The Picture Book Buzz - November 2026 Interview with STEAM Team Books Member
Whether you're here to support the STEAM Team authors, curiosity, or because you love nonfiction books, I hope you read to the end because you'll discover some amazing authors and super spectacular books!
Today I have the pleasure to introduce you an author from STEAM Team Books – a group of authors and illustrators who joined together to celebrate and help promote their STEAM books. I hope you enjoy this peek at this delightful book and its fascinating creative.
"STEAM Team Books is a group of authors who have a STEM/STEAM book releasing in 2026. It includes fiction & nonfiction, trade or educational books.” Check out their website for other interviews, activities, and bios.
Welcome Marta Magellan,
Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you write? How long have you been writing? What is your favorite type of book to write? What drew you to STEAM books? etc.)
Marta Magellan – Bob Dylan: A little Golden Book Biography (Golden Books/Penguin Random House 11/10/2026) – I published my first book in an animal series called Those Amazing Animals by Pineapple Press, a regional press focusing on Florida. As the author had to provide the photographs, and my husband was into photography, I wrote a proposal for Those Lively Lizards for the series. In Miami, where I live, we have all these lizards running around, so it was easy to provide most of those photos. I love traveling to exotic places, and as an excuse that I was writing a book about vultures, I traveled to the wilds of Brazil with my husband’s camera, where I hoped to photograph a yellow-headed vulture or a king vulture for the series, which led to Those Voracious Vultures. Wildlife has always fascinated me, so I went on to write about any wild animal that interested me. I wrote four for Pineapple Press, then got lucky when a small publisher offered me and my illustrator brother, Mauro Magellan, the opportunity for a series on five pollinators. Between loving books, children, and wildlife, and having a photographer husband and an illustrator brother, writing nonfiction books for kids came naturally.
[Author of 14 books, including Lizard Invasion, illustrated by Mauro Magellan (2nd ed 2025), Up, Up and Away: Monarch Butterflies, illustrated by Mauro Magellan, photographs by James Gersing (2024), Bee Catastrophe: We’ll Miss Them When They’re Gone, illustrated by Mauro Magellan (2023), Just Wild Enough: Mireya Mayor, Primatologist, illustrated by Clementine Rocheron (2022), Flying Jewels, A Hummingbird Story, illustrated by Mauro Magellan (2021), Dragonflies: Water Angels and Brilliant Bioindicators, illustrated by Mauro Magellan (2020), Python Catchers: Saving the Everglades, illustrated by Mauro Magellan (2020).]
What has been the most interesting or odd experience (you’re willing to share) of your children’s literature career so far?
I had only published three books for Pineapple Press and another three for the educational market when an informational fiction I’d written, The Nutty Little Vulture had been accepted by Eifrig Publishing, a small traditional publisher. The book languished while the company struggled at one point, and I had given up on it. When my baby grandson died in 2016 while under my watch, I was so distraught, I retired from teaching at Miami Dade College, and I stopped writing. I had no intention of ever facing a class or writing anything again. But then, Penny Eifrig wrote and said she would finally be publishing the book. I was still not communicating with anybody but the closest of friends and family, so I asked my brother, the illustrator, to ask the publisher to add a dedication page for my grandson. Seeing the dedication in print, I wanted to go back to writing so that I could keep his name alive in every book I wrote. I returned to my picture book critique group, which met in person at that time. Being with a network of fellow writers who became friends, I came back to the world, writing and presenting my books to children and dedicating all of them to my beloved Sammy Joe. Having this network of supportive writer friends to discuss and critique each other’s works, made my life richer and would have done so even if I had never published another book. I am still involved with the Miami Critique Group, and I hope, I will continue to be.
Marta, what a wonderful way to honor him. I am glad you have continued to create these wonderful nonfiction treasures. Now that we know a little more about you, what sparked your interest and caused you to write Bob Dylan (11/10/2026)?
Besides wild animals, I also love music—I come from a family of musicians although unfortunately for me, I have little talent in that area. Yet how can I not respect musicians for the joy they bring to the rest of us. After I finished my last pollinator book, I started reading about Bob Dylan due to my husbands’ writing about him as part of a memoir. We saw Bob in person, and I was heavily involved in helping my husband with his book. Dylan is such a legend, such an oversized presence in the music world, that to get the contract for his biography for the Little Golden Book series was the highlight of my year. For another thing, even as a child, I had some Little Golden Books myself. I think most of us have owned a few. So, it was double fun for me to write one.
It's so cool that you were able to write a Little Golden Book! Is there anything special you want your readers to know about Bob Dylan (11/10/2026)?
