About Molly and the Magic Suitcase
Molly and the Magic Suitcase shares the world. The stories feature different locations, cultures and a bit of language. It is educational fun.
Chris and Amy Oler came up with the idea for Molly and the Magic Suitcase when their daughter Molly, barely 1 year old at the time, crawled into their suitcase and expected to go somewhere. What better way to share the word with kids, they thought, then to share their travels as children’s books. Molly and her brother Michael are older now, and Chris and Amy love traveling with them and capturing their adventures in stories. Molly and the Magic Suitcase books have been around the world, and we hope that these stories will expand your child’s horizons and help them see that while our world has many wonderful cultures and differences, we are the same at heart.
About the Author
Chris Oler began a freelance writing career through sports, specifically the corporate softball team he put together in Chicago. His game reports entertained well enough that he was soon writing for other divisions of Kaplan Professional. The idea that “less is more” drives the work on promotions, speeches, Web sites and books that Chris has done throughout his professional career. His background includes speechwriting for the Indiana House of Representatives, serving as an editor for Kaplan in Chicago, and teaching and coaching students from grade 5 to grade 12 at the International School of Indiana and Park Tudor School in Indianapolis. He has education certifications from the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) at both the MYP (Language A) and Diploma Program (ToK, Language B) levels. Chris is currently the President and Lead Writer of COLOR Marketing & Design.
About the Illustrator
Amy Houston Oler is a trained artist who has loved drawing all her life, rarely going anywhere without a sketch pad. She created her first comic strip at age ten and continued creating comics and cartoons in high school and college, graduating from DePauw University with a double major in both History and Studio Art (focus on drawing and painting). She later studied at the New York School of Visual Arts. During her time in New York, she worked for Marvel Comics, The New Yorker, and Entertainment Weekly. Amy produces all of the art for the Molly and the Magic Suitcase series by hand. She loves drawing from both imagination and reality, but her favorite thing to capture is facial expression. Her father says he recognizes her characters easily because she’s been working on them all her life. Amy is currently the Creative Director at COLOR Marketing & Design.