What is your favorite book? Have you ever wanted to know more about the life of the person who wrote it?
These picture book biographies explore the lives of the award-winning authors, illustrators and LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) literary trailblazers responsible for some of our most beloved stories.
Read on and guess: Who bought an entire flower cart with their first paycheck? What author-illustrator duo were friends? Who sometimes lived in France and Switzerland? Then check out their biographies to learn the answers to those questions.
When you were very young, someone might have read Goodnight Moon to you at bedtime. The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown shares the story of the creative and inventive woman who wrote and illustrated this classic bedtime book and many others.
Has a teacher ever read Miss Nelson Is Missing! to your classroom, or maybe dressed as Viola Swamp for Halloween? When you read Jim! you’ll learn the true story behind James Marshall’s inspiration for that famously frightening teacher. You might also want to read The Owl and the Pussycat after learning why it was dedicated to a man named Billy. Or you might want to revisit his Caldecott Honor book Red Riding Hood.
Do you remember reading Frog and Toad Are Friends back when you were learning how to read? Outside in and the Inside Out tells the story of author and illustrator Arnold Lobel.
Goldfinches is a beautiful, illustrated adaptation of the poem by Mary Oliver. Artist Melissa Sweet uses mixed media collage that includes thistle down and pieces of bird nests to bring the natural world to life. In Woods & Words author Sara Holly Ackerman tells the story of Mary Oliver who found her poems by paying close attention to the worlds around her.
In Jimmy's Rhythm & Blues, Michelle Meadows explore the life of author James Baldwin. Although James Baldwin’s best-known work was written for adults, he did write Little Man, Little Man a children’s book that was recently reissued.
And I Am Jazz is special because Jazz Jennings co-authored her own story of advocating for a body that matched her brain when she was still a kid, helping many kids and adults learn more about gender.
Who are you and who might you be someday? What will you create?
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