Max Haynes, Children's book Author and Illustrator- In the words of Bill Cosby, “I started out as a child.” I always like to include Kingsley, my Waterloo, Iowa elementary school in any biography of myself. It’s my feeling that many of my most important ideas about the world took shape there and my first art experiences were fostered there as well. Skipping ahead, I am a graduate of the University of Iowa, in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in general studies, that’s the degree for people who can’t decide what they want to be when they grow up! I moved to the Twin Cities in that same year and began my art career as a photographer for local magazines but quickly moved into illustration. I’ve been self employed since 1983, I’m pretty sure I’m thoroughly spoiled now and would be unfit to take a “real” job. In 1990 my first picturebook was published by Lothrop, Lee and Shepard- Dinosaur Island and my second one, Sparky’s Rainbow Repair soon followed. All told I have 8 books published by major publishers and 5 books I published myself including the Sparky’s Field Guide books that featured the wonderful writings of children. I had an idea that took off, I asked children to write their own versions of a classic fairy tale (the first one was Goldilocks) based on my illustrations. I got back over a 1,800 versions! I culled them for the best uses of language, misuses of language, odd observations about the images and left the misspellings in to create Grodylooks and the Tree Bears. I published on the cover the first names of all of the “authors” and then went back to their schools for presentations. The kids got to sit behind long lines of tables and sign people’s books. It was a great program and lasted for 4 different stories.??After my kids grew out of the picturebook age my interests in children’s publishing changed and I started moving into special needs ideas. I create Grandma’s Gone To Live In The Stars to explore the concept of grieving for a grandparent and the idea that loves endures. From there I’ve created a website for children who are terminally ill called CampHeaven.com. The book version of this site is in the works. In addition to my own work and my 200 plus school visits, I’ve also taught a course at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design called The Business of Children’s Illustration.