Joan Knight

I was about Charlotte's age when I set sail with my family on the S.S. Independence to Paris, where we were to live for six years. We then moved to Tunisia and, while we were there, I went to boarding school in Switzerland. Next we moved to Tripoli, Libya, where I had a spotted dog named Couscous, a lively donkey called Duncan, and more lizards than I could count. Because we moved so often my growing-up years were fragmented, and my childhood memories are very important to me - I turn to them for inspiration. I continue to keep in touch with my school friends in Paris and return to France whenever I can. It was on one of these trips that I discovered Giverny for myself and saw the wonderful collection of American Impressionist paintings in the Musée Americain. It inspired me to write the first book in the Charlotte series, Charlotte in Giverny. I should mention that I had no idea at the time that it would be the first in a series of Charlotte books - I thought it would be a one-time thing!

Here's what people say about my Charlotte series:

Charlotte in Giverny

"Part faux diary, part scrapbook, this charming volume teeters between picture book and novel.... a most appealing art history lesson." -- Publishers Weekly

Charlotte in Paris

"...reproductions of paintings, small watercolors, collages of objects Charlotte has saved, and a certain amount of French vocabulary adorn the utterly engaging text. Biographies of the painters, painting credits, and an author's note round out this charming offering." -- Booklist

Charlotte in New York

"This author-illustrator pair successfully continues the conceit of the child of a fictional 19th-century American painter living in Giverny, in Paris and now in New York. The pair's attention to historical detail is utterly winning. For example, Charlotte's entries in her diary about Monsieur Durand-Ruel's auto breaking down in Giverny, the crossing on the ship Champagne from Le Havre or the Havemeyers' ball in New York." -- Kirkus Reviews

Charlotte in London

"Art-loving Charlotte, who has globe-trotted from Giverny to Paris to New York, now writes of her trip to London in 1895 in this handsomely illustrated journal. The family goes to England in hopes that Charlotte's mother will be painted by John Singer Sargent, but that's only a thread in this story, which is as much about new adventures as it is about art. As in previous books, much care and thought have been put into the book's design. Sweet's own illustrations are small gems, but there are interesting reproductions here as well. For readers who want to know more, there's plenty of back matter to inform. A bloomin' delight." -- Booklist

I now have two grown daughters and live in New York's Hudson Valley with my Bill and our Brussels Griffon dogs. When I'm not writing or gardening, Bill and I are busy with our company, Catskill Mountain Pictures, scouting locations for film, fashion and television.

Where is Charlotte off to next? Misty, mysterious Venice! Stay tuned...

Joan