GUEST POST BY ELIZABETH SHREEVE, Author of DINOSAURS TO DRAGONS

Hello writers, readers, teachers, and librarians!

Here’s a report on how to make a book out of a mess.

My first middle-grade book comes out this year: Dinosaurs to Dragons, The Lore and Science of Mythical Creatures (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, July 21, 2026). It’s a nonfiction, browsable mix of mythology, science, and history, with beautiful artwork by Violeta Encarnación alongside photographs from history archives and natural history collections.

It’s beautiful book. After ten years of work, I’m super-excited.

But here’s the thing—Dinosaurs to Dragons started out as a gigantic jumble.

The process began with a dusty old book from a library sale—Mermaids and Mastodons: A Book of Natural and Unnatural History, written by Richard Carrington and published in 1957. Shivers up the spine! I would write a children’s book on the same topic. Updated, short, and sweet.

I dove into research and swam around… and swam and swam. I gathered ideas, scribbled out concepts, and puzzled over research from erudite scholars. I lost my way in the image collections of the British Museum. I burned a lot of family dinners.

What was the point of this book? Would anyone read it? An editor expressed interest, but the draft needed work. I had assembled a wonderful stew, but I needed a central question and a structure to organize my vast set of notes.

So I started to draw. I made goofy diagrams to visualize the book’s content. I reread books that I especially admired. I wrote purple prose. My writing group cheered me on. I secured the help of three wonderful advisors—two paleontologists and a historian, who guided me to a kid-friendly balance between fantasy and science. As the chapters began to flow, I asked more experts to review content in their particular specialties.

The mess became a manuscript. The imagery fell into place. At least, we had a book.

I hope you enjoy it!

Order your own copy of Dinosaurs to Dragons