ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nina Laden
Nina Laden is an award-winning, bestselling children’s book author and illustrator. She was born and raised in the New York City area, the daughter of two artists, and she has been “making art and telling stories since she could hold a crayon".
She went to Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, majoring in Illustration, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1983. After college she lived in Atlanta, Georgia and worked first as a graphic designer and then as a freelance illustrator.
Nina met her husband, Booth Buckley, in Atlanta in 1989. He lived in Seattle and had three boys, Brian, Chris and Doug. Booth moved to Atlanta and they opened Aurora Coffee, Atlanta’s first espresso bar, in 1992.
In 1994 two big events happened: Nina and Booth eloped on Martha’s Vineyard, and Nina’s first children’s book, The Night I Followed the Dog came out to rave reviews, best-selling status and it won many awards, setting the stage for Nina’s dream of being a children’s book author and illustrator. Since then, Nina has published over twenty-five more books, working as both author and illustrator, and in some cases author and others as illustrator. She creates picture books, novelty board books, graphic essays, and cartoons.
Her many books include When Pigasso Met Mootisse (1998), Peek-a-Who (2000), Roberto: the Insect Architect (2000), Once Upon a Memory (2013), If I Had a Little Dream (2017), Yellow Kayak (2018) and Seeds of Change (2024).
When she is not writing or drawing, “she paddleboards, takes long beach walks, hunts for agates, forages for mushrooms, makes jewelry, and cooks up a storm, amongst other things”.
She lives on a little island in the San Juan Islands of Washington State with Booth and their Siberian cat, Marley.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Melissa Castrillon
Melissa Castrillon is an English and Colombian illustrator based in the south east of England. She studied at the Cambridge School of Art where she earned a first class honours degree in illustration and a master’s degree in children’s book illustration.
Melissa has illustrated more than ten picture books, written three and they have been translated into more than 20 languages around the world. She is the illustrator of many books by Nina Laden, including If I Had a Little Dream (2019), Yellow Kayak (2018), and Dear Little One (2021), which was a School Library Journal best picture book of the year. She is also the author-illustrator of The Balcony (2019), which received the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal, as well as Mighty Min (2019), and Can You Keep A Secret (2021). Her books have been published all over the world. She lives in Cambridge, England, with her husband.
Melissa has said she is “motivated by punchy colour combos, inventive compositions, ingenious page design and unusual patterns.” And the she “probably spends too much time day-dreaming about all of these things and how she can apply them to new projects.” 📖
DEAR LITTLE ONE
IF I HAD A LITTLE DREAM
ONCE UPON A MEMORY
PEEK-A MOO
PEEK-A WHO
THE NIGHT I FOLLOWED THE DOG
WHO LOVES YOU, BABY?
YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL BEGINNING
DEAR LITTLE ONE
IF I HAD A LITTLE DREAM
ONCE UPON A MEMORY
PEEK-A MOO
PEEK-A WHO
THE NIGHT I FOLLOWED THE DOG
WHO LOVES YOU, BABY?
YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL BEGINNING
Nina Laden Collection
