Author Biography
Carole LaPlante, nee Schmidt, is from Tinley Park, Illinois. Carole earned her Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from Southwest Texas State University and her Masters Degree in Early Childhood from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. She has owned and operated her own childcare center, taught college courses in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and ESL in Cleveland, Turkey and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she currently resides. As a child, Carole's first students were her younger brothers, dolls and pets. Carole has taught young people most of her life, focusing on children's literature. Mary Ann Byrne-Walker is a native Pennsylvanian. She received her Bachelors Degree in Humanities from the Pennsylvania State University and her Masters Degree from the University of St. Francis. She recalls getting the 'drawing bug' at age six. Mary Ann has exhibited her work in many galleries, shows, art fairs, specializing in pen and ink and pastels. She has enjoyed doing a wide variety of freelance artwork, including illustrated cards, homes, political cartoons, medical illustrations, and journal covers, to name a few. Mary Ann currently resides with her husband and two children in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
