Gingerbread Doll

Megan Lloyd was born on November 5, 1958, to Melissa and John Lloyd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her parents were public schoolteachers who graduated from Penn State; John taught American history, and Melissa taught both Music and Kindergarten. Megan herself attended Pennsylvania State University for a year as a pre-law major, before deciding she wanted to illustrate children's books. She says she was prompted by her mother, who kept showing her picture books that she used in her kindergarten class. The books struck a chord with her, and she fell in love with the idiom of children's books, because they combined her love of books with visual aspects and the written word. To pursue her new interest, Lloyd transferred to Parsons School of Design in New York City. She graduated from Parsons in 1981 and worked for the next year as assistant to the art editor at Harper & Row in New York City.Her first contract as an illustrator was for the book Chicken Tricks, which prompted her to leave Harper & Row, and move back to Pennsylvania. During her first two contracts she did antique paint restoration as a way to earn a living, but her work was soon able to garner enough interest from readers and publishers to enable her to take it up full time. However, Lloyd's paint restoration work on the pulpit of an old church in Brickerville, Pennsylvania inspired one of her most important and beloved works-Pioneer Church, by Carolyn Otto. Original art from the book was selected by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book to represent the Commonwealth as part of a two-year touring exhibit that focuses on the uniqueness of each state, as seen through the lens of children's book art. Megan Lloyd says of her work: "I try to capture the essence of the story and expand on it, and to add things to the story that may not even be there. A well written story will inspire ideas and images, and even subplots in my mind- things the author probably didn't intend." This mode of expression is embodied in the lively, playful style of her illustrations, part of what makes her unique and successful as an artist. She is able to read the story and let it trigger images that enable her to draw on her own personal experience. Megan Lloyd usually works on six different books simultaneously-all at different points in the design, creation, and publishing process. In addition to illustrating, she enjoys soap-making, rug hooking, weaving, painting, and caring for her many animals: two dogs, three cats, two guinea hens, eighteen chickens, eighteen sheep, a cow, and a calf. She currently lives in rural Cumberland County, Pennsylvania with her husband Thomas, an antiques dealer and shop owner, and the oft-used model for many of the men in her books.Tews, Susan is the author of 'Gingerbread Doll' with ISBN 9780395564387 and ISBN 0395564387.