Hello, and welcome! Thanks for visiting. I’m an author, illustrator, painter and advocate for literacy, art and science based in Boulder, Colorado. I aim to help young readers discover the beauty and diversity of their world by creating picture books that are inspiring, accessible and memorable. Please have a look around to explore my art and illustration, read more about my books and find free downloads and other extras for your home or classroom.
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Jessica Lanan is the Sibert and Golden Kite Honor winning author and illustrator of Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider and The Fisherman and the Whale, a Colorado Book Award finalist and winner of the Bull-Bransom Award for wildlife art. She has illustrated many other books including The Lost Package by Richard Ho, Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet by Curtis Manley and Thank You Moon by Melissa Stewart.
Jessica grew up surrounded by nature in the Rocky Mountains. She studied sculpture and Japanese at Scripps College and after graduation traveled solo for a year in Japan, Thailand, Laos, and India on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study and illustrate folk tales. She brought a set of travel watercolors on that trip and has been a devoted travel sketcher and plein air painter ever since. Today Jessica aims to help young readers discover the beauty and diversity of their world by creating picture books that are inspiring, accessible, and memorable. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her daughter and cat.