About

Writer/educator Sylvia Whitman has published hundreds of articles for adults and children, a dozen books for young readers, and a handful of short stories in magazines ranging from Redbook to The Florida Review.

Recognition for her work includes the Epilepsy Foundation of America’s National Journalism Award and two appearances on the Banks Street College annual list of Best Children’s Books of the Year--for What’s Cooking? A History of American Food (middle grade nonfiction) and The Milk of Birds (YA novel), which the International Reading Association named one of its Notable Books for a Global Society in 2014.

Sylvia is a longtime member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).

She teaches creative and professional writing as a full-time faculty member at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.

Featured Work

If You Meet the Devil, Don't Shake Hands

2023

Middle grade novel.

In this adventure story with heart, military kid Gavin Baker has every worry covered until he crosses paths with his best friend’s long-lost magician grandfather—and discovers that unthinkable trickery and catastrophe can sometimes bring out the best in people.

Other Works

  • Easy Exercises: Walking

    2018

  • The Milk of Birds

    2013

  • Under the Ramadan Moon

    2008

  • World Poverty

    2008

  • What's Cooking? The History of American Food

    2001

  • Children of the World War II Home Front

    2001

  • Immigrant Children

    2000

  • Frontier Children

    1998

  • Get Up and Go: The History of American Road Travel

    1996

  • This Land Is Your Land: The American Conservation Movement

    1994

  • Uncle Sam Wants You: Military Men and Women of World War II

    1993

  • "V" Is for Victory: The American Home Front during World War II

    1993

  • Hernando DeSoto and the Explorers of the American South

    1991

Awards and Recognition

  • Banks Street College Best Children's Books of the Year 2014 and 2001
  • Finalist, NCTE's Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award for YA fiction, 2014
  • Amelia Bloomer Project list for books with significant feminist content, 2014
  • Notable Books for a Global Society list, 2014
  • Voice of Youth Advocates nonfiction honor book, 1997
  • New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list, 1995
  • Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, NCSS-CBC Joint Committee, 1993
  • Epilepsy Foundation of America’s National Journalism Award for “Diary of a Marriage: Rediscovering the Real Ben,” McCall’s, July 1990