About Children's Storybooks Online and Its Authors

CHILDREN'S STORYBOOKS ONLINE

ABOUT THIS SITE:

Created in 1996, Children's Storybooks Online was given a 4-Star rating by NetGuide's Best of the Web in 1997. Since then it has been featured twice in Yahoo Magazine (4 Stars out of 5) and has been mirrored on CD-Rom by Classroom Connect and distributed in schools in the United States. It was also selected by the Australian WebMaster Project as one of the "Best Educational Sites in the World" 1998 and mirrored on their CD-Rom distributed to schools throughout Australia. In 1998 it was included in PCNovice's Guide to the Web, The 2500 Best Sites.

There are original stories with color illustrations for young children as well as older children and young adults. Children's Storybooks Online seeks to combine education and entertainment to amuse and engage children's imaginations. There are riddles, mazes, coloring book pages and a page with children's links that have won Children's Storybooks Online Award for excellence.

Presently there are 26 stories. The first story to be included on the site was The Littlest Knight which took Carol Moore two years to illustrate. It made its debut on the web courtesy of her husband Chris, the webmaster. In 1996 Carol contacted Lea McAndrews for permission to include her story Round Bird, at that time one of only a few children's stories on the web that was illustrated. The next stories added were Buzzy Bee, Kitty Wants a Box, Wumpalump, and Loomploy. Shortly thereafter Valerie Hardin and Rolando Merino contacted Children's Storybooks Online to add their stories. Duncan Wells' story, Absulum the Reindeer Elf, debuted in January 2000 and Sniffy & Fluffy Have An Adventure by Aimee Bruneau and Taylour Damion was added later that year.

2003 added five stories. Mr. Coyote Meets Mr. Snail and Shooflies, by Storie-Jean Agapith, a native American Indian, and Wolstencroft the Bear by Karen Lewis. Carol Moore has also added The Master Artist and Second Thoughts.

Authors on Children's Storybooks Online retain all copyrights to their own written and illustrated material.

AUTHORS & ILLUSTRATORS:


STORIE-JEAN AGAPITH

Ramona K. Agapith-Berland (her full name), aka "Storie" and "Mona" wrote *Shooflies* and *Mr. Coyote Meets Mr. Snail*. She is a 52-year old disabled Native American Indian from the San Poil Band of Indians within the Colville Confederated Tribes. She is from Washington State and a biological grandmother of one, but traditional gammie to several. Her mother is a full blood San Poil Indian, also a descendent of Chief Jim James who turned the electricity on with Theodore Roosevelt at the Grand Coulee Dam. Storie lives on an 80-acre ranch and raises pygmy goats and dairy cattle from two days of age. She also has two lambs, rabbits, one ranch dog, four Chihuahuas and a few cats. Plus she was a foster parent for a great number of years. Her maternal grandma, Rose, told her stories as a child and she has continued that tradition with first her son, Leon William Weed 12/27/71-12/15/97; and also her grandson; Seth Albert Weed. She has always loved listening to fables, which have had an important influence in her writings.


AIMEE BRUNEAU

wrote *Sniffy & Fluffy Have An Adventure*. She is an actor/9-5 drone living in Seattle, Washington. This is her first book. She'd like to dedicate it to her parents who made the time to read.


CHRISTIAN COLABELLI

illustrated *The Journey of the Noble Gnarble. Christian Colabelli graduated from Boston College in 2005 with a degree in English and subsequently graduated from Berklee College of music in 2008 with a degree in Professional music. He is currently a professional guitarist, has done two tours on Holland America Cruise Lines and is actively pursuing a career as a touring guitarist. When not out playing, Christian devotes his time to illustration to which he has always had a deep passion for. The Journey of the Noble Gnarble* is Christian's first fully illustrated children's book and showcases his unique usage of watercolor. He poured his heart and soul into this project and plans to continue producing many more inspired illustrations. Christian currently resides in Red Bank, NJ.


TAYLOUR DAMION

illustrated *Sniffy & Fluffy Have An Adventure*.


