The Giving Season: Author/Illustrator Fair at Orion Township Library

On Saturday, December 5th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM Book Beat will be selling books for authors appearing at the annual Author/Illustrator Fair at the Orion Township Public Library (825 Joslyn Road, Lake Orion, Michigan 48362). This year’s fair, The Giving Season, will be an opportunity for readers of all ages to meet local authors and illustrators, where they will sign their books, making for perfect holiday gifts.

Book Beat will be selling books for the following authors:

• Kristen Remenar is the author of The Groundhog’s Dilemma, illustrated by her husband Matt Faulkner and the book Draw With A Vengeance: Get Even in Ink and Let Karma Handle the Rest, which she wrote under the pseudonym Helen Wrath. In addition to being an author, Kristen is also a children’s librarian, teacher, and public speaker on literacy for the Bureau of Education & Research. She lives in Michigan with her husband and their three children.
• Matt Faulkner is the award-winning author and illustrator of The Taste of Colored Water and Gaijin: American Prisoner of War. Matt has also illustrated the books The Monster Who Ate My Peas; Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln; Thank You, Sarah; among many others. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Matt Faulkner has written and illustrated a number of children’s books. His work has won wide praise for its humor, exuberance and sensitivity. In addition, he is a contributing illustrator to such national periodicals as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. Matt Faulkner lives with his wife, Kristen Remenar
• Ruth McNally Barshaw  grew up sketching and journaling life around her in little sketchbooks. Little did she realize she would do the same for her career. Today she has more than 300 little sketchjournals chronicling various events, trips, quirky discoveries, and times with beloved friends and family. Her Ellie McDoodle books borrow the same format, with writing and cartoony art on every page. If you hang out with Ruth, you might get added into one of her sketchjournals.
• Jean Alicia Elster  is the author of the novel The Colored Car, selected as a 2014 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. Elster was awarded the 2014 Midwest Book Award in Children’s Fiction for The Colored Car by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. The Colored Car was chosen as an Honor Book for the 2014 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. Elster is, also, the author of the novel Who’s Jim Hines?, selected as one of the Library of Michigan’s 2009 Michigan Notable Books
• Denise Fleming won a Caldecott Honor for her book In the Small, Small Pond. She is the author and illustrator of eighteen picture books, including In the Tall, Tall Grass and The First Day of Winter
• Bryan Chick  is the author of the Secret Zoo series. He originally had the idea for the series when he was a nine-year-old and wondered what would happen if zoo exhibits had secret doors that allowed children to go inside and the animals to come outside. Bryan Chick lives with his wife and three children in Clarkston, Michigan.
• Deb Pilutti is the author and illustrator of several books for children, such as The Twelve Days of Christmas in Michigan, Ten Rules of Being a Superhero, and her newest book, Bear and Squirrel Are Friends…Yes, Really! and has worked as a design partner at Oliebollen.com, where she designs toys and products for kids. Her design and illustration work has earned her many awards and has been published in several magazines including Step Inside Design, HOW Magazine’s Best Digital Designs issue, and Print magazine. She enjoys spending time in the woods near her home in Michigan.
• Nancy Shaw was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and two children. She is a freelance writer and a homemaker. She received her B. A. with high distinction and highest honors in English from the University of Michigan, where she was named to Phi Beta Kappa and won the prestigious Hopwood Award. She received her M.A.T. from Harvard University. She is the author of Sheep in a Jeep, Sheep Out to Eat, and the rest of the books in the Sheep series.
• Leslie Helakoski  grew up in south Louisiana. She is the author of Big Chickens (the Michigan Reads Picturebook for 2007, Great Lakes Great Books Award and a GLBA finalist) and Woolbur (a Book Sense pick for 2008, Florida Reading Assoc. Honor Book and nominee for state book awards in 9 states) Her other books include Big Chickens Fly the Coop, The Smushy Bus and most recently she authored and illustrated Fair Cow.
• Cathy Gendron  armed with a degree in Fine Arts and a serious need to draw, Cathy Gendron began her illustration career in 1980. Surviving 8 years in newspapers as an art director, brushes with death on the high seas and the noxious fumes from her painting process, she lives and works in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A teacher for almost 30 years at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, her work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers and has earned her awards from Print, Communication Arts and the Society of Publication Designers.
• Kathryn Madeline Allen is a children’s author who writes picture books that promote parent-child interaction and that help teach babies and young children about nonverbal communication, diversity, manners, and love. With Eric Futran’s beautiful photographs of real children, Show Me Happy and A Kiss Means I Love You work well in any preschool or early elementary setting. Young children enjoy imitating the actions depicted in the colorful photos, learning at the same time.