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Children's book author and adventure travel journalist PETER MANDEL writes for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.  His books are published by Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Henry Holt, Hyperion and Holiday House.  Peter lives in Rhode Island with his best pals: wife, Kathy, and rescue cats, Emily and Cecil.  A frequent speaker on book writing and breaking into print, Peter's parents were longtime staff writers at LIFE Magazine.

 

 

 

 

New books of Peter's include JACKHAMMER SAM (Macmillan/Roaring Brook), illustrated by David Catrow, called "wonderful and overwhelming, rattling and mesmerizing" by Publishers Weekly.  "If a new Walt Whitman broke up sidewalks with a jackhammer, this is exactly what his 'Song of Myself' would be," says The Chicago Tribune.  Also new is ZOO AH-CHOOOO (Holiday House), a Reading Rainbow selection illustrated by Elwood Smith. "Lively pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations join with the humorous text to tell the tale with panache," says School Library Journal.

 

 

"If a new Walt Whitman broke up sidewalks with a jackhammer,  Jackhammer Sam is exactly what his 'Song of Myself' would be . . ."

The Chicago Tribune

 

Zoo Ah-Choooo's "gusty splatters and loud, boisterous sneezes can't lose."

Kirkus Reviews

 

 

Published several years ago, BUN, ONION, BURGER (Simon & Schuster) is illustrated by Chris Eliopoulos and was named a Summer 2010 Children's Indie Next pick by the American Booksellers Association.  His titles have been part of exhibits at the Museum of Natural History in New York, at the Smithsonian, and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and have been translated into Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and Danish.

 

One of Peter's Boston Globe  articles won the 2005 Lowell Thomas gold medal from the Society of American Travel Writers for adventure travel article of the year.  Other articles, for The Washington Post  and The Baltimore Sun, won Lowell Thomas Awards in 2003, 2006 and 2007.  One of his essays is included in the anthology of travel humor published by Travelers’ Tales: What Color is Your Jockstrap? Funny Men and Women Write from the Road

 

Peter's other recent kids' books include PLANES AT THE AIRPORT and BOATS ON THE RIVER, both from Scholastic.  The Boston Globe calls them “a great way to introduce the idea of travel in simple terms” and The Dallas Morning News lauds the books for "informing and calming very young travelers." 

 

Another picture book, SAY HEY! A SONG OF WILLIE MAYS, came out from Hyperion Books for Children in 2001 and was named a Boston Globe "Quick Pick" for children, a Child Magazine recommended title, a San Francisco Examiner "Bay City Best" and a featured book in USA Today's Sports Weekly. SAY HEY! was one of six titles selected for Hyperion's JUMP AT THE SUN TREASURY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN PICTURE BOOKS and was featured in the "Baseball as America" exhibit curated by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.    

 

Peter's chapter book for children is MY OCEAN LINER: ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC ON THE GREAT SHIP NORMANDIE from Stemmer House, which Publishers Weekly called "a voyage in grand style" and which was featured on a special family sailing on Cunard's QE2. 

 

RED CAT, WHITE CAT, another children's book, came out in 1995 from Henry Holt & Co. and was an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists," a Kirkus Reviews "Best of the Issue," and a Working Mother magazine recommended book. 

 

In 1991, HarperCollins published his humorous book, THE OFFICIAL CAT I.Q. TEST.  His more recent books include THE CAT DICTIONARY (Penguin) and THE OFFICIAL DOG I.Q. TEST (Bonus Books) and he was a contributing author of the best-selling collection, CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE CAT & DOG LOVER'S SOUL.

 

Peter has published his articles and essays in Harper's, Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, National Geographic Kids, The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The Australian, and Delta Sky.  His work is syndicated internationally through Featurewell.com. 

 

Peter has written about destinations abroad including Egypt, Botswana, Brazil's Rio Negro, India, Jordan, the Arctic Circle, Japan's ancient highways, Glasgow, northern Hudson Bay, Uganda, Morocco, China's tea growing country, the African desert, Antarctica, Israel, the Galapagos, and the southern tip of Chile and Argentina.  He was the recipient of a Northern Lights Award in 2006 from the Canadian Tourist Board.

 

Peter also writes about unusual adventures including kayaking in New York harbor, watching polar bears and penguins in the wild, experiencing a coup in Ecuador, driving in India, trekking in the tropical jungle, flying in the cockpit of a commercial airliner, playing baseball with major leaguers, hiking a suburban strip mall, suiting up as a theme park character, and seeing America by metered cab.  He likes baseball, ocean liners, playing tennis, all animals and birds, and checking out just about any place he hasn’t been. 

 

Learn more about Peter at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mandel

 

 

Children's Books, Travel Articles, Essays

Peter and his brother and sister grew up in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, attending City & Country School in Greenwich Village. He has a B.A. from Middlebury College and an M.A. from Brown.

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