Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Janni Lee Simner

Janni Lee Simner is a prolific writer of short stories and novels for young readers.  She's the author of the Bones of Faerie trilogy, comprising Bones of Faerie, Faerie Winter, and the forthcoming Faerie After.

Here, Janni poses with an origami Triceratops made by her husband Larry Hammer.  She and Larry live in Tucson.
 

Writers and Illustrators and Prehistoric Beasts: Lisa Wheeler

Lisa Wheeler is the award-winning author of more than twenty-five books, including DINO-BASEBALL, DINO-SOCCER, DINO-HOCKEY, and DINO-BASKETBALL, all illustrated by Barry Gott (who also illustrated Cyn's HOLLER LOUDLY); and MAMMOTHS ON THE MOVE, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus.  Originally from Pennsylvania, she now lives in Michigan.

Below, Lisa poses with a mammoth femur cast at the Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Gayleen Rabakukk

Gayleen Rabakukk is a freelance writer living in Edmond, Oklahoma.  She holds a BA in journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

She has a nice review of CHRONAL ENGINE at her blog.

Below, she poses with a replica Apatosaurus femur that marks a former fossil quarry in the Oklahoma panhandle – the setting for her latest manuscript.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Shelley Ann Jackson [Updated]

Shelley Ann Jackson is the co-author-illustrator (with her husband Jeff Crosby) of LITTLE LIONS, BULL BAITERS, AND HUNTING HOUNDS: A HISTORY OF DOG BREEDS (Tundra Books 2008) and HARNESS HORSES, BUCKING BRONCOS, AND PIT PONIES: A HISTORY OF HORSE BREEDS (Tundra Books 2011), and co-illustrator of UPON SECRECY (Boyds Mills Press 2009).

Shelley is a graduate of the MFA illustration program of the School of Visual Arts in New York City.  In addition to writing and illustrating, she teaches art classes at Austin Museum of Art - Laguna Gloria and at Dougherty Arts Center, both in Austin.

Below, she poses with rescues a pair of waifs, her daughter Harper and her niece Hadley, in front of from a T.rex at the Denver Museum of Natural History.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Donna Jo Napoli

Donna Jo Napoli is the author of numerous books for young readers, including (most recently) the TREASURY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY (National Geographic 2011), and LIGHTS ON THE NILE (HarperCollins 2011).   Her books have received countless awards and a veritable globular cluster of stars.  You should read them all.

She lives outside Philadelphia, holds degrees in mathematics and linguistics, and is a professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College. 

Above, she poses with her grandchildren, Hayden (Triceratops) and Aspen (dragon).

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Elizabeth Dulemba

Graphic designer Elizabeth O. Dulemba is the author of more than a dozen picture books, the most recent being THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA (Sterling 2010).

She is the illustrator coordinator for the Southern Breeze chapter of the SCBWI; a Board Member of the Georgia Center for the Book; and has taught illustration at the University of Georgia.  She blogs at Elizabeth O. Dulemba and runs Coloring Page Tuesdays.

Above, she poses with a googly-eyed hadrosaur (sp. indet.) at a school in Augusta.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Laura Jennings

Laura Jennings grew up in Kempner, Texas, and studied fine art at Central Texas Community College and Texas Tech University, as well as animation at Austin Community College.  She has developed characters for the video game Shard and is a member of Austin SCBWI.

Laura had some terrific dinosaur pieces on display at the Austin SCBWI's annual conference last month.  Above, she poses with some of the creations. Another appears below.  You can check out more of them at her gallery here.

How to be a Children's Book Illustrator (Mark Mitchell's blog) has an interview with Laura here and Laura's main deviantArt page and blog are here.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Debbi Michiko Florence

Debbi Michiko Florence is a third generation Japanese-American and has lived in Mexico, China, New York, and Michigan.  She presently resides in California.  She holds a degree in zoology, volunteered as a "raptor rehabilitator" (the avian kind), and ran a "dino camp" at the Detroit Zoo.

In adidition to writing fiction, Debbi is the author of JAPAN: A KALEIDOSCOPE KIDS BOOK and CHINA: A KALEIDOSCOPE KIDS BOOK, both available from Williamson Books.

Above, Debbi poses with a T.rex at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. 

Below, she's in the London Natural History Museum with the pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni.  The woman in the photo on the wall is Mary Anning, one of the earliest and most prolific fossil hunters (and who discovered several ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.).

