“A must-have for any elementary school or middle school library, this magical and heartening novel will keep readers engaged until the end. A perfect fit for fans of realistic fiction and fantasy alike.” — School Library Journal, starred review

Natalie Lloyd is the New York Times Bestselling Author of novels for young readers.

Her first novel, A Snicker of Magic (2014), was an ALA Notable Book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a top 10 Kids Indie Next Pick and an NPR, iBooks and Parents Magazine best book of the year for children. The book has been optioned for television by Sony Tristar. Natalie’s other novels include The Key to Extraordinary (Scholastic 2016), The Problim Children series (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen 2017), and Over the Moon (Scholastic 2019). These novels have won accolades from Entertainment Weekly, Junior Library Guild, SIBA, Amazon and Bank Street College of Education, among others. Silverswift, her first Audible Original, was published in 2020. Hummingbird, her seventh (and most personal) novel for kids, was published in August 2022. The novel received four starred reviews and, in January 2023, was awarded a Schneider Family Honor Award by the American Library Association. Her next novel, The Witching Wind, will be available in Fall 2024 from Scholastic.

Natalie writes in the shadows beside a sunny window in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She loves adventuring with her husband, Justin, and their dogs.

Natalie's Featured Titles

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Chasing Fireflies: Ideas, Inspiration, and the Sparkly Path to Storytelling

Where do authors get ideas for books? What inspires a story? In Natalie’s most popular school presentation, she shows readers how she draws from her own elementary and middle school memories – plus all sorts of other sparkly curiosities – to create her novels. She also talks about the road to publication including revision, rejection, and the magic of collaboration. Students will leave excited to create their own storytelling magic.

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The Character Creation Lab: The Two Things Every Character Needs to Come Alive

Utilizing some of her most popular characters as examples, Natalie tells students the two things she has to know about every character to make each story shine. She also highlights examples from her books – and life – to help readers learn to incorporate all the elements of storytelling they’re already learning in class. Readers will leave with tangible tools to make their own stories stronger — and have more fun writing them.

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Finding Narnia: How the Roar of a Good Story Can Change a Life

In this presentation for adults, Natalie shares her love of children’s literature and her own path to publication. She also shares candidly about her physical disability, osteogenesis imperfecta, and how this impacted her life as a reader and writer. This presentation is popular among librarians, teachers, fellow writers and anybody whose life has ever been transformed by the magic of books … and the roar of a good story.

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Young Writers Workshops

Natalie offers three styles of workshops for young readers. Ideally, this format is best for groups of 25 or less. In the first workshop, Camp Story, young writers will be given several prompts and asked to write a story based on one before the visit. During the workshop, Natalie asks volunteers to talk about their work. Together, students discuss the elements of storytelling as they see each other’s inspirations and learn from their classmates’ creativity. This session involves only positive feedback. Natalie also offers young writers workshops on character creation and story mechanics.

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Honors, Awards & Recognition

New York Times Bestselling Author
An ALA Notable Book Recipient
An ALA Schneider Family Honor Award Winner
An ALA Odyssey Honor Award Winner
An E.B. White Read Aloud Honor Book Award
A SIBA Children’s Book Award Finalist
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Winner for Children’s Literature
Jr. Library Guild Gold Selections
A Nerdy Book Club Award Winner
NCTE Charlotte Huck Recommended Book
A Siba Okra Pick

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.

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