Sarah MacElroy has a passion for literacy, arts and the great outdoors. She grew up in Dallas, Texas and as an adult has lived all over the world. She enjoys experiencing new cultures and countries.

Raynelda Calderon, Children's Author, Librarian

Raynelda Calderon’s work with children inspires her to write about the accomplishments of Hispanic figures in history. Through her writing, she hopes to inspire young readers to follow their passions and never take no for an answer.

Susanne Strauss, Children’s Author and Nature Photographer

Susanne Strauss has always been passionate about writing, art, photography, and nature. As an educator, she often incorporated art and natural science activities, such as dissecting owl pellets, into her writing and research classes.

Jean Schoen, Award winning children's author, Educational speaker, Cancer patient advocate, Founder/President of nonprofit corporation

How do you explain cancer to a child? These three books were inspired by my own struggle to explain cancer to my children when my husband was diagnosed. The books are designed to help one succeed in talking and explaining cancer to a child in a way that they will understand without frightening them.

Tamara S. Raymond, Award-Winning Author, Leadership Coach, Career Strategist and Educational Speaker

Tamara Raymond is founder and president of Innovative Management Consulting, Inc., an organization committed to professional, career and leadership development for adults and young people; as well as guidance for teens in determining their career paths. She has successfully coached and/or mentored a multitude of clients, ranging from business owners, employees, executives and corporate teams; to adults, students and young leaders.

Elizabeth Cummings, Children's Author and Professional Speaker

Elizabeth Mary Cummings was born in Manchester England, grew up in Scotland and studied in Edinburgh. After completing a degree in Psychology and Business Studies, Elizabeth went on to train and work as a primary school teacher for many years in Scotland and New Zealand before moving to Australia to run a language education business.

Analynn Sardella, Children's author

Charlie & Marley's Great Discoveries was born out of the genuine experience of a mother seeking to raise her household with virtuous leadership. She aspired to see her own children flourish with fruitful relationships, honoring integrity, and overall well-rounded character.

Jim Petipas, Author, Illustrator, Musician, and Publisher with Boardwalk Books

Jim has always been creating art. When he was a kid he would often be found drawing cars, animals, or boats. Throughout his teen and college years, he was creating music as a drummer in a local band. After college, he worked in the business field for a few years and then went to seminary.

Mark M. Bello, Legal/Political Thriller Author

Bello draws upon those 40-plus years as a litigator and advocate as author of the award-winning Zachary Blake Betrayal series of legal thriller novels. Through his “ripped from the headlines” novels, he takes readers deep into the courtroom fights to protect our most precious rights.

Erik Bean, Mental Health Advocate

Erik holds a doctorate in education and has served as a primary teacher of record for grades K-8. Dr. Bean specializes in using technology in the classroom as well as for distance learning and has taught hundreds of children and adults about the potential dangers of the Internet including isolation and information bias, some of the most destructive forces of our time.

Eboniè P. Fields, Children's Author

Eboniè P. Fields is a poet, writer, and children’s book author of the adventurous tale of Zenie and the Magical Hummingbirds and Zoey and the Magical Hummingbirds. Fields enjoys using her writing talents to create exciting and vivid stories for children of all ages to read. She has the creative talents to descriptively allow your imagination to put you inside the story, taking you on an incredible journey with her charismatic characters. Fields has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Baylor University, and a master’s in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Texas Women’s University.

Elizabeth Raum, Children's Author, Educator, Speaker

I have written over 150 books for children and adults including biographies, non-fiction history books, and historical fiction for young readers. I have also published picture books and non-fiction books about animals and weather, topics that fascinate me, as well as a new short story collection, Drive-Through Christmas Eve, designed for families.

Barbara Ann Mojica, Children's Author, Historian, Professional Speaker

My mission is to inspire, educate and entertain children by making learning about history fun and educational. I use a cartoon-like character, Little Miss HISTORY, to narrate adventures that explore national parks, national monuments and other sites of historical interest. I hope that families will be able to discover new ideas and experience our rich historical heritage.

Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson, Children's Author, Professional Speaker, Pearl Harbor Expert

Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson is an award-winning author of WWII history for young readers. She was born in Hawaii to a Hawaiian mother who taught her to hula, and then Dorinda taught her poi-dog, Hula Girl, to dance along with her. Her Caucasian father held her tight against him the morning of December 7th, 1941 while they stood together in their front yard watching Japanese torpedo bombers scream overhead so low, Dorinda saw the pilots’ goggles as the planes whizzed by, barely above the tree tops.

Kevin Coolidge, Children's Author, Presenter

The Totally Ninja Raccoons is a series of early chapter books, target audience first through fourth grade. The books are specially structured to encourage reluctant readers. Short chapters, humor, adventure, and one picture per chapter keep kids feeling a sense of engagement and accomplishment as they plow through these stories and ask for more! Each book has the Totally Ninja Raccoons encountering a cryptid — a creature from folklore or mythology, whose existence is not currently confirmed by modern science. The “monsters” are presented in a fun, not-too-scary way, and readers are encouraged to do their own research to make up their minds about the possible existence of Bigfoot, werewolves, thunderbirds, sidehill gougers, the Loch Ness monster, and others.

Conrad J. Storad, Children's Science & Nature Author

Nonfiction books should be fun. That's my goal with each and every book I write. I have programs to fit every age group and grade level. “Tales from the Sonoran Desert” is designed for primary grade students. I use multimedia, puppets and props to do animated readings for younger children: preschool, kindergarten, or primary and intermediate elementary grade students.

Lisa Jacovsky, Children's Author

Lisa Jacovsky currently is a Doctoral Level student at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She is excited for the possibilities having her Doctoral degree will bring her. She has been in the field of ABA since 2014 where she began her career working with adults in residential group homes. She moved onto working with children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2018 and is currently working in Early Intervention.

Lauren Kramer-Theuerkauf, Award-winning Children's Author

In 2016, I published a children’s book about Penny and her adoption journey entitled Priceless Penny. Penny and I visit area schools where we give presentations on the importance of adopting differently-abled animals. I also speak at community events as well as at local club and organizational meetings.

Joseph Kimble, Children’s Author, Professional Speaker, Distinguished Professor Emeritus (of Law)

I want kids to laugh—and they do. But they also learn some important things about words, word meanings, word play, and metaphor. I say this in the book’s introduction: “Learn to love words—big and small—and learn which ones to use when."

Jennifer Kurani, Award-winning Children's Author

Jennifer Kurani was born and raised in New York, and spent her childhood always using her imagination. As an adult, she worked at Scholastic in children's publishing, edited creative writing essays, and developed web content for parents and students. She lives in New York City with her husband and two loving children, and believes in spreading the love.