Avi was born in Manhattan on December 23rd, along with his twin sister. He had a learning disability, which made writing difficult, but a love of reading, storytelling, and a tutor made him want to write, which he eventually did after his children were born.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University, with a master's degree in library science, Avi's first book was Things That Sometimes Happen, published in 1970. When asked if he has another name, he replies "The fact is, Avi is the only name I use." He received a Newbery Honor for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. In 2003, he was awarded a Newbery Medal for Crispin: the Cross of Lead. Avi and his wife live in Rhode Island.

—Vicki Palmquist

Jerry Pinkney, whose birthday is on December 22nd, has four Caldecott Honor medals for The Ugly Duckling, John Henry (Dial), The Talking Eggs (Dial), and Mirandy and Brother Wind (Knopf). He has won the Coretta Scott King Award four times, the 1998 nomination for IBBY's Hans Christian Andersen Illustration Medal, and the Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in New York City. A graduate of the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, his first job was creating art for greeting cards. He has designed eleven postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage series.

An author and illustrator, Pinkney enjoys working with children's books because of the marriage between typography and artwork. He is married to author Gloria Jean Pinkney and they are the parents of Brian and Myles, who continue the storytelling and illustrating tradition of this amazing family. Mr. Pinkney writes, "Good music was also a continuous part of our environment. As a result, I fell in love with jazz and blues. Over the years, music has become an important influence in my life, and in my art, I try to convey that emotional, flowing quality of jazz."

—Vicki Palmquist

Susan Pearson celebrates her birthday on December 21st. She was born in Boston, and graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Her first book was Izzie, which was named one of the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year. An editor and an author, she has written several Eagle-Eye Ernie mysteries set in Minnesota, as well as picture books such as Happy Birthday, Grampie and Silver Morning. Ms. Pearson has recently written several books of poetry, including The Drowsy Hours and Squeak and Squawk.

She has worked in varying editorial capacities at Viking Press, Dial Press, Carolrhoda Books, Lothrop Lee & Shepard, and is currently an editor-at-large for Chronicle Books.

—Vicki Palmquist

Happy birthday to Sharon Chmielarz, who celebrates her birthday on December 20th. A Minnesota author and writing teacher, her most recent picture book is Down at Angel's. Sharon says, "I began with poetry. Always start with something that looks easy. Writing for children, though, soon made itself known. Maybe it was all those images that could be converted into actual illustrations." She has received a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant and a Jerome Foundation Fellowship. Her most recent book of poetry is a great read for young adults—try The Other Mozart, about Wolfgang's little-known but equally talented sister.

—Vicki Palmquist

Eve Bunting was born in Maghera, Ireland, on December 18th. She is the author of more than 150 books for children of every age. After emigrating from Ireland with her husband and young children, loneliness took her to a creative writing class at a community college in California. Her first book, The Two Giants, was published in 1972. In 1995, she was awarded the Newbery Medal for Smoky Night, a child's view of the LA riots. Bunting received a Golden Kite award from SCBWI and was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1989 by the Mystery Writers of America. She and her husband live in Los Angeles.

Born Eleanor Hodgman in Littleton, New Hampshire on December 19, 1868, this young woman trained to be a singer at the New England Conservatory of Music, but turned to writing shortly after she was married to John Lyman Porter in 1892. The couple moved to Massachusetts.

Mrs. Porter wrote for both children and adults, but it is primarily for her children's books that she is remembered. Her most enduring book is Pollyanna, which became a part of the English language (we often call someone a "Pollyanna" when that person is unfailingly optimistic). One million copies of the book were sold in 1913, the year in which it was published. In 1916, Helen Hayes starred in a Broadway production of the book. In 1920, Mary Pickford starred in the first movie version of Pollyanna.

Mrs. Porter's first really successful book was Miss Billy (1911), followed by Miss Billy's Decision (1912). Among her other books for children are Cross Currents (her first book, 1907), Six Star Ranch (1916), Cross Currents (1907), and The Turn of the Tide (1928).

She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1920.

—Vicki Palmquist

Marilyn Sachs, author of over 35 books for children, was born in the Bronx on December 18th. Books brought her such comfort in childhood that she was determined to become a writer. Sachs graduated from Hunter College and received a Masters in Library Science at Columbia University. She worked as a children's librarian in the Brooklyn Public Library. Her first book, Amy Moves In, took ten years to get published. Today, Sachs lives and writes in San Francisco.

—Karen Ritz

Born on December 18th, David Kherdian is the author of a Newbery Honor book entitled, The Road From Home: the Story of an Armenian Girl (1979). Told from his mother's perspective about her childhood in an Armenian community in Turkey and her eventual arrival in America as a mail-order bride, the book also won the Jane Addams Peace Award, the Friends of American Writers award, and the Banta Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, and was nominated for the American Book Award. Kherdian has written or edited more than fifty books for children, young adults, and adults on a wide variety of subjects. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a degree in philosophy, he is a big fan of fishing, saying "the world of nature, the lore and drama, and mystery of fishing, these things saved my life." His book, The Great Fishing Contest, is a favorite among those who share his passion. He is married to Caldecott Medal winner, Nonny Hogrogian. The couple lives in Oregon.

—Vicki Palmquist

Children's writer Jacqueline Wilson has been named the most borrowed author in the UK library lending chart.

Born in Bath, Somerset on December 17th, Jacqueline Wilson knew she wanted to write from a very young age but didn't complete her first book until she was nine! She trained to be a secretary but soon applied for a job as a journalist with DC Thompson, the comic book publisher. Her first journalist job was on the teen magazine Jackie. Now, she has more than 70 books to her credit.

Her children's novels include The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Suitcase Kid, Double Act, Bad Girls, Vicky Angel, The Illustrated Mum, and The Dare Game.

