Jennifer Aikman-Smith discovered at age three that crayons didn’t taste very good. She began making pictures instead, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University in 1987. This illustrator creates images in a variety of mediums, sometimes with thread, sometimes with paint or pencil, and sometimes with the computer, as seen on her website at http://www.dragondreams.ca. Jennifer illustrates books and also helps authors prepare their work for submission to publishers or for self-publication, since she is also a graphic designer. She loves to use her imagination to draw things that don’t exist. Clients have been know to ask her to draw everything, from cows skateboarding to alligators windsurfing.

Jennifer is passionate about speaking to kids about why it is important to be creative and think outside the box, in the hope that they will keep their instinctive creativity as they grow up. She lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, with her principal husband, two daughters, and a dwarf hamster.