Teri Sloat

Biography
As an only child in a quiet household, I was always read to. The characters in the books were reassurance that there were other people like me. Our family did not have much money so, like many other young children in Oregon's Willamette Valley, I spent long days working in the fields in the summers. It was there that I learned to entertain myself with my own stories, rhythms, and songs.

While studying in college to become a high school teacher, I met my husband, Bob. We grabbed a chance to teach elementary school in a remote village in Alaska. We spent the next 12 years living in Yup'ik villages on the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers in Alaska, and started our family. For the last 20 years, we have lived with our three children (all grown now) outside the town of Sebastopol, California. I feel lucky to be able to divide my time among writing, illustrating, painting, and speaking. And, yes, Farmer Brown is my husband.

Honorarium
$1,300 per full-day visit within the San Francisco Bay Area
$800 per half-day visit within the SF Bay Area
$1,400 per full-day visit outside the SF Bay Area
$850 per half-day visit outside the SF Bay Area

Client is responsible for author's travel and other expenses such as lodging and food if trip requires overnight stay.

Program description
My presentations vary according to the age and number of the students in the audience. The goal is to spark students into a fascination with the world that the author and illustrator are allowed to create between book covers, to realize that the joy of being a writer or illustrator or music writer is to share something that is inside their minds with the minds of others.

For younger audiences, the program emphasizes the fun of ideas and the process of making your ideas clear to others through revision and learning techniques with words and art.

With upper elementary students, I talk about how I learn to make my own work better by developing vocabulary and art techniques, by studying others whose work I like, and by experimenting … and I admit that I don't finish everything I start.

With middle and high school students, I talk about what a career in the arts means—the opportunity to be heard, to give a message. I discuss stretching a career to keep it challenging and fresh. For me, this means a move between books, fine art, music, and playwriting. I teach students to learn to value the vision they have and the words they hear.

Size and number of groups
For presentations in the fall, I ask that kindergartners be in a separate group if possible and that their time be limited to 30 minutes. Other presentations are from 45-50 minutes unless they are workshops. I prefer groups of 100 or fewer so that students feel a more personal connection to what I am saying and showing. This also allows me to pass around laminated examples of the process of illustration.

Number and length of presentations
I will give up to four presentations for a full day. If I am to stay for an evening presentation, a separate fee will be negotiated. I also do workshops in art and writing for students, teachers, and parents. A half day contains no more than two presentations or one workshop.

Age or grades of groups I prefer to work with
I work with all ages from kindergarten through college, changing the presentation accordingly.

Equipment needs

• Overhead projector (for groups over 100)
• Microphone
• Long table or stage on which to set up books and items to be shown

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How to Order Books for a Visit
Order from this booklist 

Selected Titles

Berry Magic
Illustrated by Teri Sloat
Written by Betty Huffmon
(Alaska Northwest Books, 2004)


Every year during berry-picking time, the old women frown and complain about the tasteless crowberries. But young Anana has a plan for changing those frowns into smiles!

The Eye of the Needle
Retold and Illustrated by Teri Sloat
(Alaska Northwest Books, 2001)

In this Yup'ik tale, little Amik's grandmother sends him to hunt for food. He is so hungry that he swallows everything he finds.

"An authentic, well-told, satisfying story, handsomely illustrated and produced."
—Kirkus Reviews

From One to One Hundred
Written and Illustrated by Teri Sloat
(Dutton, 1991)

This ingenious counting book arranges more than 2,500 items imaginatively in a dazzling display of detail, color and inventiveness.

• Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended List

The Hungry Giant of the Tundra
Illustrated by Robert and Teri Sloat
(Alaska Northwest Books, 2001)

Tells how clever village children, with the help of two special birds, outwit the hungry Arctic giant who has captured them.

"A masterful retelling that combines rich, lively language that reads aloud well, and colorful, detailed illustrations that capture children at play on the autumn tundra."
—School Library Journal

I'm a Duck
(Penguin, 2006)

A little duck is so excited to be able to quack and waddle and fly that he thinks life can't get any better. But it can and does when he quacks and a girl duck quacks back. And she makes life more outstanding than he ever imagined.

Patty's Pumpkin Patch
Written and Illustrated by Teri Sloat
(Putnam, 1999)

A rhyming, seek-and-find alphabet that shows the world inside the pumpkin patch from planting to harvesting.

"Even children who have never set foot on a farm can share the experience through the vivid illustrations."—School Library Journal

• American Bookseller Association Pick of the List

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout
Illustrated by Reynold Ruffin
(Henry Holt, 1988)

"There was an old lady who swallowed a trout that splished and splashed and thrashed about. It wanted out!"

This is the House That Was Tidy and Neat
Illustrated by R. W. Alley
(Henry Holt and Co., 2005)

After a wacky chain of events involving a mouse, a
cat, a dog, a boy, and a girl—not to mention
crumbs, drips, splatters, and spills—the neat
and tidy house is in chaos. What will happen when Mom comes
home?

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