Ember, Kathi

Personal

Born in September.

Addresses

Home and office—Fleetwood, PA. Agent—MB Artists, 10 E. 29th St., Ste. 40G, New York, NY 10016.

Career

Illustrator. Designer for greeting cards and puzzles, as well as for wallpaper and packaging.

Illustrator

Margaret Wise Brown, The Color Kittens, Western Pub. Co. (Racine, WI), 1994.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Golden Books (Racine, WI), 1997.

Penelope J. Neri, The Wind in the Willows, LeapFrog (Everyville, CA), 2000.

Jenette Donovan Guntly, I Can Show Respect, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 2005.

Pat Miller, Substitute Groundhog, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2006.

Janet Nolan, A Father's Day Thank You, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2007.

Illustrations appeared in periodicals, including Graphis.

Sidelights

Artist Kathi Ember lives surrounded by cats, sheep, and horses, and these creature companions have served as unwitting models in her artwork. In addition to creating greeting cards and gift packaging, puzzles, and wall coverings, Ember also works as a children's book illustrator, with books by Janet Nolan, Pat Miller, and Margaret Wise Brown to her credit.

According to a Children's Bookwatch critic, Ember's "warm drawings enhance" Substitute Groundhog, a picture book featuring a text by Miller. In the story, a sickly groundhog attempt to find another animal to take his place on Groundhog Day, only to discover his own unique attributes. Citing the book's "whimsical" storyline, Susan E. Murray added in School Library Journal that Substitute Groundhog that Ember's "pictures add much life to the various animals as well as to the humor of the search" at the center of Miller's tale. Reviewing Nolan's A Father's Day Thank You, Todd Morning wrote in Booklist that Ember's artwork "elevates the cuddly factor" through her decision to cast the story with a family of brown bears, but preserving "settings and situations kids will recognize." Predicting that Nolan's book will be an "enduring" storytime favorite, School Library Journal critic Kathleen Pavin added that A Father's Day Thank You features art that is "bright and expressive, and … filled with homey details."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2007, Todd Morning, review of A Father's Day Thank You, p. 58.

Children's Bookwatch, January, 2007, review of Substitute Groundhog.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2007, review of A Father's Day Thank You, p. 78.

School Library Journal, December, 2006, Susan E. Murray, review of Substitute Groundhog, p. 110; March, 2007, Kathleen Pavin, review of A Father's Day Thank You, p. 182.