Peggy Rathmann, a Caldecott Medalist, was born in St. Louis. I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the suburbs with two brothers and two sisters. We used to spend our summers lounging in plastic wading pools, guzzling Kool-Aid. We constructed gigantic snow animals throughout the winter. It had been a wonderful existence. Rathmann graduated from Mounds View High School in New Brighton, Minnesota, and went on to various institutions, changing her major on several occasions.

She graduated with a B.A. in the end. I planned to teach sign language to gorillas, but after taking a sign language class, I discovered I'd rather make pictures of gorillas. Rathmann studied commercial art at the American Academy in Chicago, fine art at the Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, and children's book writing and illustration at the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. Finally, the teacher persuaded me that even a novice writer may create a unique character if the character is Read More chevron_right

Peggy Rathmann, a Caldecott Medalist, was born in St. Louis. I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the suburbs with two brothers and two sisters. We used to spend our summers lounging in plastic wading pools, guzzling Kool-Aid. We constructed gigantic snow animals throughout the winter. It had been a wonderful existence. Rathmann graduated from Mounds View High School in New Brighton, Minnesota, and went on to various institutions, changing her major on several occasions.

She graduated with a B.A. in the end. I planned to teach sign language to gorillas, but after taking a sign language class, I discovered I'd rather make pictures of gorillas. Rathmann studied commercial art at the American Academy in Chicago, fine art at the Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, and children's book writing and illustration at the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. Finally, the teacher persuaded me that even a novice writer may create a unique character if the character is motivated by the writer's deepest strangeness.

Oh, my goodness! In 1992, she illustrated Bootsie Barker Bites for Barbara Bottner, her Otis Parsons teacher. A homework project inspired her to write Good Night, Gorilla, a nearly wordless narrative inspired by a childhood experience. When I was a kid, the thrill of the summer was running barefoot across the grass, screaming in the dark. We played kick-the-can and three-times-around-the-house, and we occasionally just stood peering into other people's picture windows, imagining what it would be like to go home to someone else's house.That story, however, was only nineteen pages long, and everyone agreed that the ending was a dud. Officer Buckle and Gloria, the recipient of the 1996 Caldecott Award, is the story of a school safety officer who is upstaged by his canine partner.We have a movie of my mother conversing in the dining room while the dog is licking every poache unobserved by her or the photographer.

The next image has my entire family gathered around the breakfast table, congratulating my mother on her delectable poached eggs. Of course, the dog is acting as if he has no idea what a poached egg is. We were so astonished the first time we saw that tape that we couldn't stop laughing. I believe videography had a significant impact on my subject selection.

Rathmann lives and works in San Francisco, where she shares an apartment with her husband, John Wick, and a swarm of ants.copyright (c) 2000 Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers All intellectual property rights are reserved.