Based on the author's own experience, I Already Know I Love You describes the cavalcade of feelings that comes with being a grandfather for the very first time. Beginning with anticipating the new baby's arrival, this book celebrates all the moments, great and small, that a new grandpa is ready to share. Whether it's taking a nap together or rooting for the Yankees, this grandpa just can't wait. Lush and dreamy pastels complement the heartfelt text, and together they celebrate all the joy a brand-new baby brings to the world.
Elizabeth Sayles has illustrated more than 25 books for children including Mother's Song, (a Victorian lullaby sprinkled with fairies) and I Already Know I Love You by Billy Crystal which was a NY Times #1 best selling picture book. The Goldfish Yawned, a winner of the Bank Street College Best Children's Book, 2005 (Henry Holt) is the first book that she wrote as well as illustrated.
One of her latest books is Moon Child, which stars a little sea otter. Ever since working on the book she dreams of spending her time floating on her back and eating clams. (Before that her dream was to be mouse-sized and sail a miniature boat across the Central Park Conservatory Pond in NYC, just like her hero, Stuart Little.)
Her newest book, The Very Little Princess: Rose's Story (Random House) is the second in a series about a very demanding doll, and a befuddled girl. The first in the series is The Very Little Princess: Zoey's Story (Random House), a chapter book about Zoey who finds out she has a grandmother named Hazel (isn't that a witch's name?) She also finds out that friends sometimes come in unexpected sizes, and maybe with a little attitude.
Her work has also appeared on book jackets and in projects for Lands' End, Peaceable Kingdom Press, American Girl and Sony/BMG Music, among others.
Her artwork has been on display in galleries and private collections across the country and at the Society of Illustrators in NYC, Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art also in NYC, The New York Public Library and The Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.
Recently she strayed into new waters and curated an exhibit about the Ghost Army of WWII at the Historical Society of Rockland County. This is about some adventures her father and 999 other GIs had during WWII as an elite unit charged with confounding the enemy. She also co-authored a book about it with Rick Beyer. It's called, Artists of Deception: The Ghost Army of World War II.
She is an adjunct professor of Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and of Illustration & Cartooning at the State University of NY at Rockland. She teaches the Art of Pastel at the Rockland Center for the Arts and conducts workshops for kids large and small on making picture books and graphic storytelling.
She works in a little house in the lower Hudson Valley which she shares with her husband (a drummer) and their daughter.
See her work at www.elizabethsayles.com
