The Black Sheep

In this coming-of-age picture storybook tale, a black lamb born to a flock of white sheep goes on a quest to find a mythical herd of black sheep.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephan J. Harper was born in Baltimore and has been writing stories and poems for many years. He is the author of the children's picture book, One Christmas Story. Mr. Harper is also co-creator of Basilbaker.com "a literate site for bear lovers" which has been on the Web since May 1998. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Peggy, the creative other-half of the Harper household. The Black Sheep is Mr. Harper's second picture book for children.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: Mary FitzGerald Beach has enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a painter and graphic artist over the past five decades. Ms. Beach was born in Southern California and has resided on the Monterey Peninsula since 1968. She studied with Eliot O'Hara while in high school and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado. Ms. Beach also studied with Millard Sheets and Rex Brandt in Southern California. Mary grew up in a family of artists and writers and had a rare "Three Generation Exhibit" in San Francisco with her mother and her three children. Her art affiliations include the Pasadena Society of Artists, the Women Painters of the West, the National Watercolor Society and the Western Serigraph Institute. Ms. Beach has been an exhibiting Carmel Art Association member since 1969 and has served on their board of directors. Her paintings and graphics are in numerous private collections across America and in Japan, China, Ireland, England and France. The Black Sheep is Mary Beach's first picture book for children.