Edmonton children’s author signs deals with Scholastic and McGraw Hill

Alexandra Hoffman was looking for a book for one of her students, one that showed a student with autism as the protagonist, so the student could see themselves reflected in books. When she couldn’t find anything, it lit a spark and led to an unexpected career as a children’s author.

“I had a child on the spectrum, and he wanted to read a book about a kid with autism. I couldn’t find a book with a student with headphones,” says Hoffman. “That’s what inspired me to write the story. I think all kids should be represented in the books they read.”

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Necessity is the mother of invention, and the Edmonton teacher came up with her first children’s book, Masterpiece, released in early 2023. It features a young boy named Samuel who sees the world differently than his peers, which makes him a masterpiece.

It’s a story about acceptance and representation, a story for young students who want to see themselves in books. It’s also gained the attention of book distributor Scholastic and education publisher McGraw Hill, both of whom have signed deals to distribute versions of the book.

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Students and parents will be able to find Masterpiece through the Scholastic book fairs and book club, finding the book through the paper order forms and displays that students see set up in schools across the country. Education publisher McGraw Hill purchased the rights to distribute versions of the book for the education market, including a “big book” version used in classrooms for reading to students.

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It’s a big deal for a local author, who only started writing picture books a few years ago. Hoffman has been a teacher for 15 years, in elementary school and mostly Grades 2 and 3. When looking for books for her students, she says the same protagonists come up again and again in children’s literature: white, able-bodied children having adventures, exploring new locations or meeting interesting and fun people. There was a market for underrepresented kids with disabilities or with just a different interest, kids who don’t normally see themselves in print or leading stories. As Hoffman points out, that’s why representation matters.

That’s where the Incredible Kids Collection comes in, about students who don’t fit traditional roles or who maybe don’t see themselves represented in most picture books. Three others have followed in the collection released after Masterpiece.

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Big Dreams was released in early 2024 about a young girl trying to play football, a sport perceived to be exclusively for boys. The book includes words of inspiration from women in the sport, including B.C. Lions coach Tanya Henderson.

There’s also Sparkle, about a girl who struggles with reading, showing how dyslexia and dysgraphia can put up roadblocks even for eager children. The fourth in the series is Marvelous, published this March, featuring a young child with ADHD.

But it was more than just becoming a writer; Hoffman took the bold move to start her own publishing company to get her books out into the world. It meant a raft of new skills Hoffman had to learn on top of breaking into the author game. She had to do her own marking, her own accounting, look for her own illustrator, all while steering the entire ship herself. But it gave her the chance to break into the publishing world.

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“It takes a long time to get representation. I got a little impatient,” says Hoffman. “Self-publishing is such a beautiful avenue to get your work out. I have learned so much in the world of publishing. Not only am I a writer, but I’m a business owner.”

She’s transformed that early success into a path into the traditional publishing world. Hoffman is working with an agent, trying to get some of her manuscripts in front of interested publishers. She’s also working on a pair of new books in the Incredible Kids Collection, one about a child with anxiety.

Hoffman is also working on expanding her writing into new genres. While she’s focused exclusively on picture books to this point, she’s looking to make the jump into the Young Adult market. But the new genre comes with new challenges.

“It’s a totally different way of thinking. With a novel, you have so much space, but so much with character development, world building and telling a story over many more words,” says Hoffman. “With a picture book, you have maybe 500 words. I have spent weeks, if not months, thinking about one scene.”

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Despite the new genre, Hoffman doesn’t plan to leave her picture book writing behind. She’s started to build a successful career as an author and her fans can expect more from the author trying to bring a voice to under-represented groups in children’s books.

For more information about the author, visit her website

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