Wonder, Words, and Lots of Color
*Short Form Biography . . .
When I was five, I scribbled and sketched my first book, and my heart came alive. This passion fueled a Bachelor's in English and Visual Art plus a Master's in Creative and Script Writing from The University of Wales. In my life as a mom, librarian, and elementary reading and art teacher, I encounter wonder: We get paint-messy, dance-silly, and storybook-happy reading romping picture books aloud. As a graduate of Children's Book Academy and an honorable mention illustrator for Picture Book Party 2023 and 2024, creating a collection of beautiful and impactful picture books is the forever dream.
*Where It All Started . . .
If you ask my mother, she will tell you that my love for story blossomed out of being a bit of a troublemaker. I earned the most frequent time-outs in our family of 4 children. This meant 15 quiet minutes sitting in the hallway corner, close by the temptation of our library book box. Although I was supposed to be “thinking about what I had done”, my mother thought it best to leave me in peace whenever she discovered me breathlessly turning pages, a face full of wonder. Could that very hungry caterpillar really eat so much food? Would Peter Rabbit escape from Mr. McGregor’s maze of a garden in time?
Abbie with baby sister, Mary: A Box is Endless Fun
But I wasn’t just spirited, and I wasn’t just a reader. I was deeply sensitive. I ran my hands over Shell Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, wiping tears away so as not to ruin the pages of this most cherished book. How could a tree with neither eyes nor a smile feel so real? So alive? I believed her winding branches were opened arms, reaching out to the boy she loved and giving him all she had. How had ink drawings on paper done this to my heart? What was this magic in illustration? Whenever an adult asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was clear and from my heart: “I want to make books - the pictures and the words.”
Abbie's Self-Portrait: Five Year Old Me
So, with stacks of paper, I folded and stapled, scribbled and sketched my first book, “The Lit Gril” (The Little Girl). It was the story of a kindergartener as adventurous as me with holes in her shoes from hopping fences and scampering up trees. Like her, I was a wild little thing hitting baseballs in a torn tutu and dreaming up imaginative worlds with my sisters - worlds where we galloped about on hobby horses, pizza and ice cream grew on trees, and we were the tooth fairies of the garden.
Original Artwork: Amanzi's First Day
Abbie and big sister, Melissa:
Putting Baby Sister, Mary, to Sleep in Our Doll Bed.
*Professional Life . . .
That love for creating stories never stopped. So, I studied for a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Visual Art at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Then, I added a master’s degree in Creative and Script Writing from The University of Wales and grew up to be a children’s librarian. Sitting in that treasure trove of books, I found that the only thing I love equally to writing and illustrating picture books is reading them aloud to groups of kids who are hushed in awe one minute, and roaring with laughter the next. And now, teaching elementary art and reading only adds fuel to the fire in my heart that beats for children’s literature. And why not? Is there anything better than books in this whole wide world?