Stephanie Calmenson's many popular titles include concept books, funny school stories, poetry collections, books about dogs and, with Magic School Bus author Joanna Cole, anthologies and beginning reader chapter books. Stephanie's books have been called "marvelous" (PW), "lyrical" (SLJ), "hilarious" (SLJ), "sweet, funny, and right on the mark" (Booklist). Before turning to writing, Stephanie was a teacher, a children's book editor, and Editorial Director of Parents Magazine's Read-Aloud Book Club. Website: my link text

Janette Sebring Lowrey (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1986) was an American children's writer, best known for writing the beloved children's classic, The Poky Little Puppy. Janette Sebring Lowrey was born in Orange, Texas. Lowrey wrote dozens of books aimed at children and young adults from the 1930s to the 1970s, but The Poky Little Puppy remains her best known, selling over 15 million copies worldwide. Another well-known work of hers was Margaret, a historical fiction young adult novel, which was published in 1950. It was adapted into Walt Disney Presents: Annette, a TV serial which aired on The Mickey Mouse Club in 1958. Despite her success as an author, Lowrey herself remained in relative obscurity.

Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Even though she died nearly 70 years ago, her books still sell very well. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them. She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper. Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.

Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, née Ericsson, (1907 - 2002) was a Swedish children's book author and screenwriter, whose many titles were translated into 85 languages and published in more than 100 countries. She has sold roughly 165 million copies worldwide. Today, she is most remembered for writing the Pippi Longstocking books, as well as the Karlsson-on-the-Roof book series. Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (1958)

I was born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Queens, and the Bronx. As a New York kid, I remember riding graffiti-covered subways and hearing hip-hop blaring from parks and passing cars on the street. I loved my city. It was always buzzing with activity and different things for kids to see and do. But I also loved to just sit and read. It started with daily comic strips like Peanuts by Charles Schulz. Then I discovered Mad Magazine and superhero comics like Batman, Spider-Man and Black Panther. These stories dealt with heroes and villains, innocence and guilt, freedom and justice. I became interested in justice and the legal system and was encouraged to become a lawyer. I had enjoyed working with kids as a counselor at a summer day camp, so I also thought about being a teacher. But after graduating from college, I knew that being a lawyer or a teacher just wasn’t right for me. I found a temp job at DC Comics in midtown Manhattan. I answered phones, sorted mail, and did other small jobs. It wasn’t creative work, but I met cool people and got lots of free comics. That led to a full-time job in the Editorial Department. I went from reading comic books for fun, to working with legends in the comic book industry. Before long, I moved from DC Comics to Random House Children’s Books, where I’ve worked on a wide variety of Disney and Nickelodeon books over the last twenty years. I’ve also written several Little Golden Books, including Black Panther, The Amazing Spider-Man, Falcon, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, I Am Captain Kirk and Too Many Tribbles! as well as My Little Golden Book about Jackie Robinson, Football with Dad and Soccer with Mom.

Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky (Russian: Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский) (December 24, 1891 – October 12, 1970), also known as Rojan, was a Russian émigré illustrator. He is well known both for children's book illustration and for erotic art. He won the 1956 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration from the American Library Association, recognizing Frog Went A-Courtin' by John Langstaff. Rojankovsky was born in Mitava, Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Latvia). He studied two years at the private Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture but left in 1914 to serve in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. He started work in children's book illustration in Ukraine until he was conscripted by the White Army in 1919, soon to be a prisoner of war in Poland. Soon afterward, he moved to France and studied under Esther Averill. In 1941, he moved to the US and began a career of illustrating more than a hundred books, most featuring animals or nature. Rojankovsky also wrote books, an example being The Great Big Animal Book, published in 1952.

Annie North Bedford is the pen name of Jane Werner Watson. She was a major contributor of the Golden Books based upon the Walt Disney films. She died in 2004.

Elizabeth Orton Jones was an American children's author and illustrator, born to an artistic and literary family. Her father was violinist George Roberts Jones and her mother pianist and writer Jessie Orton Jones. Her great-grandfather, Joseph Russell Jones, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, was minister to Belgium under President Ulysses S. Grant. Her grandmother was a professional pianist and her grandfather owned a bookstore. She grew up with two siblings in a home filled with music, reading aloud, and encouragement to draw, think, and imagine. She attended House in the Pines, a private high school for girls, where she won a prize for English composition. She received a degree from the University of Chicago, and went to France to study painting at the École des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau and the Académie Colarossi in Paris. Back in the USA, she studied briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago School. In 1937, she wrote and illustrated her first book, Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins, using her experiences in France as material. In 1945, Jones won the Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in Prayer for a Child (1944), written by Rachel Field. Her edition of Little Red Riding Hood, published by Little Golden Books in 1948, became a classic. During her career, she wrote and illustrated some twenty books for children. She also created murals for the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire and a panel in the children's room of the University of New Hampshire library.

