Children and
parents who are excited about meeting Anna Dewdney next week should know that the “Llama Llama” author and
illustrator is just as enthused about getting to know them.“That is one of my favorite parts of my job,
meeting kids and parents,” said Dewdney, whose most recent book “Llama Llama Time to Share” made the New
York Times Best Seller list. “I love to look at kids face to face and talk to them. It’s incredibly joyful
to me because I get to meet real little people.”Dewdney is this year’s featured author at Bowling Green
State University’s Literacy in the Park on March 16.Her two daughters, ages 21 and 18, are off to college.
While Dewdney’s three dogs, a boyfriend and a bustling career occupy her time, she said she misses the
“little people” for whom she creates her work.She plans on giving each child who visits her at BGSU a
special “gift” for waiting in line to get a book autographed or shake hands.“If I have enough time, I make a
picture in every book of ‘Llama Llama,’” Dewdney said. “It makes it a little bit of an extra-special
experience.”And if a child is nervous about meeting Dewdney or being in such a bustling atmosphere, she
understands. The author and illustrator has created a whole character based on anxiety.“Llama Llama” is
around preschool age and overcomes several nerve-racking situations in the book series: wanting mama at
bedtime, leaving home for the first day of school and getting sick. Another picture book by Dewdney, “Roly
Poly Pangolin,” features a crustacean who — you guessed it — rolls into a ball when upset.“It can be
stressful to be a little person, and children get anxious,” Dewdney said. “Children tend to experience that
anxiety more directly. They need help to understand that the world is not such a scary place and they’re not
alone.“And that’s what my books are about,” she said. “People love you and they will help you.”

“Llama Llama” is about to discover possibly his most stressful situation yet. “Llama Llama and
the Bully Goat” is due out this fall. Bullying had been on Dewdney’s radar but she initially planned to
tackle the subject a couple years down the road.“But it seems it’s such an important topic, I decided to
change my publication schedule,” she said. “The book is about what it’s like to be a little person, and have
a person be mean to you and dwhat to do about it.”Dewdney faced some of her own worries while trying to
break out as a writer and illustrator.“From the first moment it occurred to me that you could do something
for a living, that’s what I wanted to do. I love making up stories and I love doing pictures.”But her first
book, “Llama Llama Red Pajama,” wasn’t published until 2005. In between, she was a mail carrier, bus driver,
waitress and teacher at a boarding school. The desire to publish never disappeared.“I loved being a teacher
and I had a lot of other jobs, but I thought my true voice was through books. I was going to do be doing
these books whether anyone published them or not.”Persistence finally paid off for Dewdney.“I got two offers
on the same day. I was teaching at the junior boarding school and I was living on campus,” she said. “I came
home from teaching social studies, changed my shoes and there was a message on the machine.”Dewdney said she
became “mildly hysterical” after listening to the agent’s message. Keeping with her school schedule, she
left to teach art, then went back home for lunch. There was a second message from the woman who would
eventually become her editor.“Then I got really hysterical. People upstairs thought I was getting
murdered.”It’s difficult to believe that any publisher could reject the very real expressions of Llama
Llama. Dewdney expertly captures petulant child in the grocery store and frightened toddler at
bedtime.Dewdney said she’ll create stories over weeks and months as a snippet of language pops into her
head. Eventually it gets into the computer, then the illustrations are oil painted. For Llama Llama’s moods,
she references her own facial expressions.“I’m really there with him on every page,” Dewdney said. “At this
point Llama is my third child. I know him very well.”Details on Dewdney’s
visitAnna Dewdney will be at the Joseph and Judith Conda Family Literacy in the Park on March
16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bowling Green State University.The event, which is held in the Bowen-Thompson
Student Union, is free and includes book signings, crafts, food and presentations by Dewdney.Each child will
receive a goodie bag with a free "Llama Llama Red Pajama" book. There will also be a poetry
reading contest and interactive technology games. Trinity Acres will have a live llama for petting.For more
information visit http://edhd.bgsu.edu/rc/litpark/.