It’s Better Being a Bunny

With a degree in Fine Arts, I assumed I would be an illustrator. But when early in my career I was presented with the opportunity to write, I seized it and quickly discovered that I‘d found my true love. No sad, sappy stories for me, however. I liked to make myself laugh and my characters usually end up looking pretty silly for one reason or another. My first children’s book featured a fastidious little English boy named Alistair Grittle and was originally created for the English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, as well as for Simon & Schuster in the United States. Having created a boy with such perfect behavior, I then turned my attention to a not so-perfectly-behaved little boy. His name was P.J. Funnybunny, and he has existed for many years in a series of books for Random House, including the highly prestigious “Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat” series. My television credits include two PBS Reading Rainbow programs featuring Alistair, an Alistair program for the BBC, three ABC Weekend Specials featuring P.J. Funnybunny and a show based on my children’s book, “Elizabeth and Larry”, for Showtime’s Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories. Between 1999 and 2004, The Disney Channel produced three “Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century” Original Movies based on my book, illustrated by Roger Bollen, “Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century”. Needless to say, I was “over the moon”. Each of the Disney Zenon movies had exceptionally high ratings, with “Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century” and “Zenon the Zequel” among the highest rated shows in the history of The Disney Channel. In 2004, Playhouse Disney began production on an animated series created by me and Roger Bollen, titled “Handy Manny”. “Handy Manny” premiered September 16, 2006, as the highest rated Playhouse Disney series premiere of all time and averaged approximately 2 million viewers a week, generating consistent critical acclaim and developing a deeply loyal audience. In 2009, I was nominated for an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of “Handy Manny” in the category of “Outstanding Special Class Animated Program.” In September of 2015, Eric Comstock and I introduced a 3-book “Charlie Piechart” mystery-math series which was launched by Harper Collins Publishers with the release of our first book, “Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice”, and was followed by two subsequent titles, “Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Hat” and “Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Dog”.