Pennies for Elephants is the 2009 NH Literary Award winner for Outstanding Work of Children’s Literature!

Yellowstone Moran was released in September, 2009 from Viking. This is a book I’ve wanted to write since I was four years old. As a child, I spent several weeks every year camping in the Yellowstone region, while my parents photographed Grizzly Bears and other wildlife. I sat for hours, sketching in my journal and imagining what it must have been like to be an artist explorer, like Thomas Moran. I’ve returned to Yellowstone National Park almost every year of my life, but always with the desire to tell Moran’s story. To create the illustrations, I followed in his footsteps, read his journals, and painted at locations he painted.

Yellowstone Moran has been picked as a Junior Library Guild Selection and is also a 2009 Smithsonian Notable Book and a 2009 Book Links Lasting Connection.

Born to be Giants is a 48 page non-fiction picture book with Roaring Brook/Flash Point Press.

This book fills a lifelong dream to investigate paleontologists’ understanding of baby dinosaurs and their parents. It was an exciting book because scientists have made many great new discoveries of fossilized baby dinosaurs, nests, and eggs in recent years. I wrote and illustrated the book in a format with hypotheses about dinosaur behavior following clues to engage young readers in the scientific method.

Born to be Giants is a Junior Library Guild Selection and will also be available at Scholastic Book Fairs!

Then we see a hypothesis of possible dinosaur behavior.

Here's an example of the format of the book. First we see some clues. These are things that are known about dinosaurs based on fossil evidence along with observations about animals, like crocodiles, that are alive today.

I appeared on The Secret Life of Animals in August 2009!

Watch the video trailer!

Please go to the School Visit page to check out my 2009-2010 school programs. I've added lots of information and listed some exciting new presentations based on Pennies for Elephants and Yellowstone Moran.