Tomie dePaola

Tomie dePaola's books have been winning awards for many years. Mr. dePaola says he is always bursting with ideas for books. He encourages people not to give up on their ideas for stories. His advice is write down your idea and think about it a while. Sometimes he thinks about one idea so much that it leads him to another idea and that one becomes a book. "Don't give up" is good advice for any writer.

One place that Mr. dePaola gets ideas is from his memory. He has written beautiful stories based upon incidents that really happened to him. The Art Lesson is based on one such event. He told that story for many years before writing it down.

Perhaps you remember an important event in your life that you could turn into a book.
or
Make a list of people in your family. Write a true story about each one for a family album. You may have to ask them questions before you write.

Mr. dePaola is also very interested in folktales from all over the world and has written and illustrated quite a few. He says that "People are people. They all have feelings." His books reflect this attitude. He is always very gentle with the people in his stories. The folktales that he writes help us learn about life.

Here is a spot to find out more about folktales from other countries. Read one and then tell it again in your own words. If you really like the story try writing and illustrating your own version.

Learn more about Tomie dePaola.

Here are some books by Tomie de Paola

This site has Teacher Resources on Mr. dePaola.