Joan Holub facts for kids

Joan Holub (born in 1956 in Texas) is a super creative American author and illustrator. She has written and drawn over 180 books for children! Sometimes, she uses fun pen names like Rita Book and Brad Bucks.

About Joan Holub

Joan Holub was born in Texas in 1956. She went to the University of Texas and earned a degree in Fine Arts. After college, she worked as an art director for eight years. She helped design things for a graphic design company.

Joan always dreamed of making children's books. So, she moved to New York City. There, she became an associate art director at Scholastic, a big book publisher. She designed books for kids and worked with writers and artists.

In 1992, Joan illustrated her very first published children's book. Soon after, she started illustrating full-time. She also began writing her own stories. In 1996, she sold her first two books: A Spooky Lift-the-Flap Book and Pen Pals. Today, she spends all her time writing amazing stories for young readers.

Awards and Recognitions

Joan Holub's book, Mighty Dads, became a New York Times bestselling picture book! This means lots of people bought and loved it.

Here are some awards Joan Holub's books have received:

Popular Books by Joan Holub

Joan Holub has written many exciting books. Here are a few of her popular titles:

• Zero the Hero: This is a math-focused picture book. It stars the number Zero and his friends, numbers 1 through 9. When Roman numerals try to cause trouble, Zero gets to show how truly heroic he is!
• Little Red Writing: This book is a fun twist on the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. It features a red pencil who has to outsmart the Wolf 2000. The Wolf 2000 is a pencil sharpener pretending to be the principal of Pencil School!
• Mighty Dads: Illustrated by James Dean, this picture book shows dad construction vehicles teaching their young construction vehicle children important growing-up skills.
• The Knights Before Christmas: This is a rhyming story that parodies 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Three knights try to fight off Santa Claus and his "dragons" (reindeer!). Scott Magoon illustrated this book.
• This Little Artist: An Art History Primer: This board book, published in 2019, introduces young readers to famous artists. Daniel Roode created the illustrations.

Book Series Co-Written with Suzanne Williams

Joan Holub has also teamed up with Suzanne Williams to create several popular book series:

• The Goddess Girls: This middle grade series is for readers aged 8–12. Each book is about a different Greek goddess, like Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis. The stories take place at the fictional Mount Olympus Academy. The goddesses are students there, learning subjects like beauty-ology and hero-ology. Zeus, the king of the gods, is the principal! The first book, Athena the Brain, came out in 2010.
• Heroes in Training: This adventure series features young Olympians, including Zeus and Poseidon. They face off against the powerful Titans. While also based on Greek mythology, this series is a different story world from The Goddess Girls. The first book, Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom, was published in 2012.
• Grimmtastic Girls: In this series, each book focuses on a female main character from a fairy tale, such as Cinderella or Snow White. The setting is a school called Grimm Academy. The first book, Cinderella Stays Late, was published in 2014.
• Little Goddess Girls: This series is also about characters from Greek mythology, but it's written for younger readers, aged 6–9.