She has won many awards including the Smarties Prize and the Children's Book Award. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People's Choice Award and The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the 1999 Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. The Story of Tracy Beaker has been made into a successful BBC children's series and Channel 4's dramatisation of Double Act scooped the prestigious Royal Television Society Best Children's Fiction Award. Four of her books appeared in the top 100 of the BBC poll. In June 2002 Wilson was given an Order of the British Empire for services to literacy in schools.

Her home in Kingston upon Thames is better-stocked than some libraries. She has a collection of more than 15,000 books.

—Vicki Palmquist

Born on December 17, 1897, David Thompson Watson McCord, was a prolific poet for both children and adults. He was born in New York, lived in New Jersey for a few years, but spent much of his youth in and around Portland, Oregon. Mr. McCord went to Harvard University, intending to become a physicist. He edited the Harvard Alumni Bulletin from 1940 to 1946. His first book was Oddly Enough, published in 1926. "Some said it was good and some bad," he wrote. "I dare say it was." He even invented a new style, called "symmetrics," which was a five-line verse form. Mr. McCord received honorary degrees from twenty-two universities. In 1956, he was awarded Harvard's first honorary doctorate of humane letters. He worked as executive director of Harvard's College Fund for 38 years. In 1977, he received the first national award for Excellence in Poetry for Children from the National Council of Teachers of English. He published 550 poems, with more than 400 of them written for children. Howard Nemerov wrote that McCord was a "rare and wonderful poet who can delight equally...the listening children and the reading parent." Clifton Fadiman said of McCord that he was "both an acrobat of language and an authentic explorer of the child's inner world."

Since 1986, the Framingham State College Curriculum Library and the Nobscot Reading Council of the IRA have sponsored the David McCord Children's Literature Festival, intended to recognized Mr. McCord's long and enduring contribution to children and their literature as well as to honor an author or illustrator whose work has made significant contribution to excellent in the field of children's literature. The festival is held each November in Framingham.

—Vicki Palmquist

E.B. Lewis celebrates his birthday on December 16th and refers to himself as an "artistrator." He was born in Philadelphia, PA, and, inspired by two uncles who were artists, showed his own talent by the third grade. He did formal art training under painter Clarence Wood. He went to Temple University Tyler School of art and majored in graphic design, illustration, and art education. It was about then that he became hooked on watercolor. Upon graduation, he went directly into teaching along with freelancing in graphic design and painting.

He became a fine artist of critical acclaim and his work is now part of major private collections and displayed in many galleries throughout the U.S. Fire on the Mountain, by South Dakota author Jane Kurtz, was his first children's book and he has gone on to win Coretta Scott King Honor Awards. In 2003, he won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration for Talkin' About Bessie: the Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman. Another fine example of his work is Circle Unbroken by Margret Theis Raven. Among Mr. Lewis' most recent work is Pitching in for Eubie (Amistad).

Whether portraying contemporary or historical tales, African or African American cultures, Lewis creates illustration with depth and beauty. Look for his latest work on www.eblewis.com.

—Karen Ritz

Marie Hall Ets was born on December 16th, 1895 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her happiest memories were of summers in the North Woods of Wisconsin, which figure largely in many of her books. She attended Lawrence College, the New York School of Civics and Philanthropy, the University of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Royal Academy of London, and Columbia University. She decided to use her talents to write and illustrate children's books after a long illness. Ets was awarded the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1956. Five of Ets' books were chosen as Caldecott Honor Books: In the Forest, Play With Me, Just Me, Mr. Penny's Horse Race, Mr. T.W. Anthony Woo. Her Nine Days to Christmas won the Caldecott Medal in 1960. Gilberto and the Wind was inspired by a young boy she met in La Jolla, California. After asking his mother if he could model for her illustrations, Ets spent many hours with the family, coming to know them quite well. Ets died in 1988.

—Karen Ritz

Quentin Blake, author and illustrator of over 200 books, celebrates his birthday on December 16th. He studied English literature at Cambridge, intending to become an English teacher. He later developed a life-long interest in drawing and painting studying part-time at Chelsea College of Art. A Drink of Water by John Yeoman, published in 1960, was his first book. He taught at the Royal College of Art before giving up teaching to concentrate on his own work in 1976.

Blake is best known for his collaborations with Roald Dahl: BFG won the Children's Book Award in 1983, The Witches was awarded the 1983 Whitbread Award, and Matilda was given the 1988 Children's Book Award.

He has also been given the Kate Greenaway and Hans Christian Anderson Awards. Blake was appointed the first Children's Laureate in May 1999.

He lives and works in London, Hastings, and the South West of France.

—Karen Ritz

Peter Dickinson was born on December 16th in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) near Victoria Falls. In his biography, he writes that people sometimes went swimming in the Zambezi River near his home, but they did so inside a big wooden cage so the crocodiles couldn't harm them. Mr. Dickinson had three brothers—his family returned to England so their sons could be educated in English schools. He graduated from King's College in Cambridge. After graduating, Mr. Dickinson served in the British Army. He then worked at Punch magazine as assistant editor and reviewer for seventeen years. His first book, The Weathermonger, was published in 1968. It is now published as part of The Changes Trilogy. In 1982 he was placed on the International Board of Books for Young People Honor List for Tulka and The Iron Lion was selected one of New York Times Notable Books. In 1989 he won the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Eva. He and his first wife had two daughters and three sons. His second wife is Robin McKinley, the fantasy author. Writing about himself in third person, he said, "For the best of them it feels as if the book had knocked on the door of his mind and said 'Write me.' Then he’ll spend half a year or more letting the stranger in and finding who or what it is."

—Vicki Palmquist