about the book
The bug world is a busy place, and some of the tiny inhabitants are getting a little unruly. Don’t worry; police Captain Bob is on the job, cruising the urban streets bringing order and some manners to insects all over town.
Racing from call to call, repeating “Wee-o! Wee-o! Wee-o! Woo! Bug Mobile coming through!” Captain Bob handles every emergency.
When the ants swarm a donut, it’s a code eleven.
When the beetles’ vehicles end up becoming bumper cars, Captain Bob maintains the law.
When roaches stage a protest against roach hotels, Captain Bob keeps everyone in order.
And when a baby flea goes missing, Captain Bob comes to the rescue!
What happens when his day is through? Why, he goes home to spend time with the bugs he loves best!
about the author
The third of seven children, Denise Dowling Mortensen grew up in a great big old house in Garden City, New York. Her home was a boisterous place, filled with stray animals, neighborhood kids, and her father’s patients. His dental office was attached to the house.
Reading was a big deal in Denise’s home, especially history books, political tomes, and mysteries. Denise always looked forward to bedtime, when her father would read children’s classics and books about faraway places.
Denise never thought of becoming a writer until her tenth-grade English teacher encouraged her. Denise majored in journalism in college and worked for Conde Nast Publications and CBS News in New York City. After she had children, she worked as a copyeditor and proofreader.
With five kids at home, she continued her dad’s tradition and read the classics to them every night. Eventually she started writing her own books. She took classes, studied poetry, joined a critique group…and finally sold her first book: Good Night Engines!
Now that her children are grown, she has more time to write. She still proofreads and edits, but now she also tutors emerging young authors, and “occasionally cleans” her New Jersey home!
Source:
Author website
Also by Denise Dowling Mortensen:
Wake Up Engines. Clarion. 2007.
Good Night Engines. Clarion. 2003.
about the illustrator
Cece Bell almost gave up on creating children’s books. After sending her first picture book manuscript to a publisher long long ago, she nearly “hung it up” after receiving the rejection letter.
Years later, she got a better story idea. She worked hard on her book about a sock monkey and sent it off to a publisher. Three months later she got the magical phone call—and three years later, the book was on store shelves! Now she illustrates books for other authors and has written and illustrated several of her own. Thank heavens she didn’t give up!
Cece lives in an old remodeled church in Montgomery County, Virginia, and works in a snazzy barn-like structure right next door. She can see the Roanoke River from one window and trains from another. Her kids, husband, and dogs are forbidden to enter unless invited!
She met her husband, writer Tom Angleberger, while they were both majoring in art at William and Mary College. Cece went on earning a graduate degree from Kent State and worked freelance on all sorts of “nutty projects”. Tom is her best encourager and editor!
Remember the sock monkey from her first published book? Now her house and studio are decorated with them. A monkey mosaic is in the yard, another adorns her front door, and painted monkeys dance across her kitchen cabinets. If you see a lady pulling a plaid suitcase with a sock monkey on the side, introduce yourself to Cece!
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator interview: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Also illustrated by Cece Bell:
Crankee Doodle by Tom Angleberger. Clarion. 2013.
read more!
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Good Night Engines by Denise Dowling Mortensen
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