Cowboys and Coffin Makers

About the Author:
Laurie grew up in London and Toronto, Ontario. In the winter, she pretended to be a figure skater on her family’s backyard rink, took ballet lessons, and tobogganed in the park across from her house. On summer vacations at the cottage, she and her friends sailed, water-skied, made terrible pizzas, and tried, unsuccessfully, to row around the lake.

Mrs. Jones, her grade 11 English teacher, encouraged her to write after reading a story she wrote. In university, Laurie helped a friend with an essay and discovered a second way to play with words—editing. When she first began writing books, it seemed strange being a book\'s author rather than its editor!

In her spare time, Laurie likes gardening, canoeing, hiking, visiting zoos and museums, playing badminton and board games, reading, and doing crossword puzzles.

Laurie and her husband have two grown children and divide their time between their home in Toronto and a cottage near Algonquin Park.

Laurie Coulter writes:
As well as reading books set in the past, I could actually visit the past in my grandparents\' attic. The third floor of their house in Peterborough, Ontario, was full of possessions dating back to the 19th century, from butterfly collections and stuffed owls to old toys, scrapbooks, furniture, clothes and hats. Like all women of her era, my grandmother wore hats on special occasions.

While doing the research for Cowboys and Coffin Makers, I learned that millions of wild birds were killed in North America for their feathers, which were then sold to hatmakers. One aim of the early wildlife conservation movement in the late 1800s was to persuade women to stop wearing feathered hats. It worked. How many people do you see wearing feathered hats today?

Other Books by Laurie Coulter
Ballplayers and Bonesetters: One Hundred Ancient Aztec and Maya Jobs You Might Have Adored or Abhorred 2008
Secrets in Stone: All About Maya Heiroglyphs. 2001
To Be a Princess: The Fascinating Lives of Real Princesses 2001

Contact Laurie Coulter at:
Email:laurie@lauriecoulter.net
Website:www.lauriecoulter.net

About the Illustrator:
The daughter of two art teachers, Martha Newbigging was born to draw. There was even a chalkboard near the kitchen table for after-dinner artwork. Since those kitchen creations, Martha has gone on to become a graphic designer, web designer, and children’s book illustrator. She also works in animation, and her films have been shown in North America and Europe.

Martha now lives beside a river in rural Ontario, just outside her birthplace of Toronto, with her dog, Ruby, and two homeless cats. Besides drawing pictures, Martha likes to paddle a kayak, play tennis, look at birds, and grow lettuce.

Other Books of Interest:
Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded
Ballplayers and Bonesetters: One Hundred Ancient Aztec and Maya Jobs You Might Have Adored or Abhorred
Archers, Alchemists and 98 Other Medieval Jobs You Might Have Loved or Loathed

Contact Martha Newbigging at:
Email:martha.newbigging@sympatico.ca
Website:
www.marthanewbigging.com