Simon James

An acclaimed author and illustrator, creator of the Red House Children's Book Award-winning Baby Brains.,I like to capture a large world and at the same time give the reader the sense of being drawn in to an intimate moment or place, Simon James says of his work. While many of his charming, whimsical picture books draw readers into the "large world" of nature, Simon James is equally adept at capturing an intimate moment of urban life as well. Take his NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Best Illustrated Book LEON AND BOB, which the author-illustrator set in his own city neighborhood, using a local park as part of the scenery. "LEON AND BOB began when I met Leroy, a soldier who had fought in the Falkland War," Simon James says. "He had just moved into town. He talked about how difficult it had been for his family to settle into a new neighborhood." The author-illustrator also drew from his own memories. "I didn't particularly enjoy my childhood," he admits. "I was very disciplined, and my only route of escape was to immerse myself in imaginary figures." Like the author, Leon gets through by having an invisible friend named Bob, but finds "he has to risk everything, including Bob, in order to meet a real friend," the author notes. "It's only Leon's courage that leads him to discover the magic in the last line of the story." It's the magic of nature that provides the setting for some other of Simon James's picture books, such as SALLY AND THE LIMPET, a breezy fable about the need to respect the natural world, and THE WILD WOODS and THE BIRDWATCHERS, two delightful stories about the wry relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter. In LITTLE ONE STEP, Simon James uses his expressive imagery to tell the tale of a tiny duckling who makes a useful discovery--and to encourage even the most tentative of us to take that first step, no matter how small. While many of Simon James's picture books have a lighthearted quality, the author-illustrator says he does not like stories that are "too polite, with nice things always happening," because "life isn't like that." No such criticism could be applied to his fiendishly funny books about Baby Brains. In BABY BRAINS, Simon James tells--tongue firmly in cheek--the remarkable tale of the smartest baby in the world. "This story came about as many of my friends seemed to be having 'clever' babies of their own," he notes wryly. Simon James's follow-up, BABY BRAINS SUPERSTAR, shows the smartest baby in the world take a turn as a pampered rock idol. With a dazzling custom-made outfit, his (single) hair expertly styled, and a helicopter lowering him onto the massive stage as an enormous crowd roars, Baby Brains is ready to make rock 'n' roll history! Simon James was born in Devon, England, and now lives in Plymouth, England. Between leaving home and starting art school to specialize in graphics, he had fourteen different jobs, including police officer, restaurant worker, real estate agent, and farm worker. "But always at the back of my mind was the desire to perfect my drawing," he says--and the world of picture books is fortunate that he did

Ann James

Paul B. Janeczko

Janeczko's distinctive work provides multiple ways of understanding the experiences of young people through poetry.,Paul B. Janeczko didn't always plan to be a poetry anthologist. "I started out as a kid in New Jersey who had two major goals in life," he says. "To survive one more year of delivering newspapers without being mauled by Ike, the one-eyed, slobbering cur that lurked in the forsythia bushes at the top of the hill, and to become more than a weak-hitting, thirdstring catcher on our sorry Little League team." Though Paul B. Janeczko says he failed to achieve either goal, he did reach college in one piece, and that's when he discovered his love of poetry. After teaching high school English for twenty-two years, he became a visiting poet, and has since worked with young writers in schools from Maine to Alaska as well as abroad. He has also edited twenty poetry anthologies for young readers, many of which have been named Best Books of the Year by the American Library Association. Paul B. Janeczko's acclaimed collaboration with artist Chris Raschka, A POKE IN THE I: A COLLECTION OF CONCRETE POEMS, was both a NEW YORK TIMES Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year and a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Children's Book of the Year. "I hope this 'poke in the I' kicks kids' imaginations into high gear and lets them run wild writing their own concrete poems," the anthologist says. For SEEING THE BLUE BETWEEN: ADVICE AND INSPIRATION FOR YOUNG POETS, he gathered letters and poems from thirty-two internationally renowned poets. "I tried to create a book that I wish I'd had when I was a kid," he says. "Maybe its words would have given me the comfort and encouragement I needed." Unlike A POKE IN THE I, in which Janeczko focuses on only one form of poetry, its sequel, A KICK IN THE HEAD, presents lively examples of twenty-nine poetic forms, demonstrating not only the (sometimes bendable) rules of poetry but also the spirit that brings these forms so wonderfully to life. With WORLDS AFIRE, Paul B. Janeczko sets his anthologist's hat aside and lets his own poetry shine in a full-length work - a stirring fictional account of the 1944 Hartford circus fire. "More than anything else, I wanted to give a voice to the people whose lives were forever changed by the fire," he says. "And to give those who perished a chance to speak as well." And in TOP SECRET: A HANDBOOK OF CODES, CIPHERS, AND SECRET WRITING, the poet-anthologist reveals yet another of his talents - an affinity for codes and ciphers that he shares with young readers in a lively and informative handbook sure to inspire budding secret agents. Poet, anthologist, and secret-code specialist Paul B. Janeczko now lives in Maine with his wife and daughter.

Clare Jarrett

Author-illustrator of Arabella Miller's Tiny Caterpillar and The Best Picnic Ever. Trained at the Royal College of Art, London, Clare won the prestigious Mother Goose Award for her first book Catherine and the Lion.

