“When I was young I thought adults had silly rules. Like that you had to cover your head up in church, even if the “cover” was a tissue. Or that you couldn’t wear white shoes in December, even if they were your fanciest ones and the exact color of snow. Or that some people were less important…or less holy…or less beautiful than other people. As far as I was concerned, the only rule that really mattered was this one: Kindness. I still think that.

*Joosse has published thirty-eight books which have been translated in twenty-eight different languages. The following slides highlight examples of award winning books.

*Born in Grafton, Wisconsin in 1949.*Education: Attended University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 1966; University of Wisconsin-Madison, B.A., 1970; Attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1977–80.*Interests: International travel, dogs, cooking and reading.*Member of: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Council for Wisconsin Writers.*Married to her husband Chuck, has three children and 2 dogs: Nugget and Poppy.

Barbara hasn’t always loved books! When she was little, she attended a catholic grade school where there were only books about saints. Lorita and Eloise changed her perception of books. Lois was a city girl who lived across the hall from her grandmother. She had a shelf of books that she let Barbara borrow to read. Elois was one the books. She absolutely loved Elois because she was a city girl like Lois, and naughty but nice like Barbara. It was a combination of these two that encouraged Barbara to read and later write her own stories.

"I like to write about real children," the Wisconsin-based author wrote in Milwaukee magazine. "Children do so many heroic things every day. When a child does something that's very difficult for her to do, she is a hero. I like to dramatize that 'every day heroism' in my stories."

“Top Book of the Season,” New York Library AssociationBest of 2005, Chicago LibrariesKirkus, starred reviewRead-On, WisconsinABC Best Books for Children, 2005South Carolina Picture Book Award 2007-8, Nominee*Barbara M. Jossee’s children’s picture book Papa, Do You Love Me? is a delight. Like her children’s picture book Mama, Do You Love Me?, Papa, Do You Love Me? features the watercolors of artist Barbara Lavallee. Through a story about a Maasai father and son in Africa, Joosse focuses on a father’s love for his son.