Posada, Mia

Personal

Daughter of Harry Lerner; children: Rose Sharon. Education: Studied art at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Addresses

Home and office—Oakland, CA.

Career

Author and illustrator.

Writings

Dandelions: Stars in the Grass, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

Ladybugs: Red, Fiery, and Bright, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2002.

Robins: Songbirds of Spring, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2004.

Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg, Millbrook Press (Minneapolis, MN), 2007.

Dazzling Dragonflies: A Life Cycle Story, Millbrook Press (Minneapolis, MN), 2008.

Sidelights

Mia Posada is the author and illustrator of several educational picture books, including Ladybugs: Red, Fiery, and Bright and Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg. In the latter her rhyming text provokes reader curiosity by encouraging the book's young audience to identify the tiny creature to be found in each egg. From penguins to chickens and crocodiles, a wide assortment of animal eggs are featured. Posada also provides original artwork for her story, pairing her text with colorful collages that capture the details of each animal highlighted. Her story ends with a group of illustrations that show the eggs in life-size format and the development of each.

A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented of Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg that Posada's art is "sumptuous in both texture and color," effectively capturing the unique characteristic detail of each animal.

Likewise, a Kirkus Reviews critic noted that Posada's artwork "lends texture and movement to the pages." In Booklist Carolyn Phelan remarked on the book's text, writing that the author/illustrator's "playful use of a questions-and-answer structure" encourages children to participate and makes the volume "a good read-aloud choice." School Library Journal reviewer Patricia Manning wrote of the book that "the text is brief and to the point, and the charming collages generate Waldo-like searches for a clue to parental identity."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg, p. 55; December 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Dazzling Dragonflies: A Life Cycle Story, p. 54.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May, 2007, Elizabeth Bush, review of Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg, p. 381.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2007, review of Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg.

Publishers Weekly, May 14, 2007, review of Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg, p. 56.

School Library Journal, May, 2000, Carolyn Jenks, review of Dandelions: Stars in the Grass, p. 163; May, 2002, Cynthia M. Sturgis, review of Ladybugs: Red, Fiery, and Bright, p. 143; May, 2004, Patricia Manning, review of Robins: Songbirds of Spring, p. 134; June, 2007, Patricia Manning, review of Guess What Is Growing inside This Egg, p. 136.

Science Books & Films, May, 2000, review of Dandelions, p. 128; January, 2003, review of Ladybugs, p. 39.

ONLINE

University of Wisconsin-Madison Web site,http://www.education.wisc.edu/ (December 3, 2007), "Children's Books by Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators."