John Stadler's books for children include three Reading Rainbow titles and two Children's Choice selections. His "Snail" books were chosen for the New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children and are widely used in textbook formats for schools. The Cats of Mrs. Calamari was a Booklist Editors' Choice and has been made into a permanent, life-sized, interactive exhibit at the Children's Museum of Portsmouth and One Seal was a Children's Book-of-the-Month-Club selection. John says the art for Catilda was done using a watercolor-layering technique. In some instances, as many as twenty layers were applied to achieve the desired luminosity. He also says he sings himself to sleep every night, much to the chagrin of his wife, Nomi, and their dog, Sasha. The family lives in Lyme, New Hampshire.