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Author Visits

{Guest post from author Stephen Hodges}

When I embarked on the journey four years ago to create a picture book about a little girl with magic hair who was also her best friend, I never realized where it would take me. I was inspired by playing with a loved one’s big poof of curly hair that sat on top of her head. I loved forming it into shapes and I would even make it talk. After quite a bit of cultural and academic research, “The Magic Poof “was born!

The Magic Poof

Picture Books are great, but I’ve always wanted my characters to come to life in a more animated form. I also wanted to take advantage of the access and interactive nature mobile devices.

MCCBD may officially be over until 2016, but the guest posts and author visits will continue! This week we are welcoming author Maritza Martinez Mejia to share her fun answers to our Q&A and some details about her work.

  1. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet and why?

My favorite letter of the alphabet is “M” since my name contains three Ms

M3 = Maritza Martinez Mejia

In 2010, Francois left the corporate world in order to pursue his passion to be an author.

The result was the children’s book series “The Junglies” which comprises of 11 books telling stories of the adventures of five jungle animals. “The Junglies” was inspired by Francois’ eldest daughter.

The Junglies Francois Keyser

We are so thrilled to have Mitali Perkins today talking to us about her anthology Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices.

Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices

Mitali Perkins was born in India, immigrated to the United States with her parents and two sisters when she was seven, and studied political science at Stanford University and Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley.

Mitali Perkins author

Joe Cepeda

Born and raised in East LA, Joe received his BFA in illustration from California State University, Long Beach in 1992 and also studied Engineering at Cornell University. Only months after leaving school, he secured a book contract with a publisher after his first meeting and has been illustrating books ever since.

Joe Cepeda

He is the illustrator of awarding-winning picture books such as What a Truly Cool World and Nappy Hair. His latest book is Swing Sisters.

Swing Sisters by Joe Cepeda

Today, he shares some of books that mean a lot to him … and we asked him to pick a few favorites of his own from among his many titles.