I have loved the pencil ever since I can remember. I was born in Illinois and used to ride horses and ponies with my sisters and friends as a child. There was a hitching post at our grocery store.We would pack a lunch and come home at the end of the day.

My father always supported the arts. If I came home and wanted to glue plastic toys on the hood of my car he would say something like "Come on in here, Wendy I think I have the perfect glue." My mother is a sculptor and loves to talk about art and design. We always had very inspiring books around from amazing forts in trees to an artist making houses out of bottles and plaster. These books have inspired me to want to make things.

I studied art at Syracuse University and Pratt Institute. I continued to study with a painter, David Hardey in Oakland CA for 2 years. It was with David I learned to draw and drawing has been my main interest ever since. I have loved the audience of children for my work. I also like to consider the other person reading the book to a child and hope my work inspires some conversation beyond the text.

I find the natural world a constant source of fascinating material to draw. From interesting clothing in Bolivia to a bamboo forest to leeks in my garden. For me, drawing is a lovely way to get to know someone or something.

My favorite award was a nomination from an environmental award committee for "Planting the Wild Garden" as I like to think of myself as an environmentalist just because I like to show the abundance of beauty in our world.

I also like to draw relationships between people. Kindness between a child and a grandparent or just someone listening to someone else.

I would like to thank everyone for being part of my journey in these books.

Alice B. McGinty is the award-winning author of 50 fiction and nonfiction books for children. She loves to write! Here are her most recent books: 2020 Jr. Library Guild Selection, The Water Lady (Schwartz and Wade Books, illustrated by Shonto Begay), Kirkus Best Book of 2020 A Story for Small Bear (Schwartz and Wade Books, illustrated by Richard Jones), The Sea Knows (2020, Simon and Schuster, with co-author Alan Havis, illustrated by Stephanie Laberis), 2019 Jr. Library Guild Selection, The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney (Schwartz and Wade, illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle), 2019 Northern Lights Book Award Winner (food category) Pancakes to Parathas: Breakfast Around the World (Little Bee, illustrated by Tomoko Suzuki), 2015 Sydney Taylor Notable book, Rabbi Benjamin’s Buttons (Charlesbridge, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt) and the picture book biography, Gandhi: A March To the Sea (Amazon Children’s Publishing, illustrated by Thomas Gonzales), which was awarded as an honor book for the 2014 South Asia Book Award for Children’s And Young Adult Literature. Her picture book biography, Darwin (2009, Houghton Mifflin, illustrated by Mary Azarian) received a 2010 Orbis Pictus Honor, and was listed on Booklist's 2009 Top Ten Biographies for Youth. Other publications include Eliza’s Kindergarten Pet (2010, Two Lions Press, illustrated by Nancy Speir), Thank You, World (2007, Dial Books, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin), and nonfiction books on subjects ranging from nutrition to tarantulas.

Alice looks forward to the upcoming release of these books: Step by Step (August, 2021, Simon and Schuster, illustrated by Diane Goode), Bathe the Cat (Fall, 2021, Chronicle Books, illustrated by David Roberts), My Israel and Me (Fall 2021, Kalaniot Books, illustrated by Rotem Terplow), A Synagogue Just Like Home (Spring, 2022, Candlewick Press, illustrated by Laurel Molk) and Truck Says Moo (Chronicle Books, illustrated by Camille Garoche).

Alice was born in Minneapolis Minnesota and has lived in New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia, Indiana, and Illinois. She’s been in Illinois for over 25 years now!

A frequent presenter at schools and conferences, Alice was awarded the 2017 Prairie State Award for excellence in writing for children.

Alice loves to hike, play the guitar, dance, and read. She’s also a writing teacher and coach, runs a writing camp for teens, is a children's book reviewer for the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette, and is a Regional Adviser Emerita for the Illinois Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.