Laura Alary

Many years have passed since Laura used to make her own books with manila paper, mucilage and crayons. Nowadays her books look much more professional, but the process of creating them is as much fun as it always was!

In her writing , Laura draws upon her background in Classics, theology and biblical studies, as well as her long-standing interest in ancient history, folklore, mythology, and science.

Her books are meant to teach and to entertain, but most of all, to encourage children to wonder about the world and to ask really big questions.

Laura's books include: All the Faces of Me (Owlkids, 2023); Here: The Dot We Call Home (Paraclete Press, 2022); Sun in My Tummy (Pajama Press, 2022); The Astronomer Who Questioned Everything (Kids Can Pre

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Carolyn Bennett Fraiser

CAROLYN BENNETT FRAISER is a children's author and life-long lover of books and nature. Her passion is to inspire curiosity and a love of reading in children of all ages. Carolyn and her husband currently live on a small homestead in western North Carolina where inspires local youth to read, write, and dream. When she is not reading, writing, or researching a new topic, Carolyn enjoys playing the piano, hiking, and snuggling with her rescued furbabies.

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Jen Barton

I grew up in Pennsylvania and spent most of my life in the East. In 2007 my family and I moved to California. With two cars my husband and I moved two dogs, two guinea pigs, a cornsnake, and our 10-year-old daughter across the country (whew!). The five-day road trip (including a near escape by both dogs on Day 3) was one of my best (and most interesting) experiences ever. In fact, I'm not sure why that isn't a book yet...

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Joy Harjo

Bio Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, w
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Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo, the newly named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014–2015, says about stories, “When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.” Born in Philadelphia, the author lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.

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Melissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 science and nature books for children. She offers a wide range of programs for schools, libraries, nature centers, and conferences. www.melissa-stewart.com"
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Randa Abdel-Fattah

Randa Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney in 1979. She is a Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She grew up in Melbourne and attended a Catholic primary school and Islamic secondary college where she obtained an International Baccaularetate. She studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University during which time she was the Media Liaison Officer at the Islamic council of Victoria, a role which afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of Muslims and Islam.

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Jim Aylesworth

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In 1965, he graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a B.A. in English. He returned to Hinsdale and began a career as a stockbroker. By 1970, however, Aylesworth was thinking about what he really wanted to do. After a series of assignments as a substitute teacher, Aylesworth ended up in a primary classroom. He began teaching first grade students in Oak Park, Illinois in 1971 and entered Concordia College in River Fores
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Jennifer Ward is the author of more than 25 award-winning nonfiction and fiction books for children and adults.

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Julia Donaldson

Growing up
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Michelle Houts

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

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Kallie George

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Lindsay Moore

Lindsay^^Moore.
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They create thei
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Andrew Katz

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Cynthia Mackey

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Michelle Houts

"My first memory of writing was when I was in first grade. I wrote an awesome retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk using my friends and myself as the characters. I don’t think my best friend was very happy when I cast her as the giant. The person who was happy, however, was my first grade teacher, Miss Course. She was so impressed that she sent me over to the second grade teacher’s classroom to show her what I had created. I remember knocking on the door of the second grade classroom and being very nervous that all those “big kids” would be looking at me when it opened. The second grade teacher, Mrs. Bryant, made a really big deal about my story! I think I decided then and there that I wanted to be a writer. Thank you, Miss Course and Mrs. B
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