DANIEL ERRICO

wrote *The Journey of the Noble Gnarble. Daniel graduated from Villanova University in 2005 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After working at a mechanical contracting firm and an investment bank, he decided to devote his time to children's literature. Now he writes full-time for his website http://www.freechildrenstories.com, where he posts an original story every week. The Journey of the Noble Gnarble*, is the first children's story that Daniel ever wrote.


VALERIE HARDIN

wrote *Grow Your Own Gargoyle. She has published numerous poems and other children's books on the web. Find her Two Turtles* story at: http://www.hardshell.com/eb.php3?ebookid=17155


KAREN LEWIS

wrote *Wolstencroft the Bear*. She is also the author of several mystery novels. This is her first story for children and she would like to dedicate it to her son, Mark.


LEA McANDREWS

wrote and illustrated *Round Bird* and illustrated *The Loomploy*. She is a graphics artist with her own website.


ROLANDO MERINO

has written and illustrated four of the stories, adding animation and sound: *The Counting Story, Letters of the Alphabet, Animals You Can See at the Zoo, and The Farm Animals*. He dedicated his books to his son Timmy. Rolando works in the medical field and his goal is to write medical books for children. He also has his own website at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1045.


THOMAS MITTON

illustrated *Shooflies*. He lives in Garden City, Michigan. A CAD designer in the automotive business by trade, he began freelance illustration on the side in 2001. He has a website with samples of his work at: http://www.geocities.com/tonyspencildrawings.


CAROL MOORE	Contact Carol

is the site creator and author/illustrator of 13 of the stories. Born in Michigan, she moved to Southern California at an early age. Although learning to read was a struggle (and why she created ebooks wherein each separate word has audio), she eventually became an avid reader and visited the library often. As a child her favorite books were about dogs and science fiction. Now she favors fiction, history and social commentary, although any subject is fair game. A graduate of UCLA in English literature Carol, through the world-wide web, found an opportunity to satisfy her life-long dream of writing for children. At UCLA she attended a course in writing stories for children. Years later she attended more writing classes plus took an art correspondence course. She learned Fractal Design (now Corel) Painter, a computer art software, in order to illustrate "The Littlest Knight." Having worked in law firms as a word processor for many years, Carol now enjoys collaborating with her husband, Chris (Children's Storybooks Online webmaster) to grow and improve the story site. In addition, she enjoys surfing the web, going to movies and playing on a music keyboard.


AURA MOSER

illustrated *It Could Happen...*. She holds a bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY. She has worked on the production of Courage The Cowardly Dog, Venture Brothers, and Global Thingies on Sesame Street.


TERESA NG

wrote and illustrated *Tiger Son*. She is a Chinese/American born in Hong Kong and educated in the United States. After retiring from a career in Insurance Underwriting, she is now working for a local library part-time. She has a total of six grandchildren: their ages ranging from six to sixteen years. They were her inspiration to write and illustrate stories for children. Some of her works have been on display in the Children's Room at the Dennis & Phillip Ratner Museum, located in Bethesda, Maryland. She enjoys listening to Chinese operas, reading historical novels, and painting pictures of children. She would like to dedicate her Tiger Son story to her husband, Joseph. She has a website at http://www.picturetrail.com/grandmacorner.


JASON PAULHAMUS

illustrated *Second Thoughts*. He is a freelance illustrator. He graduated from Messiah College in 1997 with a BA in fine arts. He has sold fine art paintings in local galleries and began freelancing in 2002. He works in acrylics, water colors, pencil, pen and ink, colored pencil, and digital colors. Jason would like to be a comic book artist or an illustrator in the gaming industry some day. His hobbies include videogames, comic books, toys, and fishing. You can find more samples of Jason's work at: http://www.homestead.com/jasonpaulhamus.


CHERYL PEARSON

wrote *The Wumpalump* and *The Loomploy*, two religious parables. With her permission "The Wumpalump" was turned into a Church play enacted by Sunday-schoolers. Cheryl gardens and raises Egyptian Arabian horses in Texas.


HAYES ROBERTS

wrote and illustrated *The Wiener Dog Magnet, The Brave Monkey Pirate, and Invisible Alligators*, and is currently drawing more monkeys and things at http://bluebison.net.


