About
About the writer:
Etta Johnson, a long-time resident of Vienna, Virginia is deeply engrossed in her third career as a writer of instructional materials and historical fiction for children and curriculum for teachers at all levels. Her writing always includes illustrations and graphics for clarification of concepts. She teaches a class of preschooler with their parents or caregivers, writes the curriculum, manages evaluation and staff development for Project Family, an Arlington, Virginia parent-early childhood education program. Previous careers include mother (raising four children) and educator, (Reading Specialist, then English as a Second Language teacher/coordinator).
Intensive research about child development in 2002 resulted in the creation of the “Record of Developmental Milestones for age 0 to 5”, which is used to evaluate Project Family children’s progress. In 2008 Etta was able to put the milestones into a user-friendly graphic format, because of her collaboration with artist Aoi Kodera. Aoi’s unique style depicts young children so clearly and affectionately than anyone can get the message. The Early School Skills Development series is an outgrowth of this. Each page/lesson has Aoi’s illustrations of young children engaged in everyday activities to show the progression of skill development in that area. Additional research and alignment with Virginia state standards and milestones for preschool age children provide credibility and firmly establish these skills as a basis for school readiness.
About the artist:
Aoi Kodera was born and educated in Japan, and currently lives in the Vienna, Virginia due to her husband's business. Since she was a little girl she’s enjoyed drawing and has taken a number of art classes. She enjoys learning about young children’s behavioral milestones and translating them into pictures with the help of her handy live-in models . . . two young daughters. Drawing cartoons and pictures of them to send to distant relatives is as natural as talking for this illustrator.
About the translators:
Four of the writer’s colleagues and friends, who are educators and early childhood specialists took on the arduous task of translating the Early School Skills Development series into Spanish. Translators include Wilma Arrazola, Maria Isabel Hoyt, Aida Raygada, Gloria Starr, and Maria Teresa Terán.