The Boston Globe - Children's Book Festival

Copley Square, Boston; Saturday, September 15, 2007; 11am - 5pm

BOOK AUTHORS
	Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players, Pop Fly Roberts began his music career in the Minneapolis-based indie-rock band “Pimentos for Gus.” The band inspired a devoted and passionate following. Unfortunately, that following was a bit small. As a result, Roberts decided to moonlight (during the day) as a Montessori preschool teacher. It wasn't long before Justin began writing and singing songs for a new generation of fans: his students. The kids immediately responded and inspired Justin to record some of his new songs. That Christmas, Justin sent copies of his new kids' songs to his close friends as holiday gifts. One of the gift recipients was Liam Davis, a college pal and music producer, who suggested that they record the songs professionally. In 1998, Justin released his first CD, Great Big Sun, and the critics took note. Sesame Street Parents magazine named the collection its Best Music Gift of the Year. The only one who remained unimpressed was Oscar the Grouch.
	Jane O'Connor, Fancy Nancy series Jane O’Connor is an editor at a major publishing house who has written more than 30 books for children, including the bestselling Fancy Nancy, Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, and the Nina, Nina Ballerina stories. She lives with her family in New York City.
	Anna Dewdney, Llama Llama Mad at Mama and Nobunny’s Perfect Both Llama books are huge bookseller favorites (with the most recent hitting The New York Times bestseller list for multiple weeks) – and a third one is coming in 2009. Anna is easygoing and personable, and speaks engagingly about her work as both an author and illustrator. She enjoys meeting her audience. She lives in Putney, VT.
	Jarrett J. Krosoczka Jarrett is the author-illustrator of Good Night, Monkey Boy; Baghead; Annie Was Warned; Max for President; Punk Farm; and My Buddy, Slug. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
	Melodee Strong, Colorful World Melodee Strong received her bachelor’s degree in illustration from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her entire life she has regarded herself as an artist but decided in high school that illustration would be the career path. Since then she has completed work for editorial and commercial projects, corporate, children’s books, greeting cards and calligraphy. Her experience also includes art consulting and education. Melodee works mainly in acrylic, watercolor and pastel, with collage elements usually making their way into her work. She also has the ability to work in graphite charcoal and digital illustration. Melodee has had her work accepted into the Society of Illustrators East and the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles West 42.
	Suzie Bazil, The Sick Bug Susie Bazil lives in Orono, Minnesota with her husband and three children. After enduring a few too many cold and flu seasons, Susie wrote The Sick Bug based on a conversation with her three-year old about catching a “bug." Exploring the boundless imagination of a child, she created an entertaining tale about the "sick bugs" responsible for the sneezes, sniffles and colds that so often get children down.
	Cindy Post Senning, Emily's Magic Words and Emily's Christmas Gifts Cindy Post Senning is the great-granddaughter of Emily Post. She has worked in education and health care for more than 30 years, including six years as the principal of an elementary school.
	Lisa Loeb, CAMP LISA Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb started her career with the platinum-selling No. 1 hit song “Stay (I Missed You)” from the film Reality Bites. To this day, she is still the only artist to have had a No. 1 single while not signed to a recording contract. Following her debut, Loeb released two gold-selling CDs: Tails in 1995 and Firecracker in 1997. Always a great collaborator, Loeb reunited with her college music partner, Elizabeth Mitchell, on the children’s CD and companion book Catch The Moon (2004), which earned the prestigious Parents’ Choice Award. Lisa’s other releases include The Way It Really Is (2004), The Very Best of Lisa Loeb (2006), and Cherries (2007). This year, Loeb launched her own independent record label, Furious Rose Productions, on which she released The Purple Tape (January 2008), a reissue on CD of recordings made in 1992. In June, Loeb issued her second children’s CD, CAMP LISA, featuring both traditional and new summer camp songs and several special guests including Steve Martin (on banjo), Kay Hanley, Nina Gordon, Maia Sharp, Jill Sobule, Dave Gibbs and Lee Sklar. In conjunction with the release of the CAMP LISA CD, Loeb started the Camp Lisa Foundation, a non-profit organization that is raising funds to help send underprivileged kids to summer camp through its partnership with S.C.O.P.E. (Summer Camp Opportunities Provide an Edge, Inc.). In addition to her work as a recording artist, Loeb has graced both the big and small screens. Her television credits include her own series on the E! Network titled #1 Single and the Food Network series Dweezil and Lisa. In addition to other TV appearances on shows such as Gossip Girl, The Drew Carey Show and The Chris Isaak Show, Loeb appeared with Oscar Award-winning actor Geoffrey Rush in the 1999 film House On Haunted Hill. Loeb hails from Dallas, Texas, where her family’s love of the arts was instilled at an early age. She played piano and guitar and started writing original music and songs in her teens. Loeb graduated from Brown University.
