Charlene AtkinsonCharlene Atkinson is a retired elementary school art teacher, artist, and lifelong advocate for arts education. A graduate of SUNY Buffalo, where she studied Art and Art Education, she spent her career teaching art in public schools. Her guiding priniple is that art is instrumental in education, and that every child deserves access to it. After retiring, Charlene channeled that same dedication into co-founding Char's Art Fund with her husband, a nonprofit that provided essential supplies to art teachers in public schools. Bringing her daughter's words to life on these pages was something no other illustrator could do for this book: she brought an educator's eye, a grandmother's love, and a mother's understanding of just how tender this story truly is. Read More Read Less