DOROTHY DONOHUE

Illustrator & Writer

BIOGRAPHY I BOOKS I PRESENTATIONS I BOOK ORDERING

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Dorothy Donohue has illustrated

14 children's books and written or

co-written 3 books. After she

completed college, she spent

some time teaching art in

Wisconsin elementary schools.

Returning to school, she went on

to receive her masters in art from

Rhode Island School of Design.

After working for several years at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, she started working on children's books. Working at Hallmark gave Dorothy illustration experience and the desire to create children's books.

Dorothy creates her picture books by cutting various shapes of paper and gluing the shapes together to create an illustration. She uses various colors and textures in her papers as well as layering to create a 3-D effect.

As a child, Dorothy had problems learning to read. She was in the "crow" reading group. She likes to talk about this to children and encourage them to not give up on learning to read because it's the key to so many things in the world.

In her presentations at schools, Dorothy creates a character in cut paper with the help of the students. Then together, they create a story around that character. ÒFrom Pictures to WordsÓ is a way for children who have difficulty expressing themselves through words, create a story.

After the presentation, Dorothy encourages teachers to let the children create a character in cut paper and write a story. Sometimes, the students send her these stories, and she has seen amazing pictures and stories created after one of her visits!

Besides creating children's books, her other passion is volunteering at the Humane Society. She walks homeless dogs and sometimes she brings them home.

She nows lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, James, and her 3 dogs.

Her awards include an SLJ Best Book of the Year, and an ALA Notable Children's Book for Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe.