The Little Engine That Could (Little Engine That Could)

Watty Piper was a pen name of Arnold Munk, an owner of the publishing firm Platt & Munk. Arnold Munk used the name Watty Piper as both an author of children's books and as the editor of many of the books that Platt & Munk published.

Award-winning author Janet Lawler writes fiction and nonfiction picture books and early readers for children. Her work has been featured in Scholastic Book Clubs and the Children's Book of the Month Club and has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Japanese, and Hebrew.

Her more-than-thirty published titles include IF KISSES WERE COLORS, OCEANS OF LOVE, FRIGHT SCHOOL, WINTER CATS, MIRABEL'S MISSING VALENTINES, and KINDERGARTEN HAT. Her nonfiction work includes WALRUS SONG and National Geographic's RAIN FOREST COLORS.

Janet is fascinated by the natural world and enjoys finding humor and hope in everyday life. She loves how words make music, and she marvels at the way illustrators add depth and detail to her stories. Learn more about Janet and her books at Home-JanetLawler.com.

Born in a sleepy little town in the hills of Pennsylvania, Jill Howarth always knew she wanted to be an artist. Upon graduating from Penn State University with a degree in graphic design, she entered the corporate design world. As a senior designer and then art director at Hasbro Toys, she occasionally embellished collateral and product packaging with fun little drawings. More requests for these illustrations came her way and before she knew it, she was doing more drawing and less layout design. After leaving corporate life to start a family, she began freelancing. She lives just west of Boston, with her husband, three teenagers and a crazy, lazy dog.