David Shannon is the writer and illustrator behind the eponymous No, David! books. In this exclusive video interview with Reading Rockets, David Shannon talks about his love for bright colors, his distaste for lima beans, and where he gets the ideas for his books.

“Blink your eyes and say click!” Cam Jansen, David Adler’s heroine with a photographic memory, has captured the imagination of millions of readers. The prolific Alder has also written several picture book biographies for children, bringing historical figures to literary life. In this exclusive video interview with Reading Rockets, David Adler discusses the “Supermarket Room” of his teaching career, simple math methods, and the reason why Benjamin Franklin never wore a wig.

Christopher Paul Curtis did not become a published author until he was in his 40’s. Before his first novel was published, he spent much of his adult life working in an automobile factory. Work at the factory became so unbearable that Curtis began having semi-hallucinations at night of car doors and assembly lines moving through his bedroom. Fortunately, Curtis’ fate changed dramatically when his first two novels received some of the most prestigious awards in all of children’s literature.

Christopher Myers comes from a long line of creative storytellers. In this exclusive video interview with Reading Rockets, Christopher Myers talks about his Brooklyn neighborhood, his work, and how reading touches every part of his life.

Brian Selznick feels that his illustrations are more authentic when he immerses himself in his subject matter. For the picture book Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, Selznick spent six months in Washington, DC conducting research at libraries and museums. For his Caldecott-Honor-winning illustrations in The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, he traveled to London to sketch, photograph, and climb inside the famous dinosaur replicas. For his best-selling 533-page illustrated novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Selznick watched old French films, interviewed experts, and traveled to Paris three times. That book won the 2008 Caldecott Medal for its groundbreaking “cinematic” illustrations.

Audrey and Don Wood have collaborated on more than 50 books for children. Their internationally known books — including The Napping House, Heckedy Peg, and King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub (a 1986 Caldecott Honor book) — have been translated into many languages including Gaelic, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, French and Spanish. Both Audrey and Don write and illustrate their books, depending on the particular project.

Allen Say writes and illustrates evocative picture books about family, culture, creative expression, and dreams. Many of his stories movingly express nuanced details about the immigrant experience, something Say and his family experienced first-hand. Say won the Caldecott Medal for Grandfather’s Journey, the story of his father’s own journey from Japan to the U.S. and back again. In this interview, Say vividly remembers his early apprenticeship in Tokyo with post-war cartoon master Noro Shinpei, describes a first career as a commercial photographer, and recounts how he finally returned to his love of storytelling through words and pictures.