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Wil Clay

Biography

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When Wil Clay was three years old, he started trying to copy pictures out of the Sunday comics. His mother encouraged his interest, and Clay grew up knowing he wanted to be an artist. He studied art in high school at Macomber Vocational School in Toledo, Ohio, and later at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, and the University of Toledo. Concentrating on graphic arts, he maintained a studio in Providence, Rhode Island, for seven years, and later in Houston, Texas, where he remained for 17 years before returning to his hometown of Toledo to work on fine arts and sculpture.

Clay never really considered working in children's books until 1989, when author Jan Wahl visited his Toledo studio and asked him to illustrate a book. “I thought he was kidding,” says Clay. “It took three visits to my studio for him to convince me that he was serious.” The two produced the popular Tailypo! and later collaborated on Little Eight John, which received the Coretta Scott King Honor Award in 1993. Now he enjoys working on approximately one children's book a year, in addition to his other artwork, and he makes many school visits, entertaining students and teachers alike with his storytelling skills.

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  The Real McCoy by Wendy Towle and Wil Clay Handsome oil paintings enliven this picture book biography about the little-known inventor and engineering pioneer who inspired the phrase "the real McCoy." Young readers meet Elijah McCoy and discover how he turned small germs of his imagination into products we use everyday. "A striking introduction to one of the first and most successful African-American inventors."-Booklist. $5.99 Paperback Book | Grades 3-5

  
  The Real McCoy
  Grades 3-5 $5.99
  
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  The Teacher Store

  The Frog in the Pond by Wil Mara and Cheryl Mendenhall SET FEATURES:     Familiar ideas, objects, actions, and vocabulary     Simple, short sentences     Frequent word repetition     One to four lines of text per spread     "New word" lists help build reading vocabularies     Skill-specific series promotes independent reading     Meets Reading First funding $13.65 You save: 30% Library Binding | Grades 1-2

  
  The Frog in the Pond
  Grades 1-2 $13.65