	Richard Michelson and Mary Azarian, Tuttle’s Red Barn Richard’s numerous books for children have received a New Yorker Best Book Award and been named a Children’s Book Committee Book of the Year and a Jewish Book Council Book of the Month. Across the Alley, illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist E.B. Lewis, was honored as one of two finalists for the 2006 National Jewish Book Award for Children's Illustrated Books, and Tuttle's Red Barn was a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2007. Michelson has written for The New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Nextbook and other publications. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. Mary Azarian started Farmhouse Press in 1969 and began producing woodcut prints. Trained as a painter as well as a printmaker, she developed a non-traditional technique of adding color with water-based paints rather than with individual color blocks. In addition to producing prints, Mary Azarian has illustrated over 40 books. In 1999, Snowflake Bentley, a picture book about Vermont's famous photographer of snow crystals, won the Caldecott Award. She continues to illustrate picture books and a collection of note cards reproduced from original woodcuts. She lives in Plainfield, VT.
	*Yo Gabba Gabba!* Yo Gabba Gabba! stars host D.J. Lance Rock (Lance Robertson), who brings to life four friendly monsters and a robot in a colorful land of music and laughter. The series highlights simple life lessons for preschoolers through original songs in short, thematically linked segments that feature animation, walk-around puppets and real kids. Yo Gabba Gabba! features an eclectic mix of musical genres for preschoolers that includes pop, 80s, electronic, new wave, British invasion, hip-hop and more. Each episode culminates with an original music remix that summarizes the lessons learned. The characters are: Muno the red Cyclops, Foofa the pink flower bubble, Brobee the little green one, Toodee the blue cat-dragon, and Plex the robot, who are all ready to sing, play and dance along with the viewers as soon as they hear the magic words, “Yo Gabba Gabba!” They physically engage preschoolers with interactive play and encourage them to get up and dance to the music. Yo Gabba Gabba! also features pretend-along games that teach shapes and colors, ask questions and teach new dance steps while keeping preschoolers laughing throughout the episode.
	Peter Abrahams, Into the Dark Peter Abrahams is a best-selling mystery writer who has written 15 adult novels, including Oblivion and End of Story for the adult trade list. His novel Lights Out was nominated for an Edgar Award, and his novel The Fan was turned into a feature film starring Wesley Snipes. Stephen King called Peter Abrahams his “favorite American suspense novelist.” His first novel for young adults, Down The Rabbit Hole — the first in the Echo Falls Mystery series — was published to critical and bookseller acclaim and was also nominated for the Edgar Award and won the Agatha Award. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, two sons and two daughters.
	Playhouse Disney’s “Choo-Choo Soul with Genevieve!” Choo-Choo Soul was developed by video game designer Greg Johnson while working on his project “ToeJam & Earl III, Mission to Earth” for the Xbox. Burke Treischmann, who was the audio lead and music director on the project, had had a working relationship with Greg for over 15 years. The two met Genevieve Goings when she auditioned for one of the voiceover roles in the game. Although she didn’t land the lead part, she recorded several character voices, some of which were gospel singers. Genevieve suggested actually singing the lines as opposed to speaking them. Greg and Burke were so blown away by the soul in her voice that Greg edited the script, adding over 10 pages of new singing lines for Genevieve. In 2007, “Choo-Choo Soul with Genevieve!” was honored with a Parents’ Choice Award for children’s television. In 2008, Disney Records released a compilation CD/DVD of Choo-Choo Soul through Amazon to rave reviews. Choo-Choo Soul has become a favorite in concert as well, performing at Walt Disney World and the prestigious Target Festival Of Books in Boston, Chicago and New York City in 2007, and in Los Angeles (April), Boston (September), and New York City (October) in 2008. Choo-Choo also recently performed with “The Disney Music Block Party Tour.”