Bill Martin Jr, an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet, held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. His many books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?; Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children.

Dr. Michael Sampson is a New York Times best selling author of 30 books for young children, including Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 and The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry. He has also written books on emergent literacy (The Pursuit of Literacy) and on literacy acquisition (Total Literacy: Reading, Writing, and Learning). He often writes around the themes of sports, cats and dogs, and numbers.

After teaching in the public schools, Sampson earned his Ph.D. in Reading at the University of Arizona, where he met and established a lifelong friendship and professional relationship with the late children's author and fellow literacy expert, Bill Martin, Jr. Together they wrote many popular books, including Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? and Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? His newest two books, Listen to our World and Spunky Little Monkey were published in 2016 and 2017. Noah, Noah, What Do you See? also came out last year.

Sampson travels the US and the world, speaking at schools, book festivals, and conferences, where he is known for his high energy, entertaining performances. Now in New York City, Sampson makes one author visit at schools each week.

Sampson is a professor of literacy at St.John's University in New York City, and lives in Manhattan near Union Square. He continues to teach writing courses at the St. John's campuses in New York, Paris, and Rome.

Learn more about Michael at www.michaelsampson.com and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sampson

I was born and raised in south Florida. I think I always enjoyed drawing and was fortunate to have a creative Mother and enthusiastic art teachers in school. I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where I studied painting, printmaking and sculpture.

In 1997, after many years of searching for the ultimate job, I finally set my sites on a career in children's books. Illustrating children's books has given me an endless supply of creative freedom and joy. i am grateful every day for the opportunity to express myself in the world of books.

visit my website at www.LauraBryant.com