Anna Dewdney passed away in September 2016, at the age of fifty, from cancer. A teacher, mother, and enthusiastic proponent of reading aloud to children, she continually honed her skills as an artist and writer and published her first Llama Llama book in 2005. Her passion for creating extended to home and garden, and she lovingly restored an eighteenth century farmhouse in southern Vermont. She wrote, painted, gardened, and lived there with her partner, Reed, her two daughters, two wirehaired pointing griffons, and one bulldog. Anna was a warm-hearted, wonderful, wise soul who will be forever missed, but whose spirit lives on in her books. Best known for her Skippyjon Jones series, Judy Schachner has illustrated many of her own stories, including the much-loved The Grannyman and its companion book, Bits & Pieces . She has also illustrated stories by others, including I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson and H ow the Cat Swallowed Thunder by Lloyd Alexander. She lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.