Samantha on a Roll

Linda Ashman’s picture books have been included on the “best of the year” lists of The New York Times, Parenting, and Child magazines, the New York Public Library, and many others. In addition to more than 30 children’s books, including Sterling’s Hey, Coach!, Over the River & Through the Wood, and The Twelve Days of Christmas in Colorado, she is the author of the self-published The Nuts & Bolts Guide to Writing Picture Books. She lives with her family in Chapel Hill, NC. Visit her online at lindaashman.com. Sara Sanchez creates illustrations for children’s books (mostly published in Spain) in her art studio in Madrid with the radio playing in the background and her pet rabbit sleeping near her feet. See more of her work at sanchezsara.blogspot.com.es.

As a young girl growing up in Tours, France, Christine Davenier loved listening to her older sister read fairy tales aloud. But she frequently found herself wondering, What does the princess’s beautiful dress look like? or How exquisite are her jewels? Christine was left to her own imagination, for the books had few illustrations. So it comes as little surprise that today, Christine embraces her career as an illustrator. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to create the illustrations I dreamed about seeing as a child,” she says. When Christine was fourteen, she received her first box of watercolor paints, a gift from her grandmother. That was the beginning of many afternoons spent painting together in her grandmother’s garden. “My grandmother was an extraordinary woman,” Christine says. “Even though she worked in an office all her life, she was an artist through and through. She shared everything she knew about color—in painting and in life. Her wisdom and talent still inspire me today.” She has illustrated many picture books, including The Other Dog by Madeline L’Engle and The Very Fairy Princess series by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton. Christine lives in Paris, France.