María Luisa Retana, AuthorMaría Luisa Retana was born in Cuba. She received her B.A. in Spanish and Comparative Literature from the University of California, Riverside. She has worked extensively with children of all ages in scholastic and cultural events as well as in theater. Mrs. Retana lives with her husband, Guillermo, and her youngest child in Bisbee, AZ. She is the proud mother of three marvelous children: Ismael, Talia Alina and Ludim. She is also the author of seven published bilingual children’s books and the owner and publisher of High Desert Productions, a small independent press located in Bisbee, Arizona. Mrs. Retana is a literary presenter for students, teachers, librarians, and parents. She enjoys doing school visits along with one of her illustrators, Pat Pollock Rhoads. She believes that a book is a passport to any place or any period in time.  Mrs. Retana has been influenced by the classic writers as well as those writers responsible for the rich French, Russian, Italian, German, English, Spanish and Latin American Literature. However, there is a writer that fired her passion for writing. This writer is the English crime writer Agatha Christie. She made a powerful impact in Mrs. Retana's teen years. Mrs. Retana hopes someday to write under the category "mystery" for young adults. She will dedicate the first book under the already mentioned category to Agatha Christie. In Mrs. Retana's traveling research trips, when visiting London, she visited The Madame Tussauds (London Wax Museum) and found Agatha Christie. Proudly and respectfully she took this picture with her.
Children's Book IllustratorsSteve Bovée is the illustrator for The Mystic Call/La Llamada Mística. Steve is an artist, play writer and cartoonist, who has lived in Bisbee since the Bronze Age, and is of good morals and character. The watercolor illustrations portray Mr. Bovée’s wonderful sense of humor. Mr. Bovée’s work, along with the work of his brother, Paul, is regularly displayed at art openings and exhibits in the Historic mining town of Bisbee, AZ. Mary Ann Hanson is a retired speech therapist who became interested in illustrating children's books after retirement. She has illustrated one, Tanili, and is now working on writing and illustrating three others. They feature the adventures of a boy and his fortune-telling bird in a Mexican market, fair and circus. Ms. Hanson creates her illustrations using computer drawing and painting programs. Ms. Hanson currently resides with her best friends, her husband, Russ, and their dog, Ruby in Bisbee, Arizona. Pat Pollock Rhoads is a well known artist from Bisbee, AZ, who helps transport readers to the Island of Cuba through her illustrations in Grandma's Trunk. Her watercolor illustrations capture the colors and essence of the Island’s magical world in a sensitive but also in a powerful way. She is also a Grandmother and has dedicated her book to her grandchildren. María Luisa Retana has dedicated Grandma's Trunk to the memory of her grandmother and mother. Pat Pollock Rhoads, originally from Bucks County, Pa., won her first art award at age seven, and her first national award in junior high school. Formally educated at Tyler School of Art/ Temple University, Pat and her husband came to Bisbee, Arizona in 1972 and proceeded to raise their family of five daughters. She has had her art featured on a roadside billboard and periodically teaches watercolor with Elderhostel programs in Mexico. She likes to paint plein air and has won many awards in this field. “I believe art has something to offer everyone. It is therapeutic both in the artist’s expression and the viewer’s enjoyment. Like music, it encompasses a wide range of interests and abilities. I feel that time spent doing art work is not detracted from the hours of our lives.” Timothy Adam Valenzuela was born in Bisbee, Arizona and graduated from Bisbee High School. He was only seventeen years old when he began illustrating the first version of "The Afternoon Snack." He received a B.A. in Media Arts & Animation from The Art Institute of Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Valenzuela currently lives in Hollywood, California where he produces graphics and media for television and film. Marian Weaver was born in Houston, Texas in 1959. She tended towards an art career early in life, describing herself as an artist by age three. She has spent the last 27 years in the mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, where she has a large piece of scrubby hillside. There she lives with her husband, Jim, and her house sparrow, Tweet. She spends her spare time gardening, hiking, camping and drawing the outdoors. Children's Books TranslatorGuillermo Retana was born in Chihuahua, México. He teaches at Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona. Guillermo enjoys reading, listening to jazz, writing and gazing at the stars. Mr. Retana says that translating Born Into The Pack/ Nacer en la manada and Tall Tails From a Mountain Slope/Los rabos altos de la ladera was fun and challenging.
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