ABOUT ME
 I've always loved a good question. Especially one that has more than one answer. When I'm working on a book I often start by looking for an interesting question. Does the world change when a baby is born? Do teachers get nervous the night before the first day of school? Do ornaments know when Christmas is coming? What would make someone "happy ever after?" Where do clouds sleep? Who are Eeney, Meeney, Miney, Mo? What happened to the Queen of Hearts' tarts? How would a contemporary child describe a dinosaur? What does Neverland look like? Sometimes the questions are more practical; What are the Olympics? Why do you need so many trucks to build a road? What happens at a wedding? The fun of writing a book is in coming up with interesting answers.
I've always been a very visual person and I still feel awkward being considered a writer. As a child I loved to draw- I also loved books, especially picture books. I still remember certain illustrations, covers and bindings from books that were read to me as a young girl. I wrote and illustrated my first book, Patsy the Turtle, in Mrs. Edwards' kindergarten.
At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, I majored in typography and ran a small press where I designed, typeset and bound my own books. I also took courses in Children's Literature. The combination of form and content in the picture book format fascinated me and after graduation I headed for NYC where I worked for 17 years in children's book design.
As an art director I was involved in all the decisions of how a book will look. What size will it be? Which typeface to use? Who should be the illustrator? Every book was different and I was part of the team of author, illustrator, art director and editor that helped each book evolve from a typed manuscript to a finished book. But I didn't begin to write until I had children of my own.
There really wasn't a particular event that "made" me want to write children's books. It was the impact of language on my children- the effect of the sound of a word that would make them laugh, or a rhythm that made them clap, or their delight in a particular rhyme- it was their response to language that intrigued me enough to put some of my ideas down in words. Many of my books are a direct result of their interests and experiences.
When I'm working on a new book, I choose my question first and then the right language. But there is a third thing that I look for: the visual possibilities. It is here that my background is especially helpful. As an art director, I learned to think like an illustrator. As a picture book writer, I try to say just enough to trigger the imagination of the illustrator but not so much that my words limit their imagination.
I've lived in many places: I grew up in Wantagh on Long Island, N.Y., graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts and attended St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and lived in New York City for many years until my family and I moved to California. Since 1993 I have lived in Arizona with my husband and our three sons.
My books have been published in many countries and in many different languages. You can find my books in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, Austrailia, New Zealand, Africa and Germany. Some of my books have been translated into German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Afikaans, Xhosa, Tswana, Sesotho, and Zulu!
Ten Things You Didn't Know About Me
- When I grew up I wanted to be Annie Oakley or Tinkerbell
- I wrote and illustrated my first book, Patsy the Turtle, when I was in kindergarten. (Look under Fun Stuff to see this book)
- Once, I was in an Ivory soap commercial on TV.
- I have never liked brussel sprouts, but I do like graham crackers and milk.
- I like to play ping pong and knock hockey
- I am shorter than my three sons
- In college, I studied art and book design, not writing
- When I write I work in front of a big window that looks out onto Mummy Mountain in the desert
- My favorite part of writing a book is thinking and planning it; writing is hard.
- Nobody really calls me "B.G.", I use initials on my books because when I started writing I liked the way the initials looked. My real name is Barbara.
QUESTIONS?
Here are some of the questions that I get asked the most!
WHAT DO THE INITIALS "B. G." STAND FOR?
There have been some pretty creative guesses about that.
Big Guy?
Brigadier General?
Book Girl?
Actually the "B" is for Barbara and the "G" is for Gulbrandsen, my last name before I was married.
But, I think "Book Girl" really suits me the best!
WHY DON'T YOU DRAW THE PICTURES?
Because I write better than I draw. It is really interesting to see how each illustrator interprets my words. I'm always surprised! I love the way all my books look so different from each other.
WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?
Usually the one I am working on. This question reminds me of a pet show where children brought in a favorite stuffed animal. Each one came home with a prize. My son's rabbit won "Best Tooth in Show." There is something special to me about each of my books. THE DINOSAUR WHO LIVED IN MY BACKYARD: Best First Book, JAKE BAKED THE CAKE, My Favorite Read Aloud, THE ONCE UPON A TIME MAP BOOK, Favorite Idea- well, you get the idea.
HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
I didn't plan to be a writer, but books have always been a part of my life. When I was growing up, a bedtime story was bedtime. I wrote my first book, PATSY THE TURTLE, when I was five. I did the pictures too! You can check out my drawings and read the story. Click on the "STUFF TO DO" button at the top of this page, then click on the PATSY THE TURTLE link. I was a Fine Arts major in college and studied bookmaking. After I graduated I worked in New York City in Children's Book Publishing as an Art Director. I started writing books when I had children of my own. If you want to learn more about my background click on the "ABOUT ME" button at the top of this page.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?
Everywhere! Children give me lots of material. Sometimes I'm intrigued with a subject or a point of view. ROAD BUILDERS and ONE LITTLE, TWO LITTLE, THREE LITTLE PILGRIMS are examples of subject books.
Sometimes I begin with a concept. When I was little I thought all the nursery rhyme characters lived in the same town because they were always in the same book. That "town" became the setting for THE MISSING TARTS. My family has always had a few "special" Christmas ornaments that we keep in their own box. That became the setting for THE ATTIC CHRISTMAS (Coming out in 2004). I've never been very good at reading maps, but I've always liked maps with little pictures on them. I thought that putting together a book of maps of really interesting places would be fun. That is the idea behind THE ONCE UPON A TIME MAP BOOK.
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Illustration by B. G. Hennessy from PATSY THE TURTLE
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