Ten years ago, I teamed up with Karen Lewis to create Grandmother Fish. I was looking for an artist, and Karen turned out to be much more than that. She’s an experienced children’s science illustrator, and she’s a mom, so she was perfect for this project. Her illustrations combine biological accuracy with a fun style that kids respond to, and she really helped make the book appealing to kids. When I asked her to create an illustration of “Grandmother Ape”, for example, she drew a mother ape plus its baby ape. Naturally, the drawing is a lot more appealing thanks to that little ape being in it. She also talked me into including an evolutionary family tree. It was a lot of work, but kids love it so much that it was worth it. Karen went above and beyond to make Grandmother Fish a success. 

Karen also did lovely art for Clades, Clades Prehistoric, and Crow Scientist.