ANDREA ZIMMERMAN
DAVID CLEMESHA

Andrea and David are married and live in Southern California with their three sons. They love writing and illustrating books together.

Andrea was born in Ohio and grew up in New York, Utah, and California. As a teenager she loved horses and had one of her own. She went to college, got a degree in Fine Arts for Children, and started writing. Later, she went back to school and became a dentist. She enjoys being a mom, going to museums, gardening, and traveling. She also likes going for walks and talking to the dog and cats.

David grew up in England and moved to the United States at age 16. He always loved playing tennis, drawing, and reading. He went to college and received degrees in English. He became an elementary school teacher. He loves studying, being with his family, and going to museums. He also likes movies and music a lot.

Both of them write stories. Usually one gets an idea and writes up the first draft of a story. Then they read it aloud and work together as a team to make the story better. They rewrite many times.

To illustrate, first they talk about the story and get ideas about what the pictures might look like. David draws up pictures in pencil. These drawings are stapled together in pages to form a pretend book called a dummy. When the drawings look good, Andrea copies them and turns them into acrylic paintings on paper.

Working together is a fun process with lots of discussing and lots of doing things over to try to make it better. When they sell a new book, they go out for a banana split with their kids!