Authors

Learn about your favorite authors and illustrators.

Happy 100th Birthday to Margaret Wise Brown!

The author of Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny still has books coming out! When she died in 1952, she left hundreds of unpublished manuscripts. In addition, some old favorite books of hers are republished with new illustrations.

Jennifer and Matthew Holm

Jennifer and Matthew Holm are the authors of the Babymouse books. They are brother and sister. Jennifer has also written books such as Our Only May Amelia and Penny from Heaven. Matt is a graphic designer.

Matt Christopher

Pick a sport--any sport--and Matt Christopher has written a book about it!

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Geisel wrote 47 books under the name Dr. Seuss. He also wrote under the name of Theo Lesieg, but he did not draw the illustrations for those books.

Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkey has illustrated over 100 books since 1964. Read more about him and view some of his art work on JerryPinkneyStudio.com

Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 to a wealthy English family. Beatrix was an especially talented artist and she originally wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit for the child of a friend. Because editors were not interested in publishing this story, she used her own money to publish it herself!

Jim Benton

Jim Benton started by designing T shirts, moved onto cartoons and now is the author of the Franny K Stein books as well as the Dear Dumb Diary books.

Dan Gutman

Dan Gutman lives in New Jersey and has always wanted to be a writer. He has written articles and books for grownups, but has become famous for his kid's books, especially his Baseball Card books and My Weird School books.

When I Was Young in the Mountains book jacket

Cynthia Rylant

Cynthia Rylant grew up in West Virginia. As a kid, she loved animals and playing—especially playing cops and robbers. She still loves animals and puts lots of them in her books.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

Margaret Haddix was a newspaper reporter before she began writing fiction. She often wrote while her young children slept, so she had to make the stories exciting enough to keep herself awake! Her kids are teens now, but the books are still exciting.

Claudia Mills

Colorado author, Claudia Mills is a philosophy professor by day, a mom of 2 boys all the time; writing is her way to begin her morning. She started writing poetry when she was six, branched off into memoirs in 8th grade, and stories midway through graduate school.

Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

Helen Lester is and author and Lynn Munsinger is an illustrator who have worked together on lots of books including Tacky the Penguin.

Mo Willems

Mo Willems started off writing funny skits for Sesame Street and then shows for Cartoon Network. Now he also writes and illustrates books for kids that make us laugh out loud, like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Alex Greven

Alex Greven, a ten year old from Castle Rock has written three books! The first book How to Talk to Girls might get made into a movie. He has appeared on lots of TV shows to talk about his books and you can watch this interview on Borders.com.

Tomie dePaola

Tomie lives and works in a studio in a 200 year-old renovated barn in New London, New Hampshire.
Tomie dePaola’s books have been published in 15 different countries and he has received many children’s book awards. He has illustrated over 200 books and written 100 of those books. Here are some of our favorites!

Linda Ashman

Celebrate April as National Poetry Month by reading some great poetry and rhyming books from Colorado author, Linda Ashman. Visit Ms. Ashman's website for more information about the books and lesson plans.

Read all Linda Ashman's books or try Swoop's favorites.

Lemony Snicket

Check out Lemony Snicket's newest books, A Lump of coal or The Composer is Dead. If you must suffer more, read on!

Read all about all the horror in The Series of Unfortunate Events

Eric Carle

The Very Hungry Catepillar is over 49 years old!
"What I do, is try to entertain and delight the child in me," Eric Carle

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in 1867 in the log cabin described in Little House in the Big Woods. She and her family traveled by covered wagon aross the frontier, and when she was grown she told of her adventures in the Little House books. These beloved books have been cherished by millions of readers ever since they were first published over sixty years ago.

Visit LittleHouseBooks.com for information about all the books, the author, recipes, games, crafts and more.

Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo was raised in Florida but as an adult moved to Minnesota. One really cold winter she was really homesick for warm Florida and she also was sad because she did not have a dog. So she wrote a book set in Florida about a great dog. The result? Because of Winn Dixie which became a bestseller!

Betsy Byars

Betsy Byars has written over 60 books for kids. She writes easy readers, novels, series and even nonfiction.

Fun Fact: Ms. Byars has her pilot license and she and her husband live on an airstrip. The first floor of their house is a hanger for their plane!

Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is a middle school teacher, who often teaches mythology. That's where he got his idea for the Percy Jackson books about a boy who is a demigod. Mr. Riordan wrote the first book in the 39 Clues series, Maze of Bones. He also writes books for adults.

The question he gets asked most frequently: How to pronounce his name. Rick’s last name is pronounced Ryer’-dan. (First syllable rhymes with fire)

Don't forget to visit the Percy Jackson website! Can't get enough? Try these Percy Jackson readalikes.

Jon Scieszka

Jon Scieszka is a former teacher who loves to write funny stories.
Check out the GuysRead website for great suggestions on books for boys.

Barbara Park

Barbara Park has written picture books, chapter books and middle school books, but she is most famous for her Junie B Jones books. Check out Junie B's very own website!

Andrew Clements

Andrew Clements writes picture books, chapter books and books for teens. He is most famous for his school stories starting with Frindle maybe because he was a teacher for years! Andrew Clements started as a writer writing songs but likes writing children's books better.

Paul O. Zelinsky

Paul Zelinsky illustrates lots of your favorite books and won a Caldecott Award for Rapunzel. He likes to try different types of art like watercolors, pastels, oils or ink.

Donna M. Jackson

Donna M. Jackson loves reality, and wants to dispel the notion that nonfiction is BORING. She proved that with her first book, The Bone Detective. Other books followed, and her latest, Phenomena: Secrets of the Senses, explores the mysteries of the senses we take for granted – and will intrigue and entice you to read more!

