Gennifer Choldenko

Alcatraz Island closed its doors as a maximum security prison when Gennifer Choldenko was only five years old. With her Newbery honored book, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer cracked The Rock, brought it alive and invited us in. How fortunate we are to welcome her as our 2011 Author in April, er, May grades four-five guest!!

Born into a loud family in Southern California, Gennifer knew that she wanted to be a writer when she was six years old. She was greatly influenced by her father, who also loved to write.

Gennifer is a graduate of Brandeis University, who majored in literature and creative writing. After a stint as a writer at an advertising agency, she decided to head back to school and this time study design and illustration. At the Rhode Island School of Design she studied under such teachers as Chris Van Allsburg (The Polar Express) and David Macauley (The Way Things Work). With a degree in illustration now, she decided she wanted to be “part writer, part Illustrator.”

Over time, Gennifer started focusing on her writing skills. Her first book, Moonstruck, The True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon was published in 1999. Since that time she has written several other picture books as well a number of novels for older readers, including the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Notes from a Liar and Her Dog; the two Alcatraz based novels, Al Capone Does My Shirts, also a SLJ Best Book of the Year, and Al Capone Shine My Shoes. Her most recent book, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, was called her “best book yet,” by children’s book reviewer, Richie Partington.

Currently, Gennifer lives with her own loud family in Northern California.

From writing to illustrating to writing and illustrating to writing. She’s come full circle. Being an author seems to be who she is, not just what she does.