Diane Muldrow grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She later attended Ohio University, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Magazine Journalism and a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts: Dance. After her graduation, Diane moved to New York. She spent several years performing as an actress and dancer in New York’s downtown avant-garde performance scene. She also danced in a performance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and had her own one-woman shows. Diane has also had a successful career in publishing, both as an editor and as an author. She has written over 100 books for children. Diane lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she enjoys trying new recipes and eating in local restaurants.

Note: The decision was made to consolidate all Disney publications under the name Walt Disney Company. This profile is for Walt Disney, the characters he created, and the company he founded. Any questions, please ask in the Librarian's Group. Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion. Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong. Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. The following year, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (commonly referred to as Disney) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 11 theme parks around the world. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5. On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. —from Wikipedia

Elizabeth Beecher graduated from Syracuse University. She worked as a news reporter and writer for the Syracuse Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York American. In covering stories during Prohibition she was twice shot at by rum runners, threatened by Mafia hoodlums, and saved a 13-year-old boy from the electric chair (later winning the Pall Mall radio and television "Big Story" award for this story). She moved to Hollywood in 1937 where she worked as a freelance writer. She was one of only a few women who wrote screenplays for western film producers and television shows such as The Cisco Kid, and The Gene Autry Show. In addition, she edited, rewrote, or ghosted more than 100 manuscripts dealing with every conceivable subject working in many mediums—novels, teleplays, screenplays, articles and short stories.

Justine Korman is the author of over 600 children's books, including mega-selling adaptations of Disney hits like THE LION KING, plus her original popular GRUMPY BUNNY series for Scholastic. Justine has been writing all her life. She worked part-time in publishing while earning her B.A. in English Literature, Phi Beta Kappa from New York University. While an editorial assistant at Golden Books, she met her future husband and partner, Ron Fontes, an artist in the Whitman Comics department, who moved on to mighty Marvel Comics. When Justine started getting freelance writing assignments, Ron pitched in and a children's book writing team was born! Ron brought visual storytelling, theatre, and history; Justine enthusiasm, humor, and a straight-A attitude. In 1988, the couple moved to Maine, where they have written everything from beginning readers and novelty books to historical fiction and graphic novels. Justine's hobbies include fitness, juggling, gardening, cooking, and playing the ukulele. She also enjoys making movies with Ron. The prolific couple's goal is to write 1001 children's books.

She received her teaching credentials and graduated from the University of Michigan, she achieved great popularity thanks to a story starring a little locomotive, which became one of the best-selling children's books in the English language. As of 2001, Tootle was the all-time third best-selling hardcover children's book in English, and Scuffy the Tugboat was the eighth all-time bestseller.

Children's writer Jane Werner Watson earned a B.A. in English in 1936 from the University of Wisconsin, began a career in publishing, and became a prolific writer who specialized in non-fiction. She was one of the first editors for the original Golden Books series, and wrote books for Disney series. She also wrote under the names Elsa Jane Werner Watson, Elsa Jane Werner, Jane Werner, Annie North Bedford, Monica Hill, Elsa Ruth Nast, W.K. Jasner, and A.N. Bedford. In 1958 she was named Woman of the Year in Literature by the Los Angeles Times. Watson and her husband Earnest Charles Watson lived in India for several years when he was science attaché to the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, and travelled extensively; their collection of Indian art is at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wis. After moving to Santa Barbara, Calif., Watson taught continuing education classes in creative writing and cultural geography. Source: http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.ed... | From the description of Jane Werner Watson papers, 1958-1976. (University of Oregon Libraries). WorldCat record id: 135486701

Lilian Moore grew up in New York, received a degree in teaching from Hunter College, and did graduate work at Columbia University. She attended college during the Depression, so job opportunities were few. She worked for the Bureau of Educational Research, helping children who could not read in their Reading Clinic. Ms. Moore was also a reading specialist for the New York Board of Education. She trained teachers and did extensive research into reading difficulties. She was the editor of Scholastic's first paperback book club, the Arrow Book Club, beginning in 1957. As she said, "Imagine making it possible for these youngsters to choose and buy good books for the price of comics!" She was an editor at Wonder Books, Thomas Y. Crowell, and contributor to Humpty Dumpty magazine. In addition, Ms. Moore was a founding member of the Council on Interracial Books for Children. Ms. Moore died on July 20, 2004, at the age of 95. She is best known for her poetry and easy-to-read books.