A bestselling children’s author-illustration visited Benjamin Logan Elementary this week through a special event for students sponsored by the BLES-PTC.
Laurie Keller is the author-illustrator of a number of children’s books, including Do Unto Otters; Potato Pants!; The Scrambled States of America; the Geisel Award-winning We Are Growing!; and Arnie the Doughnut, as well as the Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut chapter book series.
Keller not only talked about her books and her writing process. She also spent much of each session teaching kids to draw those characters that they love.
Students came with pencil, paper and a clipboard and they left with quite a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Her books are entertaining for pupils from K-4 and she is great with kids — building confidence and inviting them to do more with her characters, school officials said.
“She was genuinely excited about the kids and their learning, which was evident in the way she talked to them and the excitement she displayed about their work.”
Growing up in Michigan, Keller loved to draw, paint and write stories.
She earned a bachelor of fine arts at Kendall College of Art and Design, and then worked at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City as a greeting card illustrator for seven years.
One night, the idea for a children’s book popped into her head and after showing the story to several publishers in New York City, she quit her job and moved there. The following year, that story idea was a published book — The Scrambled States of America.
Keller enjoyed living in New York City, but she returned to her home state, where she lives in the woods along the shores of Lake Michigan.