RICHARD SWAN

wrote and illustrated *Atlas Hangs On and Fruit Salad*.

Cleone

Gleb


GLEB TOROPOV & CLEONE CASSIDY

wrote and illustrated *Little Miss Mary and the Big Monster Makeover*. They live and work together in London with their pet pooch, Savannah. Cleone has lived most of her life in sunny South Africa, where she is best known for being a top radio DJ and TV presenter. She is also the voice of the safety announcer on South African Airline flights. Cleone holds a black belt in karate, and, riding a horse called Moose, she attained pro grade in show jumping. Gleb was born in Russia and moved to the UK together with his family at age 11. As a teenager Gleb had his eyes set on becoming a professional tennis player, but at university he started writing for film and TV, and after graduating he worked for production companies in London and an animation company in Belgium, where he was able to hone his craft. When Gleb met Cleone, he was inspired to start writing a book, and they soon began to work together, forming a collaboration that has flourished for several years. Inspired by Cleone's futile attempts at giving him a makeover (although he is now cleanly shaven) Gleb started writing and illustrating the delightful story of Little Miss Mary. You can visit the Cleone and Gleb's website at http://www.littlemissmary.com. Cleone has been involved with Starfish Greathearts Foundation, a charity providing aid to child victims of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, and if you enjoyed the story would greatly appreciate your consideration of a donation at http://www.justgiving.com/starfish.


MICHAEL S. WEBER

illustrated *The Bitaba Bird, The Master Artist, Mr. Coyote Meets Mr. Snail, and Wolstencroft the Bear*. He lives in Chicago with his lovely wife, Marian, and his equally lovely stepdaughter, Dana. Keeping him good company are their two cats, Bubba and Zue Zue. I look upon children as 'a new frontier.' I think this way because if children are well influenced through their parents, education and literature, the chances of our world becoming a better place will improve. This is why I have chosen to both write and illustrate children's stories. He has a website with samples of his work at http://www.msweber.net/index.html.


DUNCAN WELLS

wrote *Absulum the Reindeer Elf*. Duncan Wells has been working professionally as an independent artist for more than 20 years. He is a musician, songwriter, playwright and actor. Although Duncan has experienced a great deal of success writing and performing for adults he has remained steadfastly dedicated to the creation and performance of original material for children. He is the co-founder of Grey and Pink Productions for Children and founder of The Talent Project for Children. He is the creator of The Full Moon Cafe for Children, the Cape Breton Kid's Club, the Cape Breton Kid's Show and the Clap Your Hands Give a Hoot Hour. In 1990, he formed Duncan and the Apple in a Tree Band a four piece musical group for children and their parents that continues to receive rave reviews wherever they perform. The band has toured extensively the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and was chosen to showcase at the East Coast Music Awards in 1995, 1996 and 1998. In 1996, he was named Children's Artist of the Year by the East Coast Music Association. Duncan Wells continues to reside on Cape Breton Island with his wife Theresa and two daughters, Sarah Jane and Laura Marie. You can find Duncan Wells' website, Dunkle Unkins for Kids, at: http://members.tripod.com/~duncanwells/dunkle.html.


DAN WETZEL

illustrated *Buzzy Bee's Night Out* and *Buzzy Bees's Picnic*. Dan Wetzel began his official cartooning career in the 6th grade, landing a weekly spot called "Wetzel's World," which appeared in a local newspaper. Since then, it's been all downhill. After college, Dan focused on freelance illustration, creating numerous greeting cards, books and nationally published cartoons. In 1996, after a short stint as an Editorial Illustrator with the Patriot News in Harrisburg, PA, Dan joined Sunburst Technology where for seven years as a Senior Multimedia Artist he employed the latest cutting-edge technology in creating animation and illustration for educational software. Currently, Dan is working on Flash animation and cartooning from his own company, Purple Sneakers Studios in White Plains, NY, and is represented by Deborah Wolfe LTD. He has a website with samples of his work at http://www.purplesneakers.com.

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