Little Boost Books

Christianne Jones is an award-winning author of books for younger children. Her picture book Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker won a 2013 Gelett Burgess Award and was a Midwest Book Award finalist, and Hello, Goodbye, and a Very Little Lie was listed as one of the 100 best children’s books by popular parenting site babble.com. Christianne lives in Mankato, Minnesota, with her husband and three daughters.

Beth Bracken is an award-winning author of books for children of all ages, from her Mom’s Choice-winning Henry Helps books for toddlers to the critically acclaimed Faerieground series for middle-grade readers. Her picture book Too Shy for Show-and-Tell was one of the 2013 Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year in the Under-Five category. Beth lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and their two children.

The youngest in a family of nine children, Julie Gassman grew up in Howard, South Dakota. After college, she traded in small-town life for the world of magazine publishing in New York City. She now lives in southern Minnesota with her husband and their three children.

Christine Battuz started drawing at three when she was first able to hold a pen. Growing up, she was inspired by her mother’s collection of paintings all over her house. Christine has illustrated over sixty children’s books, published in North America, Korea, and Europe. When not illustrating, she loves trail running and skiing with her husband and son.

Juana Martinez-Neal is the daughter and granddaughter of painters. She started her story in Lima, Peru, and then moved to the United States. The winner of a 2018 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya, Juana Martinez-Neal is still writing the story of her life, with the help of her husband and three children, in Arizona.

Sarah Horne was born in sub-zero Derbyshire, UK, one cold November day. Since then, she has graduated from Falmouth College of Arts in 2001, and from Kingston University with a Masters in illustration in 2005. Currently, Sarah lives and works in Wapping, London, and spends many hours sipping tea while working at Happiness At Work Studios.

Cale Atkinson is an illustrator/writer/animator currently residing in Kelowna Canada. He claims to love tea more than sleep, which makes sense when you realize how many projects and clients he’s dealing with on a regular basis. With creative storytelling and engaging illustrations, Cale’s work has earned awards like Buzzfeed 17 Most Beautiful Books 2015, Ontario Library Association Best Bets Top 10 2015, and CBC Children’s Choice Award Finalist 2016. Cale recently spent a month in Portugal, and you can see his incredible Lisbon-inspired art on his Twitter account where he regularly updates his followers as to his coming adventures and works.

Largely self-taught, Shane Clester has been a professional illustrator since 2005. He began working in comics and storyboards before transitioning to his true passion–children’s books. Shane lives in Florida with his wife and two children.

MARISA MOREA is a freelance illustrator based in Madrid, Spain. She’s been working as an illustrator since graduating with an MA in Illustration from Eina School in Barcelona in 2009. (bio via Sterling Spring 2018 catalog.)