New at the Zoo

John Bianchi is a self taught illustrator and author. He began working at random jobs during the day; cleaning buildings, supervising children at a playground, mixing mortar for masons and at night, he painted pictures every evening.He soon became a professional artist, painting during the week and selling pictures to tourists on the weekend. From there, Bianchi was offered a job at a film studio, painting backgrounds for animated films.

He enjoyed the experience so much that he began writing his own stories, but couldn't find a publisher. Eventually he showed his stories to Frank Edwards, a friend from Harrowsmith magazine. Edwards liked them so much that he thought the two should form their own publishing company. They did, and called it Bungalo Books.

Bianchi wrote his first book for the new publishing company and called it The Bungalo Boys: Last of the Tree Ranchers. In the first year, the company printed 5,000 copies and sold most of them. Since then, Bianchi and Edwards have produced more than 35 titles and sold almost 1.5 million books. Since 1999 they have produced more than a dozen new titles for Pokeweed Press. Together, they have published over 40 titles and have sold over 1.6 million books. In the last fifteen years, Bianchi has visited over 400 schools, conducting writing and illustration workshops for children.

His works include Dog Eared Classics, The Bigh Fish Wish, Lab Rats, and The Toad Sleeps Over.

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