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Dianne de Las Casas

Dianne de Las Casas is a storyteller and an author of professional books for teachers and librarians, as well as books for children, including the forthcoming DINOSAUR MARDI GRAS (Pelican Publishing 2012).  With a father in the military, as a child she lived in the Philippines, Hawaii, and Spain.  She now lives with her family in the New Orleans area.

She is a founder of Picture Book Month, celebrating the look and feel of picture books!

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: E.C. Myers

Photo by Ellen Wright

E.C. Myers writes fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels.  Of Korean and German descent, he hails originally from Yonkers, New York, and now works as a development writer for a children's hospital.

His first young adult novel, FAIR COIN, is forthcoming in March 2012 from Pyr Books.

Above, he poses with his wife Carrie, a former children's book editor and presently a medical student, at the American Museum of Natural History.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Meredith Davis

Meredith Davis writes picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels.  A former bookseller at Toad Hall, she is the founder of the Austin Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and served for three years as its Regional Adviser.  She recently completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

She blogs at Stories in the Street.

  The lad with the gimlet eye is her son, Benji. 

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Sarah Blake Johnson

Sarah Blake Johnson holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.  A writer and photographer, she currently lives in Frankfurt, Germany, where the above picture was taken.

She has lived in Brazil, China, and in many places in the United States.  Her blog, Explorations, offers glimpses into her world. Another view of the stegosaur above is shown below, along with one of the world's smallest libraries.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Elizabeth Law

All right, this one features neither a writer nor a dinosaur, but a children's literature professional and a prehistoric mammal.  But the photo (below) was too good to pass up.

So, henceforth, I am expanding the feature to include all children's literature professionals, including teachers, librarians, editors, agents, book designers, etc., as well as authors and illustrators.  But I'm still going to call it "Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs," because "Children's Literature Professionals and Prehistoric Beasts" is too unwieldy.  Be warned :-).

So if you're in the business, drop me a pic at greg AT gregleitichsmith DOT com.

And, now, the featured guest:

Elizabeth Law began her career in children's publishing as an assistant at Viking Children's Books, leaving eighteen years later as associate publisher of both Viking and Frederick Warne imprints.

After nearly four years as vice president and associate publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Elizabeth joined Egmont USA four years ago as its publisher.

Above, Elizabeth Law poses with Broadway star Anthony Rapp in front of a proboscidean at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Kelly Milner Halls

Kelly Milner Halls grew up in Texas, went to high school in California, and now lives in the Pacific Northwest.

She is the author of numerous nonfiction books for young readers, including the RANDOM HOUSE DINOSAUR TRAVEL GUIDE, DINOSAUR PARADE, DINOSAUR MUMMIES, and TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS.  Above, she poses with Pentaceratops.   

She is the editor of, and has a short story in, the forthcoming GIRL MEETS BOY (Chronicle, January 2012), a young adult anthology that features story pairs by Chris Crutcher & Kelly Milner Halls; Joseph Bruchac & Cynthia Leitich Smith; James Howe & Ellen Wittlinger; Terry Trueman & Rita Williams-Garcia; Terry Davis & Rebecca Davis; and Randy Powell & Sara Ryan.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Kathi Appelt

Kathi Appelt is the author of more than thirty picture books and the novels THE UNDERNEATH and KEEPER.  THE UNDERNEATH was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and a 2009 Newbery Honor Book.

Kathi was born in the front seat of her father's Ford and grew up in Houston.  She currently lives in College Station, TX, with her husband Ken and four cats.

Here, she poses with a Tyrannosaurus rex figurine at the hostess's station at Threadgill's in Austin, Texas.

Writers and Dinosaurs: Chris Eboch

Chris Eboch’s novels for ages nine and up include THE EYES OF THE PHARAOH, a mystery in ancient Egypt; THE WELL OF SACRIFICE, a Mayan adventure; and the Haunted series, which starts with THE GHOST ON THE STAIRS. She is also the author of ADVANCED PLOTTING, a guide for helping writers fine-tune their plots.

The picture above was taken while she was fossil hunting with friends in New Mexico.  Embedded in the rock is what is believed to be a fossilized dinosaur bone.

Thanksgiving Dinosaurs!

Turkey, from Wikipedia

Happy Day-After Thanksgiving, everyone!

This year, Cynthia and I hosted a bunch of writers and illustrators for Thanksgiving dinner.

