Seumas MacManus was born in Donegal, Ireland in 1861.  He taught school for several years before moving to the United States in 1899.  


He published several collections of stories, five novels, and many plays between 1900 and 1951.  Some of his best known books include Through the Turf Smoke (1900), Top of the Morning (1920), and Bold Blades of Donegal (1937).  


He died in 1960.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm known as The Grimm Brothers were born at Hanau in Hasse-Kassel, Germany.  They were German academics, philologists, cultural researchers. lexicographers and authors who together collected and published folklore during the 19th century.


The Grimm Brothers published their first volume of eighty-six stories and tales in 1812. A second volume of seventy more followed in 1814.  The stories were a success and the brothers were recognized for their work in 1819 with honorary doctorates from Marburg University.


Wilhelm Grimm died on December 16, 1859 and Jacob Grimm on September 20, 1863.

BepiBooks

About the Authors

Paolo Mazzucato is an author, playwright and screenwriter.


He received a Bachelors degree in film from Northwestern University and a Masters in Motion Picture Producing from the University of Southern California.  He has scripted various projects for film and television.


Mazzucato is the author/illustrator of the children's books Dream of the Rainbow Unicorn, No One Mocks a Panda, A Most Curious Winter's Night, The absolutely true story of La Befana, and Snugglebugs in addition to his Upper MG/Early YA fantasy novel, The Gondoliers: The Secret Journals of Fanticulous Glim.

Arnold Lobel was born in 1933.  He is the award-winning author and illustrator of many beloved children's books, including the classic I Can Read books about Frog and Toad, and the Caldecott Medal winning Fables.


He died in 1987.

David A. Goodman was born December 13, 1962. He is an American writer, producer, and has been a writer for several television series including The Golden Girls, Futurama and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Catherine Doyle grew up in the West of Ireland. She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Publishing.


She is the author of the Young Adult Blood for Blood trilogy, her middle grade debut novel, The Storm Keeper’s Island, and The Miracle on Ebeneezer Street.

A.A. Milne was born in London, England, on January 18, 1882. After attending the University of Cambridge's Trinity College and writing for the literary magazines Granta and Punch, Milne began a successful career as a novelist, poet and playwright in the 1920s.


His best known works are his two collections of children's poetry, When We Were Young and Now We Are Six, and his two books of stories about the lovable bear Winnie-the-Pooh and his animal friends.


Milne died on January 31, 1956.

Mary Hoffman has written more than 70 books for childrens. Her best-known picture books are Amazing GraceThree Wise Women, and An Angel Just Like Me. Mary lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, and they have three daughters.


Julie Downing has illustrated more than 45 picture books, including The Firekeeper's Son, No Hugs Till Saturday, Lotus and Feather, and First Mothers. She has a degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, and she teaches watercolor and children's book illustration at the Academy of Art University.

Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas and Ollie Johnston were American motion picture animators.


Frank and Ollie both attended Stanford University, where they worked on the campus humor magazine The Stanford Chaparral. They went on to further their studies at the Chouinard Art Institute.


Frank joined The Walt Disney Company on September 24, 1934 and convinced Ollie to join the company as well.  Together they animated dozens of feature films and shorts and were members of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men.


Frank Thomas died on September 8, 2004, Ollie Johnston on April 14, 2008.

Christopher Finch was born in Guernsey in the British Channel Islands, and now lives in Los Angeles.


He is an artist and a photographer who has had one person shows in New York and California, and he is the author of almost thirty non-fiction books including the best sellers Rainbow: the Stormy Life of Judy Garland, The Art of Walt Disney, Jim Henson: the Works, and Norman Rockwell's America.

Cary Elwes is an English actor who starred as Wesley (The Man in Black) in The Princess Bride among many other roles in film. He lives in Hollywood, California, with his family.


Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Joe Layden has written more than thirty books for adults and children, including the critically acclaimed title, The Last Great Fight and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Rock Says. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife, Susan, and their two children.

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Katherine Paterson was born October 31, 1932.


She is the recipient of two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards and won the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1998 for "lasting contribution to children's literature.” She also won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2006, the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2007, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association in 2013. She is best known for children's novels, including Bridge to Terabithia.

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