Joan Holub

Joan Holub (born 1956 in Texas) is an author and illustrator of over 180 books for children. She also uses the pen names Rita Book and Brad Bucks.

Awards and honors Mighty Dads is a New York Times bestselling picture book.

Selected works

Zero the Hero , a math-centric picture book starring the number Zero and his friends 1 through 9. When Roman numerals sneak attack, Zero finally gets a chance to show his true heroic value. Little Red Writing , starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly. This take-off on the Little Red Riding fairytale stars a red pencil, who defeats the Wolf 2000, a pencil sharpener pretending to be the Pencil School principal. Mighty Dads, illustrated by James Dean, is a picture book in which dad construction vehicles teach their young construction vehicle children growing-ups skills. The Knights Before Christmas, a rhyming parody of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in which three knights try to fight off the "invading" Santa Claus and his "dragons". Illustrations by Scott Magoon. This Little Artist: An Art History Primer, a board book published in 2019 illustrated by Daniel Roode.

Written with Suzanne Williams

The Goddess Girls, a middle grade series for ages 8–12 in which each book is about Greek goddesses: Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, Artemis, Medusa, Pandora, Pheme, and Cassandra. The setting is at Mount Olympus, where they are students at fictional Mount Olympus Academy. School has various subjects such as beauty-ology, spell-ology, garden-ology, hero-ology and many more. In charge is the god of all gods, ruler of Mount Olympus, absent-minded father of Athena, husband of a fly, and of course cheery and supporting yet deeply understanding principal of the academy, the god Zeus. The first book, Athena the Brain, was published in 2010. Heroes in Training, an adventure series featuring the young Olympians, Zeus, Poseidon and others, as they confront the tyrannical Titans. Although also drawing on Greek mythology, the series is in a different "universe" from The Goddess Girls. The first book, Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom, was published in 2012. Grimmtastic Girls, a series in which each book is about a female main character from a fairy tale: Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Snow White, etc. The setting is a co-educational school called Grimm Academy. The first book, Cinderella Stays Late, was published in 2014. Little Goddess Girls, a series in which each book is about characters from Greek mythology, for ages 6–9.