"I have tried on many roles in my life as actor, wife, mother, writer, director, teacher and grandmother. ` have found that writing children's books is the perfect mash up for using my assortment of skills. Artist and poet, Akiane Kramarik, so aptly wrote: ""If we experience life through the eyes of a child, everything would be magical and extraordinary. Let our curiosity, adventure and wonder of life never end."" As the author of Lost But Found, What Happened to Chester, The Perfect Gift, and now, The Real Story: Chappie's Tale, I have been able to stay young at heart, hunker down at a kid's eye level and take in a bit of their wonder. In 1976, Gary Dumm met Cleveland's Harvey Pekar and embarked on a 30-year-plus collaboration on that author's autobiographical comic ""American Splendor."" He has also collaborated with his wife Laura on many comics, mural work and a colorful series of large paintings of ""Environmental Monsters."" More recently he illustrated author Scott MacGregor's historical graphic novel ""Fire On The Water,"" released by Abrams Comic Arts. You can see more of their art at: www.dummart.com Self taught, Laura Dumm can't remember a time she wasn't making art. In 1986, after working for various publications, she bought a computer and made the decision to become a freelance graphic artist/illustrator. As well as doing her own colorful paintings, she has collaborated with her husband, coloring his black & white cartoons and working with him on numerous comics, graphic novels and books."