Your First Day of Circus School

Tara Lazar writes quirky, humorous picture books, often featuring magical places that everyone will want to visit! Her most recent book 7 Ate 9: The Untold Story was honored with the 2018 Irma S. & James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature from Bank Street College of Education. Her other titles include The Monstore (2013), I Thought This Was a Bear Book (2015), Little Red Gliding Hood (2015), Normal Norman (2016), and Way Past Bedtime (2017). She’s a co-chair of the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature conference and a former picture book mentor for We Need Diverse Books. Tara lives in New Jersey with her husband, two daughters, and a skateboarding hamster named Ace.

Melissa Crowton completed her MFA in the Illustration Practice Program at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 2016. She now creates doodles for Google’s homepage, and works on illustration projects for publishers and other clients. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, Creative Quarterly, and American Illustration. Originally from Utah, Melissa currently lives in Northern California.