Good Night, Little Engine

WATTY PIPER was a pen name of Arnold Munk, an owner of the publishing firm Platt & Munk. Arnold Munk was born in Hungary and, as a child, moved with his family to Chicago. He later moved to New York, where he died in 1957. Arnold Munk used the name Watty Piper as both an author of children’s books and as the editor of many of the books that Platt & Munk published.

I love writing fiction and nonfiction for children, including prose and poetry. Three of my 20+ books have appeared in the Scholastic Book Clubs, and two have been featured selections of the Children’s Book of the Month Club. Several have been translated into other languages. My recent picture books include Rain Forest Colors and Ocean Counting (named an Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2014 by the National Science Teachers’ Association), Love Is Real, Fright School, and Mirabel’s Missing Valentines. I also write and collaborate on holiday and seasonal pop-up books, including LEAVES and SHELLS. I love finding humor in everyday life, and I’m fascinated by the natural world. Visitors to my backyard include rabbits, hawks, bears, foxes, chipmunks, squirrels, turkeys, deer, and many birds.

Born in a tiny town in the hills of Pennsylvania, Jill Howarth always wanted to be an artist. She graduated from Penn State University with a degree in graphic design and entered the corporate design world. As a senior designer and then art director at Hasbro Toys, she occasionally embellished product packaging with fun little drawings. More requests for these illustrations came her way and before she knew it, she was doing more drawing and less layout design. After leaving corporate life to start a family, she began freelancing, pursuing her passion for hand lettering and illustrating for the children’s market with clients such as American Greetings, Hallmark, Klutz, Penguin, Pottery Barn Teen, Scholastic, and more. Presently, she lives just west of Boston.