Martha Speaks: Leader of the Pack

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After being excluded from Helen’s family-tree school project because she isn’t a human family member, Martha decides to get in touch with her own roots. What better way to do that than to live in the wild like her wolf ancestors? Martha succeeds in convincing the neighborhood dogs to join her pack, but getting them to stay is a different story. How can sleeping on the cold, hard ground and hunting squirrels compete with comfy armchairs and gourmet dog food dinners? If her dog pack deserts her, will Martha’s best friend Helen welcome her back to the family? Includes fun vocabulary-building activities.

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for GOOD STONES (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including MARTHA SPEAKS, which was chosen as a NEW YORK TIMES Best Illustrated Book for 1992. In 1998 she was awarded the New England Book Award, given by the New England Booksellers Association to recognize a body of work. Her work also was acknowledged with a New York Times Best Illustrated Award. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts.