Annie Patterson is an illustrator living in the high arctic region of Alaska. Before finding her way north, Annie grew up in Washington state, always drawing and making things as far back as she can remember. She studied at the Art Institute of Seattle, focusing on children's book illustration. These days Annie is busy being a new mom to a beautiful little girl, and illustrating a new book about sea turtles. Recent projects include contributing artwork to a world folk tale anthology being published in Norway, and a painted ‘snowflake’ for the Robert‘s Snow 2007 charity auction. (www.robertssnow.com). She lives with her husband, daughter, and a large fluffy Samoyed dog who loves to run and pull, which makes for some interesting daily walks! Annie’s first illustrated children’s picture book, Whale Snow, written by Debby Edwardson, was published by Charlesbridge in 2003. Since publication, Whale Snow has been translated from English to Inupiaq and Korean, and received the following awards and honors: Bank Street Books Best Children's Books of the Year, 2004 ... Independent Publishers Best Children's Book Award, 2004 (ages 7 & over category) ... National Council for the Social Studies/Children’s Book Council- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2004 ... Notable Books for a Global Society, 2004