Elena Mechlin has been promoted to literary agent at Pippin Properties, Inc.

Prior to joining the agency in 2009, Mechlin worked at Fulcrum Publishing, Simon & Schuster, and Random House.

Mechlin’s client list includes 2013 Newbery Medal-winning author Katherine Applegate, debut young-adult novelist Jason Reynolds, picture-book author Beth Ferry and illustrator Rob Dunlavey. On submissions, she represents clients who create all types of children’s literature projects from picture books through young-adult.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate has won the prestigious John Newbery Medal and Jon Klassen has won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for This Is Not My Hat at the American Library Association’s annual Youth Media Awards.

We’ve linked to free samples of the winning books below.

If you want more books, we made similar literary mixtapes linking to free samples of the NBCC finalists, the most overlooked books of the year, the 2012 Man Booker Longlist, the Best Science Fiction of the Year, the Best Mystery Books of 2012and the Best Business Books of the Year

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Anne Hoppe will be moving from HarperCollins Children’s Books to Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group.

Hoppe spent 18 years at HarperCollins. She will begin in her new role as senior executive editor starting January 23, 2013.

Some of the authors on her list include When I Grow Up author “Weird Al” Yankovic, Discworld series author Sir Terry Pratchett, Carnival of Souls author Melissa Marr and Animorphs series author Katherine Applegate. In a past interview, Yankovic talked about how he and Hoppe came together for his debut picture book project.