David LaRochelle is the author and/or illustrator of over 25 books for young people. His recent titles include the award-winning picture book The Best Pet of All (illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama), Detective Dave's Mad Mysteries (a book of puzzles), and the YA novel Absolutely, Positively Not (winner of the Sid Fleischman Award for excellence in humor writing). He is especially excited about his soon-to-be-released backwards fairy tale The End, illustrated by Caldecott winner Richard Egielski.

As a former elementary teacher, David is very comfortable working with students in grades K through 6. A typical one-hour presentation includes a discussion of the creation of a picture book, from first draft to finished product. He will also do some creative storytelling while sketching, as well as answer questions. But please don't ask him to shoot a basketball; he may be six feet, five inches tall, but he's as clumsy as a giraffe on ice skates.

While preferring to work with individual grade levels of less than 75 students at a time, David is also able to work with groups as large as 200.

Author's home: White Bear Lake, Minnesota
Suggested audience: K - 6
Maximum number of presentations per day: 4
Author's honorarium: $800 plus expenses
Author's website: http://www.davidlarochelle.net/