Carol Deach

Preschool play dates led to far more than friendship for Carol Deach and Lory Britain, the creators of My Grandma Died: A Child’s Story about Grief and Loss.

Because their daughters attended the same northwest Washington preschool more than 25 years ago and stayed close for a decade, Britain had a chance to see Deach’s drawings. These gentle illustrations, modeled on the Deach children, were a perfect fit for Britain’s first book, It’s MY Body, and for two later books by Parenting Press on similar topics. When it came time to illustrate My Grandma Died, Deach was a natural choice.

Although Deach has spent most of her career in education, she describes herself as “always an art major.” And when she says “always,” she means it. She got serious about drawing at age 5, when a serious injury almost immobilized her for six months in a hip-to-ankle cast.

Today Deach continues to use pencil and paper not only for book illustrations that are seen by hundreds of thousands of children around the globe, but for art therapy and to amuse her three grandchildren. There is no better way to occupy a toddler in a restaurant, she chuckles, than with a few quick strokes that create a face or a creature.