Dr. John Kellmayer
Dr. John Kellmayer is a lifelong educator who’s taught every grade from fourth through doctoral students. A former New Jersey high school principal and school district superintendent, Dr. K holds Ed.D., M.B.A., and M.A. degrees and has published extensively in newspapers, magazines, textbooks journals, and blogs. He has taught on the faculties of Temple, Penn State, and Nova Southeastern Universities and has consulted in business and education
A friend in the publishing business remarked to Dr. K that there weren’t many quality and funny books that taught important life lessons for readers in the age 8-12 range. As an educator, Dr. K was certainly familiar with the age range and decided to write A Lesson for a Bully, the first book in the series.
Dr. K created his memorable characters for the Batty School Kids—characters like Sam, Faheem, Hershey, Jenny, Kate, Oleg, Coach Troup, and Air Ball Arnold-- out of a combination of his own childhood experiences, the many thousands of children he’s taught over the years, and his imagination. He has two Labrador Retrievers, Wilson, 4-years old, and his sister, Pippa, 6- months. Wilson has appeared in all three Batty School books. Look for Pippa to make her first appearance in the series soon.
Dr. K has written all his life. As a child, he remembers writing superhero stories, involving DC and Marvel characters like Superman, Batman and Robin, and Spiderman. His writing is not limited to children’s book as he has written a novel, a memoir about his work with at-risk youth, and a textbook.
Dr. K commented, “With The Adventures of the Batty School Kids books, I want children to laugh, to enjoy reading, and to learn. When I was a child, reading and sports were two of my greatest pleasures. That’s one reason I include a lot of sports in The Adventures of the Batty School Kids. I’d really like to hear from teachers, parents, and children to find out what they think about my books and to make suggestions for new books.”
Luciana DiMattia
Growing up in Brazil, my mother owned a clothing store and I was always "hanging out" with different fabrics, patterns, colors, and textures. I would make clothes for my Barbie dolls with fabric remnants and that sparked my creativity to colors and sketches. Often I would doodle cubes, pyramids, and cylinders on the corners of my books and notebooks. It was not until college that I realized my passion for colors and drawings. Majoring in architecture in college definitely influenced my illustrations. Today since it helps me visualize objects in 3d. Drawing is supposed to be fun so do not be afraid to explore your creativity and try new things.
Once Dr. K gives me the rough draft of the book, I pick out the scenes that stand out the most to me. Then I try to picture what the scene will look and how I can draw it.
Yes, it is all about inspiration. Some days ideas pop in your head and other days you draw a complete mental block. The third cover was particularly challenging because the robot is in the sense an object. I feel drawing a person is easier because the book description gives you a clue on the characters' hair, build, clothing, and body language. Facial features do not matter as much.