Bonnett-Rampersaud, Louise

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Bonnett-Rampersaud, Louise

Personal

Born in Manchester, England; married; husband's name Richard; children: Olivia. Education: University of Maryland, B.S. (journalism).

Addresses

Home—Sandy Spring, MD. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Marshall Cavendish, 99 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591.

Career

Author of children's books. Also works in advertising.

Writings

My Nose Is Running, illustrated by Edie Harper, Flower Valley Press (Gaithersburg, MD), 1999.

Polly Hopper's Pouch, illustrated by Lina Chesak-Liberace, Dutton Children's Books (New York, NY), 2001.

How Do You Sleep?, illustrated by Kristin Kest, Marshall Cavendish Children (New York, NY), 2005.

Sidelights

While pursuing her career in advertising, English-born writer Louise Bonnett-Rampersaud has also developed a reputation as a children's-book author since making her publishing debut in 1999 with the humorous picture book My Nose Is Running. The story of a little girl who takes her mother's admonishment to stop sniffling and blow her nose—"Your nose is running"—literally, My Nose Is Running has been followed by other child-centered picture books, including How Do You Sleep?, Polly Hopper's Pouch, and Bubble and Squeak, all of which are geared for the very young. Polly Hopper's Pouch takes readers around the world to Australia and introduces a young kangaroo with a child-like curiosity for the vast world around her, while How Do You Sleep? visits creatures more familiar to North American readers.

How Do You Sleep? utilizes a rhyming question-and-answer format to share the sleeping habits of seven familiar animals that can be found either in the North American forest or on the farm, from little birds to bear cubs, all the way up to human children. Bonnett-Rampersaud's text is augmented with "gorgeously detailed and realistic illustrations," according to a Kirkus Reviews critic who went on to predict that How Do You Sleep? is "destined to become a classic … sure to send generations of children sweetly off to bed." Laura Scott, writing in School Library Journal, stated that the book's "simple rhymes are natural rather than forced," and Carolyn Phelan dubbed the work a "cozy picture book" in her Booklist review.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review of Polly Hopper's Pouch, p. 1139; October 1, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of How Do You Sleep?, p. 60.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2005, review of How Do You Sleep?, p. 909.

Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2001, review of Polly Hopper's Pouch, p. 74.

School Library Journal, April, 2001, Doris Gebel, review of Polly Hopper's Pouch, p. 99; November, 2005, Laura Scott, review of How Do You Sleep?, p. 112.