Robert McConnell is the author of a series of delightful children's picture books, the classics Norbert Nipkin and Norbert Nipkin and the Magic Riddle Stone, Davenport Dumpling, Sarah's Secret, Gobley for Mayor!, Baby Boid, Boid and the Bullies, The Strawberry Jam , Nip and Tuck and Perfect Pals. Some of these titles are also available in French. His latest picture book, Perfect Pals, was recently published, like the rest of these titles, by Napoleon Publishing. He is also the author of a number of books on fine art and of more than 300 books in French as a second language, ranging from the primary through university levels. He is known primarily as the senior author of Vive le français! and Savoir Faire, the two most widely-used series of French textbooks in Canada over the past two decades, from grade 3 to grade 12. More than 15 million copies of his textbooks and readers have been sold worldwide. Raised in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada, he studied modern languages at the University of Toronto and went on to an MA in Germanic Languages and Literatures. After a year teaching English in Germany, he began his career as a French and German teacher for the Toronto Board of Education. For twenty-six years he was Co-ordinator of Modern Languages in the Toronto District School Board, and is a frequent guest author in elementary school classrooms. He is past president of both the Ontario Modern Languages Teachers Association and the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers. Robert McConnell has been the keynote speaker at conferences across North America and Europe.