Biography

**Biography**

**Janell Cannon**


 Afraid of nature’s creepy crawlies and less than adorable creatures? Well fortunately for her many fans, myself included, author/illustrator Janell Cannon isn’t! As a young girl, she and her siblings had a soft spot for the kinds of animals that are often misunderstood and unloved. Venture into her Minnesota backyard and you would have found crayfish, frogs, turtles, snakes and salamanders taking up residence. “W e always found them to be so beautiful and people kept telling us they were awful” recalls Cannon (K-8 Teaching, April 2005, Vol.35, No.7)

Prior to writing and illustrating her own stories, Janell Cannon worked in the Carlsbad Public Library  where she developed summer reading programs for children. While doing research for one of the summer programs for the library, she was surprised to find very few (actually only two) books written about bats. This motivated her to write her own ... and voila, the story of //Stellaluna// was born. In an attempt to change young people's perception of bats, Cannon shares, "Fruit bats don't drink blood and won't get caught in your hair. I hope to show them in a positive light so that they might be given more respect." She goes on to point out that "fruit bats benefit our environment as they pollinate plants while foraging for nectar and distribute, through their droppings, seeds from fruit eaten whole." (Harcourt Brace & Company) During its first year of publication, //Stellaluna //was a bestseller and established her as an award winning author/illustrator.

Cannon lives in southern California with her cat and parrot. When writing and illustrating a new book she works on it day in and day out. "Sometimes I can go a couple of weeks if I can see the story clearly. I want to take advantage of the muse when it’s there." To escape distractions, she escapes to her studio loft where she climbs a ladder to get to her drawing table. She says, "It's like climbing into a spaceship and closing the hatch." (K-8 Teaching, April 2005, Vol.35, No.7)

After the success of //Stellaluna//, Cannon left her job at the library to devote more time to writing and illustrating books. It allowed her the opportunity to develop and create a story about a soft, fuzzy character she had kept in her imagination for over ten years. Her book //Trupp// was the result. When needing inspiration for a book or character, Cannon claims she only need visit the nearest zoo. By simply sitting back and watching people’s negative reactions to a hyena at the San Diego Zoo she knew that it must be the protagonist in her most recent book //Pinduli//.

Cannon has received a number of awards for her books. //Crickwing, Verdi & Trupp// all won “IRA-CBC Children’s Choice Award” and //Stellaluna// won the “ABBY Award.” It was also selected as a Reading Rainbow feature book. 