3321 MON. NIGHT 21st AUTHOR

Yo Vikings is based on a true incident that occurred to Judith Byron Schachner's daughter. Her Daughter Emma has a very imaginative mind that will not quit. When she prepared to give a report about The Viking Explorer Erik the Red, she took off on a voyage of discovery. The more she learned the more went into her journal. She made herself a Viking helmet out of foil and rename herself Red Emma.

After the Liberian shows her a newspaper ad for a 29 foot Viking ship Emma and her brothe set out to get it. She offers $128,00, two baseball cards, and a fox tooth, and low and behold she gets it. The ship arrives at her backyard along with a TV news crew and her classmates all dressed as vikings. Yo Vikings is Written by Judith Byron Schachner. This book is Fiction and for the elementary level.

Growing up Judith's family didn't have much money. Her mother was very ill, and to make matters worse, Judith was extremely shy. All my teachers complained that "Judith needs to speak up in class, Judith needs to improve in arithmetic, and Judith needs to finish her work on time." But no one complained about her artwork. On paper she drew herself a world where mothers were healthy and teachers were kind. Her life was perfection in pencil.

In 1969, Massachusetts College of Art accepted Judith as a student despite her poor SAT scores. She graduated in 1973 with a BFA in illustration and went straight into the greeting card factories which included a stint at Hallmark. For five years she designed cute cards, sad cards, funny cards, and wedding cards. She was not having fun; in fact Judith never wanted to pick up a paintbrush again.

Then she met her husband, Bob, and for the first time in many years Judith could step off the 9 to 5 treadmill and devote all her energy to creating a portfolio of children's book art. That was until two little baby girls were born. Then motherhood became her favorite new job.
Over the years Judith read hundreds of books to her daughters. Inspired by the art and words, she was moved once again to finish her portfolio and take it on the road to New York. That's when she met Lucia Monfried. In 1995 she not only illustrated her first picture book, but she started to write and published her first book as well.
http://www.judithbyronschachner.com/