Beyond the Page: Barbara Lowell
This week we are excited to feature Barbara Lowell, author of Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever, illustrated by Dan Andreasen (Cameron Books, April 2019). Get to know her through fun questions below.
What’s your favorite (current or all-time) movie, dessert, and adult book?
Favorite Movie: Home Alone
Favorite Dessert: Chocolate Cake
Favorite Adult Book: To Kill a Mockingbird
What did you want to be growing up?
I’m like Charles Schulz. At six years old, he knew he wanted to be a cartoonist. At six, I knew I wanted to be a writer. My favorite books growing up were biographies. Now, I write them for children. It’s a dream come true.
If you could live in any other country, which one would you choose and why?
If I could live in any country, I would live in France. Paris is the most beautiful and interesting city, and I would enjoy spending lots of time there. I understand many French words and phrases, so I wouldn’t feel lost. And I could easily travel around the rest of Europe, which I love to do.
Tell us one fun insider-fact about Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever.
I actually wrote two picture book biography manuscripts about Charles Schulz. One focused on his life, especially his childhood, and the other on his childhood relationship with his dog Spike, his inspiration for Snoopy. Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever includes sections from both manuscripts.
Barbara Lowell
Barbara Lowell is the author of George Ferris What A Wheel, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, Daring Amelia, and the forthcoming picture books, Sparky and Spike and My Mastodon. She also writes for the educational market. She is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators, a runner-up of SCBWI’s Barbara Karlin Grant, and the winner of The Katherine Patterson Prize at Hunger Mountain (Vermont College of Fine Arts.) She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can visit her at
https://www.barbaralowell.com/.
