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Think It Ink It began when Dasha Ziborova, a noted children’s book illustrator and mom, came to Fran Black and Michael Thibeault at Arts Counsel, Inc. seeking a writer for one of her illustrated books. Fran quickly decided to connect with Dr. Alice Wilder, director of research and development and producer for Nick Jr.’s Blue’s Clues, convinced that Alice would know what kids think of wordless books and their educational value.
Together they had a better idea—wordless picture books that encourage both reading and writing.
But even though we thought it was a great idea, we knew we had to talk with the experts. So we brought mock-up books to a classroom of kids who happily offered their opinions. Even better, once this group of second-graders had our Think It Ink It workbooks in their hands, they wouldn’t let go. They wanted to keep on writing.
Frances Black Frances Black has been working for over 20 years promoting the talents of creative people. She wanted to be a rock and roll singer, but realized that that career path was simply not going to happen. She started working as a picture editor for a stock photography company and eventually branched out to become a picture editor for a variety of magazines. She founded Arts Counsel, Inc. in 1987 and began representing photographers. In 1990 she became the published author of The Color of Fashion, a highly-acclaimed coffee table book featuring the photographic works of 120 well-known photographers and editors of 12 magazines, including Rolling Stone, and Italian Vogue. The photographs from the book later became an exhibition sponsored by Kodak. In 1992, Frances broadened her agency focus to include illustrators.
Today, Arts Counsel is known as a creative development specialist firm; exclusively representing and managing the careers of 24 illustrators. Their projects involve many markets, including publishing, advertising, retail, and merchandise. Arts Counsel’s clients are varied and include: The Wall Street Journal, Victoria’s Secret, MTV, Bergdorf Goodman, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Shiseido Cosmetics, Barney’s New York, Penguin Group, Harper Collins and Chronicle. Many books have been published using the talents of Arts Counsel’s illustrators, including the best seller, Grimm’s Grimmest, which was packaged and produced for Chronicle Books, and The Palm of My Heart, which won the acclaimed Coretta Scott King award and was published by Lee & Low Books.
Michael Thibeault Michael Thibeault lived the life of an actor after being trained with Trinity Repertory and Second City Improv. After many years working in theatre, improvisation, film and television, he changed careers when he entered the world of illustration with Arts Counsel, Inc., At Arts Counsel, Michael represents internationally unique and acclaimed illustrators and promotes their talents within the advertising, television, magazine, corporate, education, and publishing arenas both in America and abroad.
Clients include: Simon and Schuster, Random House, Penguin Group, Chronicle Books, Scholastic, Oxford University Press, Harlequin, St. Martins Press, Estée Lauder, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Disney, Neiman Marcus, BET, The Washington Post, National Geographic Kids, InStyle, Glamour, The New York Times and many others.
Dr. Alice Wilder Alice Wilder has always been interested in kids, what they think and how they are educated. She started as a researcher at Skidmore College, where she worked with Mary Ann Foley, visiting schools and talking and playing with kids to better understand their point of view. While at Skidmore, she saw the 1988 movie Big, about a boy trapped in the body of man (played by Tom Hanks), who landed a job developing toys. From that time on, Alice wanted to be that character—the adult who represents the kids’ point of view in a boardroom full of grownups. She bases her work on the philosophy that ‘the only way to understand what children are capable of doing, what appeals to them, and what they know, is to ask them!’ In a room full of adults she often finds herself using the famous line from the movie, “What’s so fun about that?”
In 1995, Alice got the chance to put her philosophy into practice as the Director of Research and Development and Producer/Writer for Nick Jr.’s break-out preschool series Blue’s Clues. In this capacity, she ran the formative research process of working with the show’s audience (2-5 year olds), co-authored the curriculum on which Blue’s Clues and spin-off Blue’s Room were based, and wrote scripts, books, educational workbooks, and columns for the magazine and Nick Jr.’s website. She has been nominated for Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Preschool Children’s Series as well as Outstanding Writing in a Children’s Series. Wilder also served as the Director of Research and Development for Little Bill and Oswald, both animated series on Nick Jr.
A graduate of Columbia University’s Teachers College, Wilder earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology, where she was awarded the Miriam Goldberg Research Award for her dissertation and the Early Career Award from Teachers College. She has written numerous articles for journals related to the field and frequently presents at national conferences and in classes.
Dasha Ziborova Dasha Ziborova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She graduated from the Art School of Academy of Art and continued her education in Russia at the Stiglitz Design Academy prior to coming to New York.
Dasha constantly uses her talent, skills, and natural curiosity in different fields of art and design. In her work, she switches between illustrating and painting for children’s books, working in the editorial market, visually solving problems for clients, and designing computer games. She conceptualized, and designed 40 large-scale murals for the Atlantic Center in Brooklyn in 2004.
Children's books, however, stays Dasha's life-long passion. She was collecting them long before her first book "Crispin the Terrible" was published and son Philippe was born. Dasha has had three picture books published, and her work has been reviewed in The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews and was mentioned in The New York Times Metro Section. Her last book was on the PBS recommended list.
She is a member of Society of Illustrators and her previous works and awards include:
- "Crispin the Terrible", Callaway Editions, 1999
- "In English of Course," Gingerbread House, 2004
- Named to the "2005 Best Books for Children" list by the Association of Booksellers for Children
- Named to the "Children's Choices Best Books Catalog" by the Association of Booksellers for Children
- Learning® Magazine 2004 "Teachers’ Choice" Award (The most important award for educational products.)
- “2003 Chapman Award" for Best Classroom Read-Alouds, awarded by Esme' Raji Codell
- An ABA (American Booksellers Association) Book Sense "Pick of the Lists"
- A PBS TV Teacher's Source "Recommended Book"
- The 2003 IPPY (Independent Publisher) Award
- "Number's Dance," Gingerbread House
- An International Reading Association-Children’s Book Council "Children's Choices" Award Winner
- Named to the "2005 Best Books for Children" list by the Association of Booksellers for Children
- ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award Finalist
- An ABA (American Booksellers Association) Book Sense "Pick of the Lists"
Katie Aylwin
Derin Basden
Asher Basden
Metta Dael
Alicia Debellis
Edith Everett
Chuck Gonzales
Erick Gordon
Phyliss Gottesman and Collette Shepard
Don Graves
Tate & Lily Harmon
Jennifer Johnson
Rachel Kalban
Saul Kaplan
Cathy Law
Jessica Lipschultz and her 2nd grade class at P.S. 29 - John M. Harrigan School
Margaret Melozzi
Mia Oberlink
Francesca Pardo
Maggie, Jonah, and Levi Pelton
Marilena Perilli
Sharon Praigrod
Deborah Reber
Sarah Rutledge
Angela C. Santomero
Scott Munro Shepard
Woody Shepard
Aminata Sillah
Michael Smith
Robert Tofolo
Jennifer Trachtenberg
Giovanna Vosilla
The kids at WHEDCO
Kristen Wilder