Most modern picture book biographies usually have one theme, but the Little Golden Book series offered me the opportunity to show why Bob Dylan matters. And he does matter. A musician had never won the Nobel Prize before him, but that was just the peak of a series of truly legendary accomplishments. If you saw the movie, A Complete Unknown, released in 2024, you know it followed four years of his life during the sixties. But he did so much from then to now. I was able to touch on a few of those achievements in my little book, but he is such an amazing person, many more books could still be written about him.
Maybe you will get to write another one! What was the hardest, or most challenging, part of writing of researching Bob Dylan (11/10/2026)! ? Was there a bit of your research you didn’t get to include?
Text © Marta Magellan, 2026. Image © Maike Plenzke, 2026.
There were many, many things I didn’t get to include! Bob Dylan is in his eighties now, and he’s still touring as of this year. He has shown remarkable artistic energy and discipline throughout half a century, and the longest adult biography of him is in two volumes at 1,350 pages. And it doesn’t include everything, either! From beginning his career as a folk musician, he went on to other genres, from rock to country to Christian, you name it. He rejected all the labels the media and fans tried to pin on him, never wanting to be one thing. Almost every time he made a new album, it was a whole new phase, sometimes, a whole new genre. And he did so many things well. So, in answer to your question, I didn’t get to include most of the research I did. My book was a drop in the ocean of what Bob Dylan has created and lived.
It would be fun to include some of the fascinating extra research in a teacher's or activity guide. Are there any upcoming projects that you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?
I visited a wild area in Brazil years ago called the Pantanal. I’m Brazilian, so I stayed at a ranch where the owner rented rooms, and she told me to go down a path where there was a tree she said I would like to see. She knew I was there to photograph vultures for Those Voracious Vultures, for Pineapple Press. Instead, I was struck not by black, bald vultures, but a tree-full of the most beautiful cobalt blue macaws, their feathers gleaming like jewels in the tropical sun. Much later, I heard poachers, climate change and habitat loss had almost done the hyacinth macaw in, but a fellow SCBWI critique partner told me one woman scientist managed to figure out a way to save them. So, I found her, read her books in Portuguese, and wrote Feathered Jewels about their return from the brink of extinction, which I hope will receive a contract one day.
I hope so too. I would love to read about the scientist who saved the hyacinth macaw! Last question, who is your STEAM hero or heroine, living or dead (scientist, naturalist, author, teacher, etc.)? Why?
There have been so many, I hate to target just one, but I will say that I have affection of Jane Goodall, maybe because I heard her speak before she died, and you just can’t help but love her passion and spiritual connection to the planet. Of the living, it has to be Neiva Guedes, the woman who saved the hyacinth macaws in Brazil because she did it without money and without influence—nothing but the sheer will to not allow a beautiful creature to cease existing.
I am even more intrigued to read about Neiva Guedes' efforts! NOW, let me take a moment to introduce you to this amazing STEAM book!
Bob Dylan: A little Golden Book Biography by Marta Magellan, illustrated by Maike Plenzke (Golden Books/Penguin Random House 11/10/2026) – Following Bob from his first performance at four, through teaching himself to play piano and guitar at ten, a high school band, and starting out as a New York City folk musician, this beautifully illustrated biography explores Bob Dylan's trajectory as a talented musician who tinkered with country, blues, and rock and roll, Christian music, protest songs, and a dabble with electric guitar. Highlighting his refusal to be pigeon-holed into a music genre or strapped with a label (such as “protest singer"), his amazing accomplishments and awards (including the Nobel Prize in Literature), and his continuing career, this is a wonderful ode to an incredibly creative musician who touched and influenced generations.
Synopsis: Introduce young readers to American folk legend and Nobel Prize-winning singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with this beautifully illustrated and collectible Little Golden Book!
Get inspired by one of the most influential songwriters of all time. Known for his poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, and his Nobel Prize in Literature, Bob Dylan changed music—and American culture—with songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'." Great for fans of all ages!
The classic Little Golden Books, which were started in 1942 with their famous gold foiled spine, are published by Penguin Random House. The Little Golden Book biographies were introduced in 2016, and they carry the stories of the most important artists, scientists, athletes, and change makers of our century and beyond. If you have one or two admired celebrities, you will probably find them in this delightful series. Bob Dylan is certainly one of the greats.
I’ve got a collection of the biographies myself although I sometimes give books away to children who express interest in one of the subjects. Books are meant to be shared, and anything that will inspire a child is golden indeed.
Thank you for giving us a little peek into yourself and your new book. Wishing you enormous success with your upcoming projects.
To find out more about Marta Magellan, or to contact her:
Website: https://martamagellan.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marta.magellan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martamagellan
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