Shanda (rhymes with panda) McCloskey comes from a whole family of different kinds of artists and entrepreneurs! She studied art in Atlanta and New York City. But before writing and illustrating kids books, she taught art to high-schoolers. Shanda now lives in Ball Ground, Georgia with her husband, daughters, and dog. She is also co-creator of the Author Visit Podcast and Author Visit Central.
Shanda’s award-winning STEM-friendly picture books (DOLL-E 1.0 and T-BONE THE DRONE) have taken her to wonderful people and places!
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Fun Facts about Shanda:
- Shanda loved drawing since she can remember, and she knew she wanted to be an artist of some sort when she grew up. She started off as an art teacher and then honed in on being a book illustrator. Becoming an author too was kind of a surprise!
- In 4th grade Shanda made personalized rings from pipe cleaners, sequins, hot glue, and colorful uncooked alphabet pasta (which spelled out each recipient’s first name) and sold them to her classmates for 25 cents each! It was glorious until she sold one to her friend, Allison, whose mom was the teacher. Shanda got in trouble for running a business at school and had to shut it down.
- In elementary school (maybe 3rd grade), Shanda started The Dazzlin’ Club with her cousin, Audrey. The club had its own self-inking stamp, so it was pretty official. They wanted to adopt a whale, but never had enough money. However, they did produce a newsletter for the 12 or so members, thus the need for the stamp.
- 1994 newspaper ARTICLE about my art when I was twelve years old
- A cool INTERVIEW about my experience as an author/illustrator
- Another cool INTERVIEW from a young, aspiring writer
- Illustrator process and career INTERVIEW
- Below are some mermaids Shanda drew in 3rd grade:
