Martin's Dream

I was born in Portland, Oregon (where I now live) but I spent almost all of my childhood in Ethiopia, where my parents worked for 23 years. Many of my books connect to Ethiopia, but I’ve also written books that celebrate bad moods, good habitat for birds and bees and butterflies, real life heroes and many other things. One of my most lovely activities is volunteering to create colorful, attractive, easy-to-read books for Ethiopian kids…since that is where I learned to read, after all. With those books, I get to play with both words AND art and how they fit together.

Amy June Bates has illustrated books including the Sam the Man series, Sweet Dreams and That’s What I’d Do, both by singer-songwriter Jewel; and Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan. She lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with her husband and three children.