Gail Gibbons

Gail Gibbons is an American author and illustrator known for her nonfiction picture books for children, including the science classic From Seed to Plant. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1944, she studied graphic design at the University of Illinois, earning a BFA before working in television graphics and serving as an art director for programs such as NBC’s “Nightly News” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Encouraged by children she met while working on a kids’ TV show, Gibbons published her first book in the mid-1970s and went on to write and illustrate over 100–170 nonfiction books for young readers on topics ranging from plants and animals to weather, geography, and everyday systems. Her work has been widely recognized; honors include the Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award, the NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Award, the Regina Medal of the Catholic Library Association, and the Katahdin Award for lifetime achievement from the Maine Library Association. She lives in Vermont with her husband, Kent Ancliffe.