Baicker-McKee, Carol 1958–

PERSONAL:

Born 1958; children: three. Education: Yale University, B.A.; University of Virginia, Ph.D. Hobbies and other interests: "Pug lover, procrastinator, chocoholic, and all around silly person."

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—Pittsburgh, PA. E-mail—baickermckee@adelphia.net.

CAREER:

Writer, illustrator, and child psychologist.

MEMBER:

Western Pennsylvania Region of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

WRITINGS:

Mapped Out!: The Search for Snookums, illustrated by Traci O'Very Covey, Gibbs Smith (Salt Lake City, UT), 1997.

Fussbusters on the Go: Strategies and Games for Stress-Free Outings, Errands, and Vacations with Your Preschooler, Peachtree (Atlanta, GA), 2002.

Fussbusters at Home: Around-the-Clock Strategies and Games for Smoothing the Rough Spots in Your Preschooler's Day, Peachtree (Atlanta, GA), 2002.

Also author and illustrator of Three Crabby Kids. Author of monthly column for Nick Jr. Family magazine; author of blog, Doodles and Noodles.

ILLUSTRATOR:

Julie Stiegemeyer, Cheep! Cheep!, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2006.

Julie Stiegemeyer, Merry Christmas, Cheeps!, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Carol Baicker-McKee, a self-taught illustrator and clinical child psychologist, has written books for young readers as well as illustrating titles by herself and by others. A childhood interest in dioramas has inspired her creative approach as an illustrator, and her use of fabric collage gives her art a three-dimensional look. Baicker-McKee also incorporates found materials such as torn paper, clay, and wood in her illustration work.

As a writer, Baicker-McKee has penned the parent survival guides Fussbusters on the Go: Strategies and Games for Stress-Free Outings, Errands, and Vacations with Your Preschooler and Fussbusters at Home: Around-the-Clock Strategies and Games for Smoothing the Rough Spots in Your Preschooler's Day. In addition to her other writing projects, she contributes a monthly column to Nick Jr. Family magazine, and recommends titles for very young readers through her blog, Doodles and Noodles.

When she first began her writing career, Baicker-McKee thought her training in child psychology qualified her to give sensible parenting advice, but this assumption was called into question after she had children of her own. "I didn't have a clue," she confessed to Karen Macpherson of Bergen County, New Jersey's Record. Baicker-McKee got the ideas she includes in FussBusters at Home while watching other parents struggle to make their children behave while running errands. "I started off very simply, coming up with ideas for activities when parents are out and about with their kids," she explained of the book, which was described by Macpherson as "an idea-packed, lively, and humorous parenting guide." Kay Hogan Smith, writing in Library Journal, noted that FussBusters on the Go is "written with an earthy sense of humor" where "fun is the operative word."

As an illustrator, Baicker-McKee has created art to accompany picture-book texts by Julie Stiegemeyer. Cheep! Cheep! and Merry Christmas, Cheeps! feature three-dimensional chicks constructed by the illustrator using felt, terry cloth, and other household textiles. Despite the minimalist style represented in her collages, Baicker-McKee "comes up with an amazing array of expressions and comic poses," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor in a review of Cheep! Cheep! "The story comes alive through the almost 3-D collage art," wrote Linda Zeilstra Sawyer in School Library Journal, while a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded that Stiegemeyer's "chickies are cuteness in action." The Cheeps return to celebrate Christmas in Merry Christmas, Cheeps!

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2006, review of Cheep! Cheep!, p. 45.

Library Journal, October 1, 2002, Kay Hogan Smith, review of FussBusters on the Go: Strategies and Games for Stress-Free Outings, Errands, and Vacations with Your Preschooler, p. 121.

Publishers Weekly, February 13, 2006, review of Cheep! Cheep!, p. 87.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), September 1, 2002, Karen Macpherson, "Whine Coolers for Kids: Author Takes Aim at the Tough Spots," p. F4.

School Library Journal, March, 2006, Linda Zeilstra Sawyer, review of Cheep! Cheep!, p. 202.

ONLINE

Carol Baicker-McKee's Blog,http://www.doodlesandnoodles.blogspot.com/ (December 15, 2006).

Western Pennsylvania Region of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Web site,http://www.wpascbwi.com/ (February 20, 2007), "Carol Baicker-McKee."