Jill Esbaum is the author of many award-winning picture books and has also written 20+ nonfiction books for National Geographic. She visits schools as often as possible and enjoys teaching writing across the country. She is the creator and administrator of a group picture book blog, www.picturebookbuilders.com Jill grew up in small-town Iowa. She LOVED everything about school and spent her free time creating comic strips, trying to get kittens to follow her home, and playing Barbie beauty pageant with the neighbor girls. One of her favorite possessions was the mini flashlight that illuminated post-bedtime, undercover reading marathons with Nancy Drew.