Caroline Stutson

Caroline Stutson has nine picture books with a 10th book, Cats’ Night Out, presently being illustrated. Her very first book, By the Light of the Halloween Moon, is being reissued – watch for it! Currently, she’s writing a book about her dog, Seymour, who keeps life very interesting, but then, Caroline is a big cat and dog fan.

Pedro the Angel of Olvera Street book jacket

Leo Politi

"'It was during the depression, and many a night my wife sat patiently at my side as I did water colors in front of the El Paseo Cafe. I might sketch the woman making tortillas in the puesto across from us, or the three Mexican musicians singing near us, or the little urchins running up and down the street. Sometimes, with just a knife, I carved on discarded blocks of wood I found. And many a cold night we waited for customers who never came.'"

Erin Hunter

Did you know that Erin Hunter, author of the Warriors books, is actually three people?!

drawing of Greg Heffley from http://www.wimpykid.com/

Jeff Kinney

Who published a very funny book online that has been visited more than 50 million times?

Kevin Henkes

"I remember drawing at a very early age. I loved it. And my parents and teachers told me I was good at it - that made me love it all the more."

Steve Jenkins

Steve Jenkins likes to write books that answer questions about the world around us. He is inspired by questions his children ask and by things in nature that fascinate him. He is married to Robin Page and they have created several books together.

Shirley Hughes

Can you imagine growing up without television, dvds, or a computer? When Shirley Hughes was a child in England in the 1930’s, they had only a radio. She and her sisters played, put on dramas, drew pictures, and read books--a good start for becoming an artist and a writer!

Mem Fox

Mem Fox is Australia’s most famous picture-book author! She has written more than 30 picture books for kids.

Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson creates bold, beautiful paintings to illustrate books. He is especially interested in books that bring African-American history and stories to life. His illustrations truly make these stories memorable and special.

Cornelia Funke

“I always wanted to ride a dragon myself,” said Cornelia Funke in a Scholastic interview, “so I decided to do this for a year in my imagination.” From this imaginative ride came her book, Dragon Rider. Many of her books step into magical worlds.

Bruce Coville

Syracuse, New York has been Bruce Coville’s home for most all of his life. He loves writing books and has written many series. Bruce first thought he could become a writer in sixth grade when his teacher gave him extra time to finish a long story.

screen shot from http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/author_profile.php?id=914

Martin Waddell

Author Martin Waddell can wiggle his ears and wanted to play football as an adult. Instead he has become an award winning author. His children’s books are about the lives of animals.

Beverly Cleary

Beverly Cleary has been a children’s librarian and loved to do story times. Her interest in writing for children began when she was very young. Mostly she wanted to write about the children in her childhood neighborhood.

Dick King-Smith

Dick King-Smith lives with his wife in a small English cottage. After 20 years as a farmer he became a teacher and noted author of children’s books. He enjoys writing for children and meeting the children who read his books. His best known book is Babe, the Gallant Pig.

Ezra Jack Keats

Ezra Jack Keats was interested in art at an early age and wrote and illustrated over 85 children’s books by the time he was 83. He was born March 11, 1916. Keats was the first American children’s book author to give the African-American child a central place in children’s literature.

Judy Blume

Judy Blume has written over 22 books for children. She grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Some of her ideas for books came from her childhood memories, her own children and her imagination. Judy is the founder and trustee of the Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation. She is well known for her Fudge books.

Bill Peet

Bill Peet was born in Grandview, Indiana. As a young boy he loved trains and he loved to draw. He worked for Disney Studios as a story writer and book illustrator. Bill Peet wrote over 30 books for children and won many awards. His favorite subjects to write about were animals, trains and the circus.

Rosemary Wells

Rosemary Wells is both an author and illustrator of books for children of all ages. She has written and illustrated over 60 children’s books and has won many awards.

Brian Jacques

We have many of the books written by Brian Jacques including the Redwall series and the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. Come in and check them out!

If you like Brian Jacques' books, you might also like these Redwall readalikes.

screen shot from http://www.spiderwick.com/

Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Before Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi began writing and illustrating books as a team in 2003, Tony was busy writing, illustrating, and publishing Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-This-World, Moon Pie Adventure in 2000. Holly wrote Tithe, a young adult novel, published in 2002. Both Holly’s and Tony’s books were highly acclaimed. Once they began collaborating on The Spiderwick Chronicles, the fans couldn’t get enough of the books. They continue to work together on various projects, as well as writing individual books.

Jenny Nimmo

Jenny Nimmo says: "I live and work in a rural community in Wales where… place names hark back to legend and it seems to me that the past is still part of the rhythm of everyday life. My books are concerned with the very real problem of growing children, and most of them are set in a landscape which is undeniably magical; they are described as fantasies."

David McPhail

Ever since he was a child David McPhail has loved to draw. As a very young boy he started by drawing on paper bags his grandmother cut up for him. He would put his finished drawings into his little red wagon, and take them over to his girlfriend’s house as a gift. His favorite things he likes to draw are animals, especially bears and pigs.

Jack Prelutsky

Jack Prelutsky was born on September 8, 1940, and hated learning poems when he was a kid. After he grew up, he drew a bunch of silly pictures once and decided to write funny little rhymes to go with. His friend didn’t think the pictures were that good, but he loved the poems and told him they should be in a book! Mr. Prelutsky has been writing poems and making kids (and adults) laugh out loud ever since.

Ludwig Bemelmans

Ludwig Bemelmans was born in Austria in 1898 and came to New York as a teenager. He was an artist and writer for grown-ups and didn’t start writing children’s books until he was 36 years old! Mr. Bemelmans wrote stories about many characters, but his most beloved is Madeline.

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