
Me in 1972
I always thought I was an artist, beginning at a very early age. I was born of creative parents: one artist and one musician who was an engineer in real life. I began my freelance career as a hopeful illustrator and production artist after quitting college in 1974. In 1987 I published my first picture book, Pussycat Ate the Dumplings. Since then I have published projects as illustrator and/or author of novelty, activity and picture books, early readers, middle grade fiction and nonfiction, magazine articles, blogs, and a variety of educational materials. I design book covers and interiors, and have created book trailers for a few projects just for fun. You can visit one of those here and also see what else is on my channel.
In recent years, I’ve been hired to write a variety of nonfiction books for kids, which was a far cry from drawing little animals with dots for eyes. It’s been especially enjoyable work, because as a kid, I was bored by the books we had and probably missed out on pursuing a career in science because of that. Now I get the chance to write the books I would have loved. I can help get kids excited about things they’ve never considered before, maybe even help set them on a career path that they’ve never heard of or thought about.
So far, I haven’t turned down a job that sounded interesting no matter what the challenge, and I also work on a variety of spec projects that I hope to sell someday. I thrive on variety and I love to learn about things I know nothing about and then turn it into a book for kids. I also write Instructables and have won two contests so far. My partner and I self-published one book which you can find here, and are working on another one which you can read about here. Recently I’ve been creating needlepoint designs. I also like to garden, gawk at nature, and play guitar.
I share my life with one very patient partner of 41 years, Jeep the dog, Bonita and Shinny the cats, and a variety of wild critters that inhabit our Funny Farm in western Oregon.
The photos in the blog header are all public domain, with the exception of the cover of My Friend Rabbit, written and illustrated by one of my heroes, Eric Rohmann.

Me in 2017
Hi Robin, I’m one of the SCBWI community connections coordinators for the Eugene Springfield area and we heard you live in the area, so we’d like to invite you to join the “Eugene KidLit” FaceBook page to stay tuned for updates about SCBWI events happening in Eugene. Hope to see you there!
By: Doreen Grace Kester on February 20, 2017
at 10:05 am
Thank you for the invitation, Doreen.
By: Robin Koontz on February 20, 2017
at 10:20 am
I see now, it is really generous that you don’t mind the usage of your artwork as long as they are showing your signature on it. Thank you. – Marta
By: Marta Bereczky on January 8, 2017
at 2:41 pm
Hi Robin, thanks for the quick reply. Sorry for my English (I’m Hungarian in fact) what I meant is that I would like to buy a digital photo of that picture that I could download (here in Hungary) from the web and print it in any size. In fact I’d buy the licence of using that picture. Like here: https://www.shutterstock.com/hu/search/illustrations
By: Marta Bereczky on January 8, 2017
at 12:49 am
Hi Marta – I put it here, with a link to the larger file:
https://robinkoontz.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/leap-into-literacy-a-printable-poster/
By: Robin Koontz on January 8, 2017
at 1:31 pm
Dear Robin,
I just found a postcard of yours at e-cards.com today:
https://www.e-cards.com/send/write-card.pl?group=default&mediaId=1599224611&db=ec-cards&select=
..that somehow cought my I (and feelings as well) and therefore I’d like to know where could I buy that picture so that I could print that in a poster size? Are they available at any photo stocks?
Kind regards,
Marta
By: Marta Bereczky on January 7, 2017
at 11:38 am
Hi Marta – thank you! Alas I sold that painting a while back, but I think I have some 9×11 prints. I will check my portfolio and let you know. Originally it was for a poster for Oregon literacy I think 1992…
By: Robin Koontz on January 7, 2017
at 11:56 am
I found a copy, it’s about 8×8 inches. Send your address to my email address and I’ll send it to you! Thanks again. robink (at) robinkoontz (dot) com
By: Robin Koontz on January 7, 2017
at 2:16 pm
always delightful! or–what was that word? Supraditty?
By: Sybilla Cook on January 24, 2016
at 8:50 pm
Sparpungent!
By: Robin Koontz on January 7, 2017
at 2:14 pm
I am so glad these are now available. Can’t wait to get three sets of the series for the grandchildren. Keep up the wonderful work, Robin. It always brings smiles.
By: Ed on January 9, 2010
at 1:49 pm