Mina Javaherbin

Michael Winerip has spent more than 30 years as a reporter. He's covered just about everything out there, from a smile contest in Louisville, Kentucky to a gold plumbing scandal that forced the resignation of a top school official in Miami, Florida. Armed with a collection of colorful stories and a distinct opinion regarding today's educational system (he works as an education columnist for the NEW YORK TIMES), Michael Winerip's debut book for young adults, ADAM CANFIELD OF THE SLASH, is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud story. As they follow Adam and his fellow investigative SLASH reporters at Harris Elementary/Middle School, readers will experience the excitement of breaking the big story along with the characters. Quietly and almost without notice, Michael Winerip weaves his strong ideas on education into many of the pages of ADAM CANFIELD OF THE SLASH. "I've seen overprogrammed children at every school I visit across this country in my job as a NEW YORK TIMES national education columnist." Adam's hectic schedule is a clear example of the lifestyle the author wishes weren't common among today's youth. "I can't believe how much harder kids are pushed today than when I was a kid," he notes. Michael Winerip also believes in nurturing a love for reading. "Part of the joy of reading is starting at the front cover and when you finally get to the back cover, closing that book and putting it away with a feeling of accomplishment and a tinge of sadness; the good ones always end too soon." He crafted ADAM CANFIELD OF THE SLASH to promote such a joy, but with a thoughtful bent, too. "ADAM CANFIELD OF THE SLASH is meant to be a fun read," Michael Winerip says. "But at the same time it's filled with all kinds of tough ethical problems that kids-and adults-try to puzzle through daily." It is with a great appreciation for the nature of children that Michael Winerip penned his first novel for young readers. "Kids are becoming. They're more intellectually interesting." He adds, "As a reporter, I've learned there are only two groups of people who will tell you the truth. One is the elderly . . . the other is kids. They don't have that defensive shell. They'll either tell you the truth or be blatantly dishonest, which is good." With ADAM CANFIELD OF THE SLASH, Michael Winerip achieves what he set out to accomplish: "I hope a young reader will see that you don't have to fly away to a faraway kingdom or ride on a magic train to find battles of epic proportion." Michael Winerip lives in New York with his four children and his wife.

Martin Jenkins

A conservation biologist who has worked for WWF, the UN, and as an award-winning author of wildlife books for children.

Anita Jeram

The illustrator of the multi-million selling picture book phenomenon Guess How Much I Love You.,For Anita Jeram, illustrating the phenomenal bestseller GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU by Sam McBratney was a labor of love. Even today, she says, "Every time I read this book, I want to cry. The story reminds me so much of my own son, who often plays this kind of game with me when it's time for bed." An immediate problem arose during her early brainstorming for the illustrations, however: she had never actually seen a hare. Trying to be helpful, her paleontologist husband brought a stuffed hare home from the museum. In the end though, the winsome Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare grew out of her imagination. Recently, Anita Jeram's son inspired her art once again. As she recalls, her son once asked her which of the children in their family was the best--himself, his brother, or his sister. Anita Jeram explained they were all equal in her eyes, and he came back with another question: "Okay, then, who's the cleanest?" She laughs, "There's always one in every family." To answer this timeless question--who is the favorite child?--Anita Jeram reunited with author Sam McBratney to create YOU'RE ALL MY FAVORITES, a comforting tale in which Mommy and Daddy Bear reassure their three worried cubs that there's plenty of love to go around. Even before starting her illustrations for YOU'RE ALL MY FAVORITES, however, Anita Jeram had plenty of practice painting bears--in a noticeably different style. KISS GOOD NIGHT, a tender bedtime tale about a mother bear and a little bear, was a collaboration between Anita Jeram and acclaimed author Amy Hest. "I had recently finished illustrating part of IN EVERY TINY GRAIN OF SAND (edited by Reeve Lindbergh), using acrylic paint for the first time, and I thought acrylics would give the pictures for KISS GOOD NIGHT some depth and warmth that I couldn't seem to get with watercolors," she says. "I visited the London zoo to look at the bears for inspiration, but it was a cold day and they all huddled asleep. So in the end I think Mrs. Bear is based on myself. She's rather tall and big built, but I hope she looks like a nice comforting mom to have." The illustrator carries the same soothing style into two sequels, DON'T YOU FEEL WELL, SAM? and YOU CAN DO IT, SAM, drawing on her own children for inspiration. "My children love the anticipation of a snowfall, and to see a 'brand-new' crisp, white landscape outside is like magic," she says. The illustrator of many other popular and critically acclaimed books for children, including ALL PIGS ARE BEAUTIFUL by Dick King-Smith, Anita Jeram has also written several children's books of her own. As author-illustrator of BUNNY, MY HONEY, a sweet story of a bunny lost and then found, Anita Jeram was able to exercise her rabbit-drawing skills. A rabbit is also the hero of I LOVE MY LITTLE STORYBOOK, Anita Jeram's magical tribute to the wonderful world of books. Anita Jeram, a native of Portsmouth, England, studied art at Manchester Polytechnic and published her first book for children while she was still a student. Today, she lives in Northern Ireland with her family and a menagerie of pet animals. In the future she hopes to establish a wildlife sanctuary.

Martina Jirankova-Limbrick

Czech fine artist and author-illustrator of The Artful Alphabet.

Mo Johnson