Dig
March/April 2018
We greet the Year of the Dog with our Fossils issue! Our cover features UK-based artist Helen Thompson (a.k.a. Holy Smoke), who creates magical dog sculptures out of linen and wire. Quite by accident, we also feature another textile artist, Chris Roberts-Antieau, who stitches, stitches, stitches until characters and animals and universes come alive. Come dig inside our pages, where we explore archaeology, paleontology, and the important questions in life!
The target audience for each magazine is children ages 3–8, or children who are being read to and/or are just learning to read—but because children are never far from their siblings and caregivers, we created a magazine that can be enjoyed by all ages, from 1 to 100.
Root & Star is published six times per year. Join us with one issue, or SUBSCRIBE here for 40 full-color pages of beauty and life in your mailbox SIX times per year.
Thank you for allowing us to bring heartfelt literature and art to children all year long. Hooray!
Erica Eldridge (Child photograph) is a mom of three crazy but sweet children, ages 6, 3, and 5 months. She spends her days chasing after them and photographing them all along the way. She and her family live in Nashville, Tennessee.
Heather Feinberg (Ammi) is a mother, counselor, writer, educator, and the founder of Mindful Kids, a nonprofit organization in Austin, Texas, whose purpose is to help children (and the child inside us all) discover their voices, access their power, and, most importantly, connect to their inner knowing.
Nadira Filatova (Tempelhofer Feld) is an artist. She lives in Moscow, Russia and dreams of seeing the whole world.
David Gregal Jr. (Ask Arden art) lives in Washington, DC. At the end of the day, he loves reading books with his wife and two kids before bedtime.
J.D. Ho is a rock. With rocky thoughts. Living on a rocky mountain. With other rocks.
Polina Ipatova (Anu art) is an artist from the Ukraine. She has a soft spot for the 1980s and rock and roll.
Aimee Hagerty Johnson (Treasures, Pine Cones) has always loved to do all kinds of art. Some of her favorite things to draw are horses, sweaters, coffee pots, trees, and telescopes.
Robb N. Johnston (Find art) is an artist and author/illustrator of children's books. His three books (so far!) are The Woodcutter and the Most Beautiful Tree, Lelani and the Plastic Kingdom, and Craves.
Lida Larina (Root & Star comic) lives in Russia. Every day, Lida walks her best friend—her black dog named Babai. After their walk, Lida draws the sleeping Babai.
Courtney Mandryk is one of the makers of this magazine. She is made of paper. Her favorite thing is string. If she ere a smell, she would be Elmer's glue. Her mama would say to her, "Rise to the occasion."
Bethann Garramon Merkle (Invisible Journeys) lives in Wyoming, where she cooks, gardens, hunts, hikes with her dog Brio, and hangs out with scientists like her husband. As a writer and illustrator, Bethann best enjoys telling stories about nature and the scientists who study it.
Laura Poulette (Hello/Goodbye) is an artist who paints pictures of tiny bits of plants and nature she collects in her woods. She lives with her family in a house they built themselves in the hills outside of Berea, Kentucky.
Chris Roberts-Antieau (Ancient, Stars art) is an internationally recognized artist who makes work about joy, the mysterious origin of joy, and the wonder of childhood. She likes to remember this: "Never give up your dream" and "Listen to the voice inside of you."
Helen Thompson (Cover, Interview) is a UK-based artist who goes by the name Holy Smoke. Her sculptures are handmade from wire, linen, and other fabrics.
Susan Watts (fairy houses) lives in the woods with her family of three, and their dog makes four. She loves being inspired by nature, creating What you say matters to me. things with her son—and the dog along to supervise.
Christine Hartzler Woodruff lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a busy mother, erstwhile poet, reborn tennis fanatic, and maker of many things (like dinner, paintings, and music on the piano).
