Did you know that before Derrick Barnes became an Award winning children's book author he worked for Hallmark Cards as a creative copywriter? Derrick Barnes has written popular books such as The King of Kindergarten, Crown: And Ode to the Fresh Cut, and one of our favorites, I Am Every Good Thing.

Jerry Craft is not only a New York Times bestselling author but his extremely popular book, New Kid, was the first graphic novel to win the Newberry Medal, an award for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature. His second graphic novel, Class Act, came out in 2020.

Kate DiCamillo has been writing amazing children's books for decades. Some of her most popular books include Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, Tiger Rising, Bink & Gollie, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, and the Mercy Watson series.

Jeff Kinney came up with the idea for Diary of a Wimpy Kid back in 1998 but his first book wasn't published until almost 20 years later. His original dream was to become a newspaper cartoonist but he has been extremely successful with his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, with more than 200 million copies of the series in print across the world!

It is hard to find words to describe the illustrations in Vashti Harrison's books but maybe that's because she is an illustrator, writer, and filmmaker! Harrison's films and artwork highlight her Caribbean heritage incorporating folklore from the country. She has contributed to books such as Little Leaders series, Hair Love, and Sulwe.

Dav Pilkey has written and sold millions of copies of his Captain Underpants and Dog Man books but did you know that he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a kid? Dav came up with the idea for Captain Underpants when he was in second grade and was sent to sit in the hallway because he was being so disruptive. Lucky us!

Dan Santat is one of those illustrators that you once you learn his name, you seem to find his work everywhere you look. He won the 2015 Caldecott for his book Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend and has also worked on popular books such as LIFT, The Cookie Fiasico, Drawn Together, Crankenstein. He also created the Disney animated series, The Replacements.

Lauren Tarshis is the author of the extremely popular and New York Bestselling I Survive series. She has also been the editor of Storyworks, a magazine published by Scholastic. Her books are some of the most frequently requested books by students in grades 2nd-5th at Sunrise Drive.

Another author constantly requested by students at Sunrise Drive is Raina Telgemeier. Raina has written the popular graphic novels Smile, Sisters, Guts, Ghosts, and Drama. She also adapted a few of Ann M. Martin's Baby-Sitters Club books into graphic novels.

What can we say about Mo Willems? He is absolutely beloved by the students at Sunrise Drive. He not only created the Elephant and Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, and Pigeon series, but he started his career working on Sesame Street!