Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too

Anna Dewdney was born in New York City on December 25, 1965. She received a bachelor's degree in art from Wesleyan University in 1987. Before becoming a full-time author and illustrator, she worked as a waitress, a rural mail carrier, a daycare provider, and taught at a boys' boarding school for many years.

Her children's book career began in 1994 with her artwork for The Peppermint Race by Dian Curtis Regan. She went on to illustrate other children's chapter books in the 1990s. In 2005, the first picture book she both wrote and illustrated, Llama, Llama Red Pajama, was published. Her other books include Nobunny's Perfect, Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too, Little Excavator, and 10 more books in the Llama Llama series. She died after a 15-month battle with brain cancer on September 3, 2016.

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