Blue Boat

Kersten Hamilton was born in a trailer in the mountains of southern New Mexico. By their sixth birthday they knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. A writer! This would prove to be difficult, as a wayward fairy (apparently not invited to Kersten’s christening) gifted the child with dyslexia and dysgraphia topped with a dollop of autism spectrum disorder. Unaware of the academic and social trouble ahead, Kersten set off to have an exciting childhood tracking caribou and arctic wolves across in Alaska, catching tiny tree frogs in the swamps and rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, and chasing dust devils and rattlesnakes across the high desert of New Mexico. Kersten escaped electrocution when a typhoon blew power lines down over yet another trailer in a swamp in Washington state, and didn’t drown when a station wagon spun out of control onto thin lake ice in Alaska. Most of the bullets missed, none of the incidents with bears, snakes, wolves, or angry moose were fatal. It was the perfect childhood for anyone aspiring to be a writer!  When not writing, Kersten collaborates on Minecraft adventures with a husband, several grown children, and more than several grandchildren.

Valeria Petrone is an award-winning illustrator. Her numerous picture books include Red Truck, Blue Boat, and Yellow Copter (all by Kersten Hamilton) and a series by Gianni Rodari (Edizioni El). She does editorial illustration for newspapers and magazines as well as advertising and anima- tion. She also pursues a career as a painter, and her artworks have been exhibited in Italy and abroad. She lives in Milan, Italy.