Laura Freeman

Laura Freeman is a children's book illustrator. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has illustrated many books, and done work for Highlights for Children. In a review of the picture book version of Hidden Figures, writing for School Library Journal, Megan Kilgallen said "Freeman’s full-color illustrations are stunning and chock-full of details, incorporating diagrams, mathematical formulas, and space motifs throughout... enhancing the whole book." She shared the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children with writer Margot Lee Shetterly for Hidden Figures.

Early life A native of New York City, Freeman was the older of two girls born to African American father, James Freeman, and Russian-Jewish mother, Gertrude. Her sister is the singer Roberta Freeman.

Freeman knew she wanted to become an illustrator when she was just five years old and learned it was a career choice. She would go on to want to be a ballerina, then an editorial illustrator, and finally came back to her illustrator dream.

She chose to go to the School of Visual Arts because she recognized the vast experience in illustration held by the faculty, and because it was a fairly inexpensive option for her at the time.

Though she has used many mediums in the past, Freeman primarily works in Photoshop when illustrating children's books, even when sketching out early drafts of pages.

List of works

Illustrator and author

Natalie's Hair Was Wild! Here We Go Looby Loo If You're Happy and You Know It Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis' Fleet-of-Foot Girl (by Megan Reid, 2020) Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon (by Kelly Starling Lyons, 2020) A Voice Named Aretha (by Katheryn Russel-Brown, 2020) Biddy Mason Speaks Up (by Arisa White and Laura Atkins) The Carver Chronicles Series (by Karen English) Dog Days (?) Skateboard Party (2015) Don't Feed the Geckos! (?) Problemas en la Casa de la Lado (?) The New Kid (?) Pizza Party (?) Nikki and Deja Series (by Karen English) Nikki and Deja (2007) Birthday Blues (2010) The Newsy News Newsletter (2011) Election Madness (2011)

Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott (by Dee Romito) Friends I Love to Keep (by Wade Hudson) Sights I Love to See (by Cheryl Willis Hudson) Songs I Love to Sing (by Cheryl Willis Hudson) Jazz Baby (by Carole Boston Weatherford) L Is for Liberty (by Wendy Cheyette Lewison)

Honors and awards

2019 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor (Hidden Figures) 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children (Hidden Figures) 2019 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award (Pies from Nowhere) 2018 Selected as a "Children's Book All Young Georgians Should Read" (Hidden Figures) 2018 American Illustration AI37 2017 Communications Arts Illustration Annual 6 Junior Library Guild Selections (Nikki & Deja and The Carver Chronicles) 2009 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book Award Honor (Birthday Blues) 2004 Seal of Excellence - Creative Child magazine (A Wild Cowboy)

To encourage those who dream of becoming writers or illustrators, Freeman says the key is to be persistent and to put in the hours to achieve those dreams.