Ethan T.

Berlin

Children’s Author

Television Comedy Writer

Travels from: New York, NY

“A satisfying mission to find happiness and fun; mission accomplished.” — Kirkus Reviews

Ethan T. Berlin is an Emmy Award-nominated television comedy writer and a Junior Library Guild selected picture book author. His numerous picture books have been called “hilarious,” and “giggleworthy” by Kirkus Reviews and “recommended for all libraries” by The School Library Journal. Ethan plays the robot L.I.S.A on The Big Fib, a popular children’s podcast that was adapted into a Disney+ TV show and is regularly recommended by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Ethan’s TV credits include “Billy On the Street,” “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell,” and IFC’s “Bunk,” an absurd comedy game show that he co-created with his best friend from high school.

Ethan tackles many social/emotional learning themes in his picture books, including resilience, tolerance, and using humor to overcome trauma. When he’s not writing his own funny stuff, Ethan teaches comedy writing at NYU and Stony Brook University.

Ethan T.'s Featured Titles

How to Write Jokes

In this hour-long workshop, I use my 20 years of comedy writing experience to teach students how to write their very own jokes. I know what you’re thinking, “School is supposed to be serious!” Don’t worry, I’m very serious about joke writing! Why? Because it’s fun and because it inspires a love of writing and reading in students who may not be inspired by more academic writing. Students will be so preoccupied with making each other laugh, they won’t realize that they’re learning important language arts concepts such as exaggeration, point of view, word patterns, irony, satire, reading comprehension, and basic grammar. No teacher preparation required beforehand. Recommend grades 2nd-12th.

Turn Your Emotions Into Stories

This hour-long workshop helps answer that age old question, “How do I come up with a story?!” I teach students how to use their own emotions as a springboard for writing stories. By discussing the emotional origins of my books, The Hugely-Wugely Spider, I Am Not a Dog Toy, and How To Draw a Happy Cat, I demonstrate how student emotions can form the backbone of a compelling story. The workshop covers important social emotional learning skills as well as reading and writing curriculum. No teacher preparation required beforehand. Recommend grades 1st-12th.

Let’s Write a Story!

Learning how to write stories can be daunting, so let’s do it together! In this hour-long workshop, students and I create the outline of a simple story using the concepts of protagonist, protagonist want, antagonists, and overcoming antagonists. Once we create a story together, students break off into small groups to come up with stories of their own. No teacher preparation required beforehand. Recommend grades K-12th.

Add Humor To Your Writing

In this hour-long workshop, I use my 20 years of comedy writing experience to teach students how to add humor to their writing. Why humor? Because it makes any kind of writing more enjoyable for the writer and the reader. Students come into the workshop prepared to discuss a piece of material they’re already writing and then I demonstrate to them how they could add humor to the work. Students will learn important writing concepts such as point of view, setting and breaking expectations, exaggeration, patterns, and storytelling. Student material can be in any genre of fiction or nonfiction. Recommend for grades 3-12th.

“What you’d get if you combined Ed Emberley with If You Give A Mouse A Cookie….. The cat…is adorable, and I find the idea of a How To Draw book that’s ideal for reading aloud to be a very fascinating notion. Keep this one on your radar.” — Betsy Bird, A Fuse #8 Production, School Library Journal

“Fun, exuberant …. A satisfying mission to find happiness and fun; mission accomplished.” — Kirkus Reviews

The Journal of Nonsense

Private Comedy Writing Coaching

For Kids and Students

Honors, Awards & Recognition

2018 Junior Library Guild Selection
2021 Red Bud Read Aloud Award Winner
2022 Junior Library Guild Selection

Praise For The Hugely-Wugely Spider… 2018 Junior Library Guild Selection

“A gigantic spider saves their itsy-bitsy friends in this hilarious twist on an old fingerplay. With remarkably appealing spiders showing energy and emotion on every page, this clever, well-paced story is sure to appeal to children with a taste for zany, self-referential humor.” —Kirkus

“In this debut children’s book, Ethan T. Berlin, an Emmy Award-nominated comedy writer, mines comic gold from that familiar sing-song rhyme about the Itsy Bitsy Spider who climbed up the water spout. The plot line follows the song perfectly, complete with the dire threat of rain which brings Hugely-Wugely to the rescue. The droll illustrations by Karl Newsom Edwards are perfect.” – The Buffalo News

Media clips

WJLA Reston | Reston bookstore hosting stuffed animal sleepovers featuring virtual reading from authors

Buffalo News | Books in Brief: In Search of Us by Ava Dellaira; The Hugely-Wugely Spider by Ethan Berlin

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.

Berlin

How to Write Jokes

Turn Your Emotions Into Stories

Let’s Write a Story!

Add Humor To Your Writing

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Media clips

Media Kit

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