Author Study

As a class we chose to research different authors and come in with background information about them and a list of books they wrote or illustrated. We were also asked to inlcude their website as well. This is the biogprahpical information I found out about my cjosen auhtor, Tomie dePaloa!
Tomie dePaola was born on Sept. 15th 1934 in Meriden, Conn. Growing up dePaola lived with his father, mother, and three siblings. At a young age dePaola loved books, his mother read to him every night which fostered his love of literature. At age four dePaola declared that he wanted to be an illustrator and dancer. dePaola pursued these passions though his school career by taking both dance and art lessons. After dePaola graduated high school he went on to attend art school at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. After attending the Pratt dePaola went on to receive his MFA from California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. DePaola has named artists such as Fra Angelico, Giotto, Georges Rouault, and Ben Shahn as major influences on his art. Despite having received his MFA it took dePaola several years before he illustrated his first children’s book. dePaola took jobs teaching, designing greeting cards, and stage sets before illustrating his first children’s book in 1965. The first children’s book that dePaola illustrated was a science text titled, Sound. A year later dePaola wrote and illustrated his first children’s book titled, The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin. To this day dePaola has illustrated 200+ children’s books and dePaola wrote and illustrated 100+ of those books.
There is a list of books he was written
DePaola, Tomie. Marcos Colors . New York, New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2003.. This is a board book so it is meant for younger kids. The book teaches children to identify colors in both Spanish and English.

DePaola, Tomie. Adelita- A Mexican Cinderella Story . New York, New York: G.P.Putnam's Son's , 2002.
This book is about a girl Adelita who is orphaned and forced to work for her stepmother and stepsisters. One day there is a grand fiesta and Adelita attends and falls in love with a man she meets there. She feels bad for her lack of wealth and position so she leaves the fiesta. The man searches for her and finds her and they live a happy life together

DePaola, Tomie. Tom. New York, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons , 1993. This story is about Tomie’s grandfather who he called Tom. The whole book is a recollection of their greatest memories together .

DePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona- Her Story. New York, New York: G.P. Putnam's Son's , 1996. Strega Nona is the subject of many of Tomie dePaola’s books. This book is the story of how she learned to be a strega and other memories from her childhood.

DePaola, Tomie. Big Anthony- His Story . New York, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons , 1998. Big Anthony is Strega Nona’s helper and he is a loveable character who sometime causes problems because he is inattentive. This is a story about how Big Anthony came to meet Strega Nona
These are some great resources I used when complying this information
Ellem.
Tomie dePaola’s Website
http://www.tomie.com/

Other Helpful websites
http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-depaola-tomie.asp
http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/authorsillustrato/a/tomiedepaola.htm