best bakers . . . yet. But they are starting a new tradition. Every Friday they will bake a challah together!

Week after week, Bubbie and Rivka pull a challah out of the oven that’s not quite right. Once, it’s a little lumpy. Another time, it’s totally burnt! But no matter what has gone wrong, each challah is the best one they’ve ever made (. . . so far!).

As Bubbie and Rivka put their heads together to solve each week’s baking disaster, they learn something new about how to approach their next challah, fine-tuning their skills and ensuring next week’s bread will be even tastier. They learn that practice makes progress and persistence makes for some very special together time . . . and some very yummy challah!

Nerp!

Union Square Kids |
Children’s

What’s for dinner? How about skizzle klumps n’ gizzardlumps? A hilarious look at mealtime with a pair of persnickety eaters, in the most fun made-up language ever!

Would you like a bite of frizzle frazzle hotchy potch? How about a plate of mushy gushy bloobarshNERP, says our hero. Nerpity nerpity nerp! (That’s “NO” to you!) With nonsense language and humorously expressive illustrations, this delightfully silly picture book tells the story of two picky eaters—one child, one pet—of indiscriminate species, a multitude of supposedly tasty goodies, and one surprising solution to a familiar childhood situation.

Allie All Along

Union Square Kids |
Children’s

“Allie’s crayon broke.
I blinked.
She was suddenly . . .
furious, fuming, frustrated . . .”

Have you ever felt mad enough to stomp, smash, and crash? Allie has! Meet one angry little girl and see how she calms down, bit by bit—with the help of her understanding big brother.

Poor Allie! She’s in a rage, throwing a tantrum, and having a fit! Her emotions have built and built and now they just burst. Is there a sweet little girl hiding somewhere under all the angry layers? And can her big brother find a way to make things all right again? In the tradition of When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry and Sometimes I’m BombalooAllie All Along explores simple ways kids can center themselves in the face of overwhelming emotions. The illustrations’ varying hues and vibrant colors capture the powerful feelings that young children can’t always express in words.

Sarah Lynne Reul is an illustrator, writer, and award-winning 2-D animator who likes science, bright colors, and figuring out how things work. After a number of years in science museum education and nonprofits, she was lured back to school by the magic of making drawings come to life. These days, Sarah Lynne strives to pack all the dynamic energy of animation into each of her illustrations.

The Breaking News

Roaring Brook Press |
Children’s

When devastating news rattles a young girl’s community, her normally attentive parents and neighbors are suddenly exhausted and distracted. At school, her teacher tells the class to look for the helpers―the good people working to make things better in big and small ways. She wants more than anything to help in a BIG way, but maybe she can start with one small act of kindness instead . . . and then another, and another.Small things can compound, after all, to make a world of difference.

The Breaking News by Sarah Lynne Reul touches on themes of community, resilience, and optimism with an authenticity that will resonate with readers young and old.

CREATING STORIES (grades K-2)

CREATING STORIES focuses on noticing how small changes in your stories can make a big impact. Kids will have a chance to check out some behind-the-scenes sketches and early versions of my published books, and will learn about the different stages that go into my story-making process.

For groups of 50 or fewer, we can play an interactive storytelling game, where students give me examples of characters, places and things that might be in a story. I’ll draw them super speedily on a stack of index cards, and then we’ll pull them randomly to come up with silly stories together.

For larger groups, we might have a sneak peek of an upcoming or not-yet-published book, or we might do some collaborative drawings up on the screen of friendly mixed-up monsters.

For groups of any size, I always leave a few minutes for kids to ask questions!

A MESSY PROCESS (grades 3-5)

A MESSY PROCESS explores gathering ideas, brainstorming, drafting and revising. Kids will see some early (really messy) drafts of my stories and sketches, and they’ll learn how a story can evolve and grow out of unlikely story seeds. I also talk a bit about the winding path I took to get to my current author/illustrator career, exploring different fields that I was curious about along the way, so that kids will learn that there can be lots of ways to get from point A to point B.

For groups of 50 or fewer, we can play an interactive storytelling game, where students give me examples of characters, places and things that might be in a story. I’ll draw them super speedily on a stack of index cards, and then we’ll pull them randomly to come up with silly stories together.

For larger groups, we might have a sneak peek of an upcoming or not-yet-published book, or we might do some collaborative drawings up on the screen of friendly mixed-up monsters.

For groups of any size, I always leave a few minutes for kids to ask questions!

Virtual Visits! (tailored for grades K-2 or 3-5)

My virtual visits are full of behind-the-scenes images, detailing my process of writing & illustration. I talk about my connections to animation and how I gather ideas, draft stories, sketch, revise, and create final art. There’s time for Q&A, (and possibly sneak peeks into future projects!). As always, if you have a specific part of the process where you would like some extra emphasis, please let me know.

Interactive Storytelling Game Workshops (for individual classes)

Expanding on the interactive storytelling game that I play with groups smaller than about 50 students, this workshop helps kids think about ways that characters, settings and props can interact in a story. Together, we’ll come up with a big stack of ideas for story starters, and then each student will create mini “zines” (small booklets made from a single sheet of paper) with their own versions of our new stories.

Graphic Novel Journaling Workshop (for grades 3-5) in development!)

How do you stop saying “nothing happened”? By paying closer attention to what’s going on around you . . . then writing and drawing about it! I’ll show some examples from my own comics-inspired journals, we’ll do some warmup exercises to get drawing and writing. Then we’ll get started on our own graphic novel pages – inspired by something that happened in our own lives in the last week!

Sarah Lynne’s Illustrations Link

Sarah Lynne’s Blog Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

2023, Kirkus Starred Review for THE FIX-ITS: Nail Needs Help
2023, PJ Library + Center for Cartoon Studies Illustrator & Visual Storyteller Fellowship
2022, Artwork accepted into the Society Of Illustrators’ Original Art Show
2022, BUBBIE & RIVKA’S BEST-EVER CHALLAH (SO FAR!) selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard
2021, Selected as an Artist in Residence at Follow Your Art Community Studios in Melrose, MA
2021, PJ Library/Center for Cartoon Studies Artist Residency
2020, NERP! selected as one of the Kirkus Best Books of 2020
2020, Kirkus Starred Review for NERP!; selected as one of the Kirkus Best Books of 2020
2018, Booklist Starred Review for ALLIE ALL ALONG
2018, Publishers Weekly Starred Review from Publishers Weekly for The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books THE BREAKING NEWS
2018, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Starred Review for THE BREAKING NEWS
2018, THE BREAKING NEWS: selected as a Best Picture Book of 2018 by the Chicago Public Library
2018, THE BREAKING NEWS: featured Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Book of The Month
2015, THE SEARCH FOR THE MONSTER OF LAKE QUANNAPOWITT (short film): Best Animation for Kids Award from Animation Block Party in Brooklyn, NY; officially selected for screening at 19 film festivals worldwide

Media clips

Spotify | Sarah Lynne Reul-Time is a Chocolate Bar

Apple Podcasts | Sarah Lynne Reul: Food, Dollhouses and Drawing Animals

The New York Times | Picture Books to Help Kids Weather our Age of Anxiety

Kirkus Reviews | THE FIX-ITS NAIL NEEDS HELP

Publishers Weekly | Bubbie & Rivka’s Best-Ever Challah (So Far!)

Kirkus Reviews | NERP!

Shelf Awareness | Allie All Along

School Library Journal | The Breaking News

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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