Rob Dunlavey

Rob is currently at work on children’s picture books for Random House and Simon & Schuster. Rob is represented by Pippin Properties, Inc. a boutique literary agency specializing in children's books. His illustrations have also been commissioned by The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Businessweek, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Plansponsor, The Appalachian Mountain Club, Houghton-Mifflin, Cengage, Harcourt, Scholastic, The Miami Children's Museum and the Children's Museum of the East End (Long Island) and many others. He has also illustrated several children's stories for Bayard Presse in France.

Rob earned a BA in Fine Art (painting, drawing & sculpture) at Southern Illinois University and went on to an MFA in sculpture at Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, CA) and has exhibited his paintings and drawings in many locations. In 2009 he exhibited paper sculptures and children's book illustrations at The American Library in Paris.

Here are a few samples from Rob's children's book illustration portfolio:

Learn more about Rob on his website

Kathi Appelt

Kathi Appelt is a prolific writer. Her book, The Underneath was a Newbery Honor book and her other books have won many awards. You can find out more about Kathi on her website.

Kathi describes her dot, "This is the face of my beautiful little muse, Jazz.  She’s mostly Tonkinese, but we call her Talkinese because she has so much to say.  Against her dark little face, her eyes are strikingly blue.  When I’m working, she stays right beside me.  You could say she keeps her eyes on me."

I want to give a shout-out to our dear friends at Pippin Properties for helping to connect the dots with Kathi. I love the Pippins! 

Tiffany Schmidt

Tiffany Schmidt writes YA novels -- her first, "Send Me A Sign," will be out in October 2012 and the second, "Bright Before Sunrise", comes out in March 2014. 

Learn more about Tiffany on her website

Wendell Minor

Wendell Minor is an amazing illustrator and his work can be seen in dozens of books. Just this week, his work is featured in the just released  book/ebook  "Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project", a charity book with proceeds to go to breast cancer research. 

"Wendell Minor draws upon his lifelong affinity for environmental issues to create illustrations for children's books, which he finds especially satisfying, as they allow him to combine his love of the outdoors with his independent pursuits – including painting the landscape from life, in the tradition of classic American painters such as Homer, Hopper, and Wyeth. His wish is to inspire children to go out into the fields and woods and mountains to see wildlife in its natural habitat, and to give the children a positive perspective about the beauty that abounds in the world. Happily, the poets and authors whose words he illustrates share his deep respect for the natural world." Read more about Wendell and his wife, Florence.

You can learn more about Wendell and Florence (and purchase prints of his work) on the website.

Click on these books and you can go to an indie bookstore to buy personalized & signed copies!

Sarah Weeks

SARAH WEEKS has written more than fifty picture books and novels for children and young adults including the best selling novel, So B. It.

Her newest novel, PIE was the inspiration for her dot. In addition to writing, Sarah does many author visits in schools across the country each year.  She is also an adjunct faculty member in the prestigious Writing Program at the New School University in New York City and a founding member of ART, a traveling troupe of authors who perform reader's theatre at conventions and conferences across the country. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she splits her time between her homes in Nyack, NY and Callicoon Center, NY.  For more information about Sarah and her books please visit her at www.SarahWeeks.com.