Michael Garland

I was born on Thirty-fourth Street in Manhattan. My parents were from Queens. They married when my Dad returned from World War II and joined the ranks of the NYPD. A sister and two brothers rounded out my family. When our Stuyvesant Town apartment grew too small, we moved to the relative wilds of Staten Island.

I spent my childhood roaming the woods, playing sports, crossing the street without looking both ways and drawing. Drawing was the thing I did best. In school, when they passed out the paper and crayons, it was my day to shine. My teachers would never hold up my math test and proudly display it to the rest of the class, but everything I drew would be shown to the class and given a place of honor on the bulletin board. I started to think I might become an artist.

After high school, I went Pratt Institute to study art. I cleaned the floors in a nursing home and drove a cab nights and weekends. Soon after graduating, I sold my first illustration to True Confessions magazine. I was on my way; the beginning of a thirty-two year career illustrating everything you could imagine.

Along the route I was married to Peggy and we had three children, Katie, Alice and Kevin. All three are in college (please buy my books!). We live in Putnam County, New York.

Eighteen years ago, I decided I wanted to be a writer as well as an artist. Twenty-one published books later, I'm still at it.