Maria Gianferrari

Maria Gianferrari is a community scientist, self-taught naturalist and bird nerd who holds an M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English. She is the author of narrative nonfiction picture books which celebrate urban ecosystems, the natural world and our wild neighbors including Bobcat Prowling, Whoo-Ku Haiku, Hawk Rising and Coyote Moon. She also writes engaging expository nonfiction such as Be a Tree!, Terrific Tongues and Play Like an Animal to inspire young readers with fascinating STEM stuff. Maria’s forthcoming nature titles include You and the Bowerbird, Thank a Farmer and Fungi Grow as well as her first book of poetry, Ice Cycle: Poems About the Life of Ice.

As a lover of dogs, Maria’s fiction picture books star dogs as main characters and explore the human-canine bond. Titles include Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness, Hello Goodbye Dog, Operation Rescue Dog, Officer Katz and Houndini, the Penny & Jelly books and the forthcoming, To Dogs With Love. To learn more about Maria, visit her website: mariagianferrari.com.

I am represented by the amazing Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and these are my books:

*Penny & Jelly: The School Show, illustrated by Thyra Heder (HMH/2015)

*Penny & Jelly Slumber Under the Stars, illustrated by Thyra Heder (HMH/2016)

*Coyote Moon, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Roaring Brook Press/2016)

*Officer Katz & Houndini, illustrated by Danny Chatzikonstantinou (Aladdin/2016)

*Hello Goodbye Dog, illustrated by Patrice Barton (Roaring Brook Press/2017)

*Terrific Tongues, illustrated by Jia Liu (Boyds Mills Press/2018)

*Hawk Rising, illustrated by Brian Floca (Roaring Brook Press/2018)

*Operation Rescue Dog, illustrated by Luisa Uribe (Little Bee/2018)

*Whoo-Ku Haiku, illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss (GP Putnam's Sons/2020

*Play Like an Animal, illustrated by Mia Powell (Millbrook Press/2020)

*Be a Tree!, illustrated by Felicita Sala (Abrams/2021)

*Bobcat Prowling, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Roaring Brook Press/2022)

*Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness, illustrated by Pete Oswald (HarperCollins/2022)

& a companion book, Being a Cat (Winter 2023)

*Ice Cycle: Poems about the Life of Ice, illustrated by Jieting Chen (Lerner/2022)

*Being a Cat: A Tail of Curiosity, illustrated by Pete Oswald (HarperCollins/2023)

*You and the Bowerbird, illustrated by Maris Wicks (Roaring Brook/2023)

*Thank a Farmer, illustrated by Monica Mikai (Norton/2023)

*Fungi Grow, illustrated by Diana Sudyka (Beach Lane/2023)

*To Dogs, with Love, illustrated by Ishaa Lobo (Roaring Brook/2023)

*Rain and the Reading Horse, illustrated by Hannah Salyer (Clarion/2024)

To learn more, please visit my website: mariagianferrari.com

You can also visit Penny & Jelly's website: pennyandjelly.com

Instagram: @maria_gianferrari_author

Twitter: Gianferrari_M