What does that have to do with dinosaurs?  Well, birds are dinosaurs (check out this nifty page at the University of California Paleo Museum), which means that our main course (Meleagris gallopavo) is, as well.  In particular, it is a saurisichian, theropodan, tetanuran, maniraptoran dinosaur.  Check out this graphic for even more Thanksgiving turkey paleo-geekiness.

Chris Barton (THE DAY GLO BROTHERS, SHARK VS. TRAIN, and CAN I SEE YOUR ID?) and I joined Don Tate (dinosaur post)(DUKE ELLINGTON'S NUTCRACKER SUITE, IT JES HAPPENED: WHEN BILL TRAYLOR STARTED TO DRAW, and many more) for the annual Turkey Trot.  Now, I'd never done the Turkey Trot before, but I usually sneak in a three-mile run the morning of Thanksgiving, just because it makes me feel better :-).

All in all, it was an enormously fun event -- well organized and a picturesque route up and around downtown and near west Austin.  I discovered, however, that I am woefully out of shape :-).  

After the race, it was time to stuff the turkey! 

     
I do a traditional giblet and bread stuffing and cook the thing in the oven.  On occasion, I've been tempted to try frying it or even grilling it, but we're still under a burn ban.  And, besides, this way I get stuffing, which is almost my favorite part of the meal.

The bird was from Whole Foods and the bread was from Randall's.
 
So here's the rest of the menu:  to accompany the traditional turkey and stuffing, I made potato salad (this is my mother's recipe and I haven't made it in years), spinach dip (for pre-dinner vegetable snacking), and cheese spread (an approximation of the Win Schuler's Bar Scheeze (alas, without the stone crock)).  Once the turkey came out of the oven, Cyn made green bean casserole, and I made cauliflower mashed potatoes.  We also had frozen sweet corn (off the cob).  Traditionally, Cyn likes shoepeg white corn, but you apparently can't get that here. 

In addition, folks brought the following:

Chris Barton brought corn bread.

Author-illustrator Salima Alikham (THE PIED PIPER OF AUSTIN) and her husband Sam brought some thin sweet potatoes.  We never had these when I was growing up, so I never make them, but I like them and they're a nice tradition.  They also brought a decadent pumpkin cheesecake. 

Author Jenny Moss (WINNIE'S WAR, TAKING OFF) brought a vegetable platter to go with my spinach dip. 

Author-illustrator Divya Srinivasan (LITTLE OWL'S NIGHT) brought oatmeal cookies.

Author Anne Bustard (BUDDY: THE STORY OF BUDDY HOLLY) came with her family's traditional and also awesomely-decadent macadamia nut pie (which is like pecan pie, but with macadamia nuts). In honor of her providing the dessert, here's a link to a great article about the Great Bustard (also an avian dinosaur).

Inasmuch as birds I dinosaurs, I was going to post a few pics of our intrepid guests and our dinner.  Unfortunately, those pics did not turn out.  Sigh.

So here's a shot of a dromaeosaurid and some birds at the Houston Museum of Natural Science:

 

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: K.M. Walton

K.M. Walton is the author of TEACHING NUMERACY: 9 CRITICAL HABITS TO IGNITE MATHEMATICAL THINKING and her fiction debut, the forthcoming CRACKED (Simon Pulse, January 3, 2012).

An elementary and middle school teacher for more than ten years, she now writes full time, is married to her college sweetheart, and has two sons.

Below, she poses with her three year old nephew Alex, who is "crazy about dinosaurs."

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Lita Judge

Lita at age 15 on a dig for the Royal Tyrell Museum

Lita Judge was born in Alaska, spent summers as a child in Wisconsin, and has a degree in geology.  She volunteered for two summers on a dinosaur dig in Canada (above) and is the author/illustrator of, among other books, BORN TO BE GIANTS: HOW BABY DINOSAURS GREW TO RULE THE WORLD.   

Lita sketches at the American Museum of Natural History

Lita's latest release is RED SLED.

Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Lindsey Lane

Lindsey Lane models Tykeosaurs

Austin author Lindsey Lane sent me this pic of her posing with Tykeosaurs, a board book by Tom Arma, that was given to her daughter on her first birthday.

Lindsey grew up in the northeast and is a former feature writer for the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman.  

In addition to be an accomplished playwright, Lindsey is the author of the picture book SNUGGLE MOUNTAIN (Clarion 2003), illustrated by Melissa Iwai. 

SNUGGLE MOUNTAIN is now available as an app.  Lindsey discusses the experience of turning a traditional picture book into an app here.