About this item

Virgil and Owen are best friends! They love playing together at home and at school. But sometimes even best friends can be very different. Virgil loves to be the first one to school. Owen likes to take his time. Virgil always raises his hand the fastest. Owen likes to think things through. One day Virgil hurries Owen a bit too much, and their friendship is suddenly on thin ice. Will Virgil be able to see that a little patience goes a long way between friends? In a new adventure for this lovable duo, Virgil and Owen show that even if friends don't agree, they can always find a way to have fun.



About the Author

Paulette Bogan

Paulette Bogan had her first "artistic experience" during a family outbreak of Chicken pox. Paulette's mother encouraged her to paint a mural on the playroom wall!

For Paulette this was the start of her artistic career. Now Paulette is the author and illustrator of many beloved books for children including Spike, Goodnight Lulu, Lulu the Big Little Chick, Chicks and Salsa, and Buffalo Wings (the last two written by Aaron Reynolds) Lulu the Big Little Chick won the Children's Choice Book Award in May of 2010 for Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year. Chicks and Salsa is featured on the PBS Children's Show, Between the Lions! Many of her stories are inspired by her three delightful daughters, and some of them by her dogs.

Her most recent book features the friendship of a penguin and a polar bear, Virgil and Owen, and is now available from Bloomsbury!

Paulette is originally a Jersey girl! She grew up on the Jersey shore, swimming at Manasquan Beach and Point Pleasant Beach, and hanging out at Bogan's Boat Basin. She worked in the tackle shop with her grandfather and grandmother, and was a deckhand on the Paramount II one summer. In the second grade at Saint Denis School, she drew a picture of a chariot and wrote on it, "I want to be an artist when I grow up!" She went to Saint Rose High school in Belmar. (Mrs. Carter, her art teacher was a big influence.)

Paulette went to Parsons School of Design in New York City (some favorite teachers: Allen Barber, Randy Jones, Ivan Powell, and Bill Clutz) and graduated in 1983, (first spending a couple of years at the University Of Miami in Florida, honing her water skiing skills) and then became a freelance illustrator.

Paulette has been an illustrator for thirty years and has illustrated for many publications including: The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, Business Week, Scholastic Magazines, Publishers Weekly, United Features Syndicate, and Newsday. She also taught illustration concepts at Parsons School of Design.

After the birth of her first child, she decided it was time for a career shift. With the encouragement of her mother and her husband, Charlie, she decided to try her hand at children's books. After taking classes, going to children's book conferences, another daughter, and basically driving everyone crazy, she finally published her first book!

Spike was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. Spike is about a loveable dog, who is tired of being a dog! Paulette then went on to have a third child, and write and illustrate several more books for Putnam.

Spike in The City was honored with the Children's Book Council Children's Choice Award 2001, and was chosen by the Society of Illustrators, to be in their Children's Book Original Art Show, 2000. Spike in The Kennel was a 2002 IRA-CBC Childr



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