Pat Cummings

Meet the Author/Illustrator

Pat Cummings was born in Chicago. However, her family moved often because her father was in the army. They lived in Germany, in Japan, and in several different states. When she got to a new school, Pat Cummings's interest in art helped her to meet other kids.

Since she was very small, Pat Cummings has been drawing. It was in fifth grade that she first learned that art could be a good business. She sold her pictures of ballerinas for nickels, dimes, or sweets. She went on to study art at college, and then began working as a graphic artist. Her first job was drawing posters for a children's theater.

Pat Cummings says that her ideas for stories or for pictures often come from things around her or from her dreams. Sometimes, though, ideas just hit her "smack in the head when I'm doing something like swimming or reading." She has even been known to get up and start painting in the middle of the night because an idea is keeping her awake.

Today, Pat Cummings lives and works in a loft in Brooklyn, New York. From her windows she can see the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

To make her pictures personal, she often uses her family and friends as models.

Like her character Alex in Carousel, Pat Cummings has some great dreams about flying!

List of books that she is illustrator or author and illustrator:

Mike Artell

Mike Artell is an award-winning children's book author, illustrator and television cartoonist. Mike's books include nationally recognized lift-the-flap board books for small children and non-fiction books for older children. Mike has also written and illustrated teacher and parent resource books on subjects as diverse as ecology, parties, drawing and young authorship. In addition to his work as an author and illustrator, Mike also has extensive experience as:

· A musician who plays guitar, bass, keyboard and blues harmonica.
· A storyteller who regularly performs original poems and tales.
· A newspaper editorial cartoonist.
· A magazine and greeting card writer and cartoonist.
· A keynote speaker for major educational conferences.
· A marketing consultant/board member for several high technology companies.
· The host of his own television cartooning show.

Each year, Mike shares his books and his writing/drawing techniques with thousands of students at dozens of schools across the country. During that same year, Mike typically writes and illustrates 2 books, conducts 6 teacher workshops, addresses 10 educational conferences and visits 6 libraries or children's museums.

Mike also conducts "author/illustrator in residence" programs at schools. Mike has personally guided more than 4,000 students through the process of writing and illustrating their own picture books. For this work, Mike was recognized by the Northshore (LA) chapter of the International Reading Association for "exemplary service in the promotion of literacy."