Biography

Phil Bildner is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for kids. His latest book is the 2021 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor-winning middle grade novel, A High Five for Glenn Burke. He is the author of many children’s picture books including the Margaret Wise Brown Prize winning Marvelous Cornelius, the Texas Bluebonnet Award winning Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy, Martina & Chrissie, Twenty-One Elephants, and The Soccer Fence. Phil is also the author of A Whole New Ballgame, Rookie of the Year, Tournament of Champions, and Most Valuable Players in the critically acclaimed middle grade Rip & Red series.

Phil grew up in Jericho, New York, a Long Island suburb of New York City. He studied political science at Johns Hopkins University and then attended law school at New York University School of Law. After passing the bar in New York and New Jersey, Phil worked as an associate at a large Manhattan law firm but quickly realized he needed to follow his heart and true passions. He went back to school and earned a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education at Long Island University.

For eleven years, Phil taught in the New York City Public Schools. Teaching fifth and sixth grade in the Tremont section of the Bronx in the 1990s, he built an innovative ELA curriculum around song lyrics and music. Dave Matthews, Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Lauryn Hill, and Wyclef Jean all visited his classroom. Teaching middle school English and American History in Manhattan in the 2000s, Phil continued to integrate music and the arts into his curriculum, working with the Lincoln Center Institute, Broadway shows (Wicked, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and Off-Broadway shows (Def Poetry Jam, De la Guarda).

After leaving the classroom to write full time, Phil began chaperoning student-volunteer trips to New Orleans to help in the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery effort. He founded The NOLA Tree, a non-profit youth service organization and served as the co-Executive Director.

In 2017, Phil founded The Author Village, this author booking business. He now represents over fifty book creators for young people and educators.

These days, Phil lives in Newburgh, New York with his husband in a two hundred year old farmhouse. Most of the time, you’ll find him out in the yard playing with his dog named Kat, hanging with his cats named Primrose and Rue, or working on the back porch (aka, his office) overlooking the Hudson River.