Marissa Valdez

Hi! I’m a children’s book author and illustrator who loves to illustrate fun, ridiculous and spunky characters in meaningful stories. My illustration debut book, Ambitious Girl, released at #1 on the NY Times bestsellers list and at #1 on the Indiebound list and is available in all major retailers, such as Barnes and Noble and Target. I’ve worked with three out of the big five publishers, Hachette, Penguin Random House and Macmillan, and I also do freelance illustration with smaller clients such as libraries and children’s hospitals across the US. I have a background in animation and graphic design and love to bring the skills I learned from my past lives into the illustrations I create today. I’m represented by Kelly Sonnack at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

I’m currently illustrating a young chapter book series, ESME’S BIRTHDAY CONGA LINE (Tundra, 2022) about a plucky girl who is sure she can plan her own birthday party when her Mimi and Pipo forget.
A couple of fun facts about me:
- I’m an avid gnome collector! I have 17 garden gnomes at the moment but I’m always on the prowl for more.
- I used to be a preschool teacher! It’s a career that I miss every day and would love to go back to teaching later in my life.
- I had a childhood pet sheep named Sheep.

Check out my work at:
@marissaarts on Instagram
@marissaillo on Twitter