About Authors
Author Mary Lou Harris was born into a theatrical family in New York City. She spent her early formative years developing her craft in theater and music, performing in many Off-Off Broadway shows and TV commercials.
Her many performing experiences prepared her well for a career in teaching, a performative art in itself. She became an Orton-Gillingham trained educator with two Master’s degrees in Early Childhood Education, and Literacy for All. Mary Lou’s multi-sensory approach to teaching has brought joy and success to students in New York for over fifteen years. She lives in New York City six blocks from the Empire State Building with her husband, their son, and their sweet little dog Max.
Mary Lou’s brother George Harris III (later known as Hibiscus) was the protester in the famous Bernie Boston photo of a young man putting a flower into the rifle of a National Guard soldier at an antiwar event at the Pentagon. He went on to become an influential theater artist, with Mary Lou and her sisters contributing to his live performances. Mary Lou was pleased to be the lead author of George’s biography “Flower Power Man.”
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Illustrator Jim Pietsch was an artist and cartoonist from an early age. When he turned 13, he shifted his energies to playing the drums. Highlights of his career as a professional musician include playing drums with Chuck Berry at the old Fillmore East building, and drumming on Broadway in Bob Fosse’s Dancin.’
To support his musical endeavors, Jim drove a taxi in New York. He asked his fares for jokes which led to him writing and illustrating five humor books, as well as creating his own monthly cabbie comic strip.
Having been a joke aficionado all his life, he always carries a catalog of thousands of jokes with him – in his head! He currently works as a video editor for a major news network in New York City. (See video below.)