ARTIST STATEMENT

• Berrie has been passionate about children’s literature since she was a little girl and has fed her desire by becoming a children’s librarian and by pursuing a career as an illustrator and writer of children’s books. Berrie studied at Syracuse University earning a BFA in Media Arts and Surface Pattern Design. Pursuing her desire to work with children, she returned to school and earned a Masters Degree in Information Studies at Drexel University. As a teacher/librarian and mother of three children, Berrie has created and developed her stories drawn from real-life experiences and her imagination. Current projects include a fiction picture book dummy Oliver and the Monkey Business; a picture book biography of Harvey Wiley: Crusader of the Pure Food and Drug Act; a magazine submission – Purrple Cat Stories; a picture book manuscript The Crayon Club; and a six panel illustration for Ladybug Magazine (May/June 2022) and (Nov/Dec 2022). Berrie’s debut early reader graphic novel, Bella & Blue: Bella meets Blue, was released on October 1, 2022 from Blue Bronco Books Jr. (8-year-old Bella gets worried when facing new experiences. But with the help of her colorful sidekick, Blue, and her free-spirited grandma, Gigi, Bella learns how to use her creativity to chase her blues away). 

  
  

  Berrie is the Illustrator Coordinator for the Eastern PA SCBWI. 

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