Toni Buzzeo is passionate about children’s literature. Having been a classroom educator and then a school librarian for many years, she has been surrounded by it. That’s also why she writes for children, though that’s not the only reason. “Just as importantly,” she says, “I love children and consider them, wherever they may be, to…

Josh Selig loves writing, and he’s actively been doing it since he was in high school. The type of writing, he says, varies from scripts to poems to songs. “I can’t actually imagine a life without writing,” Josh told Cracking the Cover. “For me, writing is like a friend who’s always there who totally understands…

Kate Coombs says she’s read some books for grown-ups, including the classics as an English major, but it’s children’s books that have always called to her. “Even while I was in college, I used to study in the children’s book section of the library,” the author told Cracking the Cover. “Those were the books that…

Music and culture have always been a part of Cedella Marley’s life. Growing up with Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley as a father made it impossible not to. As Marley’s oldest child, Cedella has worked hard to keep her father’s memory alive, with her most recent foray being that of a picture book based on her…

Anna Dewdney has been illustrating stories of her own creation from the time she was a very little girl. And though she got illustration work almost immediately after college, it took her about 20 years to convince a publisher to buy one of her books. Now the successful author/illustrator of the Llama Llama books, Anna…

Part 2 of 2. Read Part 1. Arthur, a loveable aardvark “trying to navigate the mud puddles of life” is now one of the most popular children’s book characters in the world. And it all started with a bedtime story. Author/illustrator Marc Brown’s son asked him for a bedtime story about a weird animal, and…

Part 1 of 2 He’s sold over 65 million books in the United States alone. And his TV show has been seen by children in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. Who am I talking about? Marc Brown, of course. It’s been 35 years since Marc’s lovable aardvark, Arthur, made his debut…

Like any creative thing that you do, it’s nice to have it go away for a while and then be able to look at it again and revisit it, says author/illustrator Jan Brett. Looking at the finished of “The 3 Little Dassies,” Jan gets the feeling of being back in Namibia. “We really need to…