Rotten Ralph

Author and illustrator Nicole Rubel has a degree in fine arts from the Boston Museum School and has taught ceramics, silk screening, and mural design to children. Booklist has described her artwork as "busy, brightly colored paintings, done in child appealing primitive style, filled with subtle, humorous touches." She has over 60 books to her credit, including the popular Rotten Ralph series. She currently resides with her husband on a farm in Aurora, Oregon with a cat, a dog, two horses and sheep.Jack Gantos: "While I was in college, I began writing stories about animals. When I first met Nicole Rubel she was a painting student... We had a friend who thought we had a similar sense of humor. So we teamed up and began working together on picture books ... At first I thought children's books had to be sweet, warm, and gentle ... After [several] failures, I was very frustrated. Then I remembered what one of my teacheers told me. He said, 'You should write about what you know:' I was sitting at my desk and I looked down on the floor and saw my lousy, grumpy, hissing creep of a cat that loved to scratch my ankles, throw fur around the house, and shred the clothes in my closet. So I wrote the first draft of Rotten Ralph." Rotten Ralph was the first children's book Jack Gantos published, in1976. He's gone on to become the author of many books, includingthe rest of the Rotten Ralph series, the Joey Pigza novels and theJack Henry stories. His novel Joey Pigza Loses Control won aNewbery Honor. He lives with his wife and daughter in Boston,Massachusetts.