I shot a lot of still photos and home movies as a kid and eventually got into making short films for children as a profession. But I’ve always been passionate about books and eventually got hooked on writing books for kids. I still have many books from my childhood. These four photo-illustrated books made a big impression on me.
The first photo book I made was Frog Face: My Little Sister and Me, published in 1998. Busy Penguins came next, in 2000. It started out as a 32-page picture book for 4 – 8 year olds and after some valuable insights from a publisher ended up as a 20-page board book for babies and toddlers.
Thirteen more books in the Busy series were published between 2002 and 2011 and collectively have sold over half a million copies. I worked with photographers in the United States, Australia, Brazil, England, and South Africa who specialized in what I needed for each project.
I looked at many hundreds of photos from one photographer to make each of the 14 Busy books. For The Babies and Doggies/Kitties/Bunnies books Molly and I looked at hundreds of thousands of pictures from photographers all over the world to find the diversity of children and actions we wanted for each book. Fortunately, I love doing photo research. I can look at photos all day long and be very happy. It’s always a thrill to find one that excites me, and when a book idea comes together with a great collection of photos.
I have two daughters, two cats, and live in Oakland, CA.
My books
