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The daughter of a printer, I was raised looking at the Sunday comics through a printer’s loupe. I learned “CMYK” before ABC. (While cleaning out my parents home this summer I found the very loupe my dad used. If you look closely you can see his name is scratched into the back)
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A Passion for Books & Book Design
My passion for children’s books started when I was just 8 years old. That’s the year my neighbors moved away and left me their large collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy books. Their own children were not interested in them (?!) however I was! I had often borrowed them to copy the pictures. That event made me a collector.* The Raggedys led to the Wizard of Oz series, Oz to Narnia, Narnia to Tolkien’s Hobbit and on and on . . .
My fascination with books grew. On visits to the children’s section of the Norristown (PA) Public Library, I would stand at the shelf paging through Where the Wild Things Are, too scared to check it out but too captivated by the illustrations to put it down.
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At the age of eleven I helped yet another neighbor (this one a teacher) set up a library at the local Plymouth Friends School and learned to love the Dewy Decimal System. A few years later, I survived middle school by volunteering to shelve books in the library and was often fascinated with the beautiful spines and how they all lined up.
My favorite job as a teenager was at Encore Books near Philadelphia. I will never forget the day I unpacked a box of books and discovered Chris Van Allsburg’s Jumanji (pre-Caldecott Medal sticker) right on top. I bought it before it ever made it to the shelf!
My art training began in high school. I spent my entire senior year in the capable hands of Frances Dubon, an outstanding art teacher. Mrs. Dubon was the one who told me (like Hagrid told Harry) “you’re a designer Angela”. With the unwavering support of my mom, I begged my printer father to send me to art school to study design. And he did!
I attended Philadelphia College of Art (PCA) and Tyler School of Art (Temple). After graduation, I moved to New York City for a 6-week internship at The Creative Black Book. I left New York 22 years later.
During those 22 years I worked for: The Creative Black Book • John Wagman Design • HarperCollins Publishing • Hyperion Books for Children • Disney Publishing Worldwide
My employment at these well-respected publishing houses gave
me the opportunity and privilege to work with many talented editors
(some of my favorite people), authors, and artists such as
William Joyce, Fred Marcellino, Aliki, The Dillons, Thatcher Hurd,
and Eric Carle. I had the dream-come-true experience of working
on several marketing projects and books with the late Maurice Sendak,
including a large marketing campaign for the 35th Anniversary
of Little Bear and Tony Kushner’s Brundibar.
In 2005, when my husband was appointed Music Director of
the South Dakota Symphony, we moved our family to the Midwest.
Here in South Dakota, my freelance clients have grown to include:
Norton • Abrams • Penguin Publishing • Kingfisher Books
Macmillan Children’s Books • Basher Books • Holton Consulting
Med Magazine • South Dakota Historical Press
​ My work includes the design of marketing materials (I love to
brainstorm concepts and come up with headlines), novels, chapter
books, and picture books. One of my passions is non-fiction. I really
enjoy learning new things and sorting out how to communicate
them to others. I look forward to hearing from you
and hope I can help you with your next project.
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* My current collection includes every Van Allsburg book, lots and lots of Sendak, four versions of Narnia, The Day the Crayons Quit, The Day the Crayons Came Home (picture book as well as board book versions), literally a stack of bibles, of course all of Harry Potter . . . and more.