Children's Author/Illustrator Michelle Cryan

Saturday, February 23
Start Time: 11:00 AM

Meet Michelle Cryan, author and illustrator of Where is Baby: A Lift-the-Flap Sign Language Book.  Michelle will teach children and parents some simple signs in American Sign Language (ASL), discuss the process of writing and illustrating her book, and lead children in a special craft.  Refreshments provided.    

A professional Web developer, Michelle has been interested in illustration since childhood. She studied fine arts with a concentration in figure drawing while earning a BFA at Alfred University’s College of Ceramics. After graduation, Michelle created educational illustrations for Prentice Hall, an internationally renowned publishing company. Michelle blended her passion for children and education by working as a teaching assistant in the Sherburne-Earlville (N.Y.) School District. Since 2007, Michelle has managed Web communications at the State University of New York College at Cortland.
 
Her first book, Where is Baby? a lift-the-flap sign language book, was published in 2007 by Gallaudet University Press of Washington, D.C. Michelle wrote and illustrated the book after seeing how quickly her son picked up sign language as a toddler. “It’s amazing that pre-verbal children are able to articulate their needs,” Michelle notes.

Michelle and her husband, Mark, have two children, Jared and Miles, and reside in Upstate New York.