Issue Seventeen

Crows are strange birds. They are not, to many, immediately beautiful. Their voices are harsh. They are black shadows, haunting us from high in the trees—then they land in the dirt with stuttering, staccato gestures.

In this issue, we find beauty in this strange black bird. We find its bravery, its magic. We celebrate the coming of the season when crows become so noticeable as the leaves fall from the trees.

In this issue, we also have a bird mix-up! If you don't want to cut up your magazine, or if you need more birds, we have a download! Enjoy!

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!

Issue 17 Contributors

• C.M. Andrews (Crow Song poem) is a writer and teacher who lives on a small farm at the top of a tall hill in rural New Hampshire. In the summer, she enjoys exploring tide pools and mountaintops with her husband and son.
• Juna Hume Clark (Becoming art) is going into eighth grade at Washtenaw International Middle Academy. She is a passionate artist and activist.
• Kristina Closs (Crow Song art) is a watercolor artist who lives and works in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. She works from home with her two children who are 2 and 4. She loves birds and takes inspiration from the garden and forests that surround her home. 
• Robin Clugston (Laurel’s Work illustration) is an artist and illustrator raised in Ottawa, Ontario. From a very young age, Robin was turning her ideas into images, and working at reproducing the world as she saw it onto paper. Robin's fascination with visual arts began with the illustrated picture books she and her mother would take out from the local library.
• Hannah Conti (Becoming text) lives on Long Island, New York with her three homeschooled children.
• Amelia Damse ((How to Make Space Around You) photo) is a self taught photographer with a passion for documentary style photography and portraiture.  She especially enjoys capturing candid moments of her children in their day to day lives. 
• Michela Degioannis (Scissors in the Sky art) was born on a small Italian island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea called Sardegna. When she was a child, she wanted to be a zoologist. Now that she is an illustrator, insects are one of her favorite subjects. She just published her first book, Water Child (Il bambino d'acqua).
• Catherine-Laura Dunnington (Laurel’s Work text) is a writer and doctoral student based in Ottawa, Ontario. Her writing has also taken her to Vermont, Maine, Montana, and Nova Scotia. These landscapes influence the world she writes and lives. She currently is writing narrative research on how children’s stories, and stories of the child-within, impart voice and meaning to the everyday.
• Heather Feinberg (Ammi text) 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 (Crow Boy) is an artist. She lives in Moscow, Russia and dreams of seeing the whole world.
• David Gregal Jr. (Ask Arden art) lives in Maryland. At the end of the day, he loves reading books with his wife and three kids before bedtime. 
• Aimee Hagerty Johnson (Children Are Like Ravens illustration) has always loved to do all kinds of art. Some of her favorite things to draw are horses, sweaters, coffee pots, trees, and telescopes. 
• Kristin Kobza (child photo) is a photography-loving wife and mama of three babes. She is always documenting their beautiful dysfunction. 
• Karla Kuskin (Knitted Things poem) lived from 1932–2009. She wrote and illustrated many books for children, including our favorite The Philharmonic Gets Dressed.
• 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. 
• Anne Lindbergh ((How to Make Space Around You) poem) lived from 1940–1993. She wrote many books for children, including Bailey’s Window and The Worry Week.
• Akemi Maegawa (It's a Bird!) was born in Japan, the country of legends, heroes, weird creatures and magic. Despite being an adult, she still looks into the sky to find the magic of her childhood fairytales.
• Gina Marie Mammano (Scissors in the Sky poem) is a longtime teacher, storyteller, and poet. In her spare time she likes to sing, play her sweet, silver flute, and make friends with the outside world. 
• Courtney Mandryk
• Cori Lee Marvin (front cover, Hello/Goodbye) always wished the birds and animals would come to play inside her house… so she makes this wish come true in her art! These paintings are created in watercolor using very small brushes and lots of patience. 
• Erin McInerney (Children Are Like Ravens text) is a graduate of the University of Iowa. She likes cartoons, Victorian Novels, gardening, and kickboxing.
• Sarah McRae Morton (back cover) is a painter who was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She was surrounded by Amish people and inspired by their homes, the glow of their kerosene lanterns, and the bright colors of their clothing. Her paintings often explore the deep history of her family.  
• Sofi Naydenova (Rainbow, Crow art) is an illustrator who makes joyful illustrations and short animations about life, human relationships, and funny characters, but she also shows conceptual pieces with subjects covering ecology and veganism. Her work has been shown in Hungary, Germany, Russia, and Japan. 
• Heather Franzen Rutten (Owl and Crow) is an artist and illustrator living in Philadelphia. In her free time, she likes playing video games and attending orchestra concerts.