Author study example

Miss Butler’s LA Class

Table of Contents

• Grading

• Categories for your author study

• Miss Butler’s Author Study Example

How will you be graded?

Grading Categories• Background Information

– Ex. Birthday, family, past jobs, education, etc.

• Why you chose your author– Ex. Wrote a favorite personal story, types of writing,

books you’ve read

• Author’s career– Ex. How they got there, famous works, age level for

written books etc.

• Any uniqueness that the author has– Ex. Types of writing or pictures, types of books

• List of books by your author

Bill Peet

Bill Peet is an author that I have chosen to share some information about in order to show you how your author study project could look.

Please know that this is just an example. I want you to be creative in putting together your project. Have fun with it, and explore your options of how you will present your material.

Bill Peet’s Background• Bill was born in Grandview, Indiana on January 29,1915

• Bill had two brothers

• Peet’s family moved many times as a child

• As a child, he always loved drawing, and he and dreamed of being an illustrator for children’s books.

• In high school he failed all of his classes except Physical Education.

• High school is also where he started taking art classes, which is where he met his future wife, Margaret.

• Fun Fact… As an adult he owned a capybara, the largest rodent in the world.

Bill’s Capybara, Capy

Bill and his Brothers

*Click on the Capybara to view a DE video.

His Career at Disney• He started his career at Disney in

1937 as an “in-betweener” (they do all the tiny movements in between the actions of animated characters) and finally got his big break in Pinocchio when he got promoted to a storyboard artist.

• He helped to make many classic Disney movies such as Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Jungle Book, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and a few more.

• He made the entire storyboards for 101 Dalmatians and The Sword In the Stone.

• After 27 years he ended up leaving Disney because of Walt’s rude behavior.

How He Became An Author

Every night Bill Peet would make up stories to tell his sons before bedtime. He thought that if his kids liked his stories so much, maybe others would too. He then began trying to write stories, and in the beginning he had no luck. His luck finally changed in 1959 when he had his big break with his story Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure.

As an Author In 1959, Bill had his first book

published called Huberts Hair-Raising Adventure. This was the first of 36 books he would write. He loved to write about and illustrate animals. He also liked to draw the circus and trains. Bill Peet won 13 awards including a Caldecott Honor for his book, Bill Peet: An Autobiography, in 1990.

Hubert

His Uniqueness

Every author has their own type of uniqueness, and Bill Peet is no exception. He always liked to make his main characters animals or an occasional train or two, which are the two things he loved to draw. He once said that most of his animal characters have human personalities, and some of them are much like people he knew. He also occasionally made his books rhyme.

Why I Chose Bill PeetI chose him because I like his illustrations and I like what he writes. To me, his illustrations are unique because they’re hand drawn and they’re humorous. I like his writing because he writes about animals and I enjoy drawing animals too. That’s why I chose Bill Peet as my author.

Books by Bill Peet

Bill Peet’s Illustrations

Chester

Wingdingdilly

Kaboom Bird

Harold

Zeke

Prewitt

Buford

Sadly, Bill Peet died on May 11, 2002

1915-2002

Click on the picture of Bill to find out more information about this fantastic author