Joni Klein-Higger is an award-winning Floridian children's book author, songwriter and musical theater playwright/composer/lyricist.  ​​

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Joni's zest and love for music and songwriting began when she was a girl living in the suburbs of New York, and it continued on as she earned her Speech Communications degree from Ithaca College. But it wasn't until she moved to New York City that she learned the ropes (and hard knocks!) of the songwriting business. ​

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Joni was fortunate to have trained and worked with some of New York's finest songwriters and playwrights. Participating in the Songwriter's Guild, The New School Songwriting/Musical Theater Workshops, and "the one and only" BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, she loved living and learning in one of the greatest artistic cities in the world. ​

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Her songs have been recorded by various artists, have been featured in motion pictures, and her children's songs and musicals can be frequently heard ringing throughout the halls of preschools, elementary schools and middle schools across the country. ​

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Joni may have been a songwriter for decades, but her love for writing children's books didn't kick in until she had children of her own. Barnyard Bubbe's Hanukkah, a board book Joni co-wrote with Barbara Sharf (Lerner Publishing Group/Kar-Ben Publishing,) hit #1 on the Amazon Best Sellers List, made The Washington Post Best Holiday Books List, and won a 2023 Creative Child Magazine Book of the Year Award.

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Her upcoming picture book, BAGELS ON THE TABLE, will be released by Candlewick Press in the Spring of 2025.

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