Illustrators Who Make the World Better

Five of our illustrators were able to attend the Lantern release party!

(L to R: Lyla Lutz & daughter!, Oliver Uberti, Erin Johnson, Erin E. Stead, Philip C. Stead)

Click here for official Illustrator Bios.

Friends, it’s our tenth anniversary year and there have been so many reasons to celebrate. Liberty Street Robot Supply and Repair constantly bursts with energy from the dozens of students who stop by to write each day, our school partnerships are exploding, we’ve wrapped up a second wonderfully successful year of tutoring in beezy’s cafe in Ypsilanti, and before you know it, we’ll open a second permanent location in Detroit. We were nominated for a Governor’s Service Award just last month and this month brings the release of A Lantern of Fireflies: An Illustrated Treasury of Tales of Adventure, Discovery, and Magic, and twenty-five more tenth anniversary celebration stars with it.

For the entire month of July, we wish to recognize and appreciate the magnificent crew of illustrators who brought the student writing in A Lantern of Fireflies to life.

Now, we must let you know, friends—this is no ordinary crew of artists. It’s the most terrific group of veteran 826michigan volunteers (including one who attended our very first informational session ever), cartoonists, artist-educators, DreamWorks animators, engineers, scientists, graphic designers, screenprinters, and Caldecott Medal winners yet. These twenty-five artists represent another circle of wonderful, reliable, and service-oriented adults who care about our students and their success.

Can you imagine the confidence that the twenty ninth-graders who authored A Lantern of Fireflies must feel to have their writing illustrated by nationally recognized illustrators? (The robots nearly overheated with excitement when they heard.) Grown-ups work years for a similar opportunity and these young people have had their possibility meters adjusted to new heights. What they could not imagine for themselves a school year ago has happened; how much easier will it now be for them to envision and work toward their dreams?

High-quality, professional-grade publications are an incredibly important facet of the work we do here at 826michigan. It enables us to demonstrate how much we value our students work, and how seriously we believe they should take the writing they do themselves. When artists of such caliber also invest in our students, it makes the work that much better.

We send out sincere thanks to each and every illustrator in A Lantern of Fireflies: An Illustrated Treasury of Tales of Adventure, Discovery, and Magic. We really couldn’t have done this one without you.

Read more about this great group of illustrators here: Illustrator Bios.