Garland, Michael: - Best-selling author and illustrator Michael Garland's greatest success has been in writing and illustrating children's picture books. He is author and illustrator of thirty-nine children's picture books and illustrator for more than forty books by other authors. Garland has illustrated for celebrity authors like James Patterson and Gloria Estefan on best-selling picture books. His illustrations for Patterson's SantaKid were the inspiration for Sak's Fifth's Avenue's Christmas holiday window display in New York City. Garland's Christmas Magic has become a season classic and is currently in development as an animated Christmas special. Michael Garland's work has won many honors and is frequently included in the Society of Illustrators and the Original Art of Children's Books shows, as well as annuals from Print, Graphis and Communications Arts magazines. He was included on the list of the top one hundred Irish Americans by Irish American Magazine. Michael Garland is frequently asked to speak at schools, literary conferences and festivals across the country.