WELCOME
Your one-stop-shop for
RHYMING
MORAL
ADVENTUROUS
children's books
ACTIVITY PAGES
(FREE PDFs)
A MESSAGE
FROM LOVING PARENTS
TO BELOVED CHILDREN
The world is the best place to follow your dreams,
No matter how hopeless or crazy it seems.
So go out and try, even just once or twice,
And remember to come back to us for advice.
As your parents, we always know what you should do
'Cause we know about people, especially you.
We know doing your best is the best way to live,
And the more that you do, the more you can give.
And the more that you give, the more happy you'll be,
So start giving now, and I promise you'll see.
You'll see how it feels to put smiles on faces
When you help make our planet the best of all places.
But sometimes your dreams won't work out how you'd like,
And the path that you're walking will feel like a hike,
Up the steepest of mountains, the highest of hills,
You might come to the thought that you don't have the skills.
So my love(s), if it hurts you when life starts to sting,
Just think about home and remember two things:
Remember we love you for all that you are,
Every smile and sneeze, every slip, every scar.
And remember we'll always be here for support
Because helping our kids is our favorite sport.
ABOUT US
We started as students at California State University Northridge, writing and illustrating between classes, homework, and extra curricular activities. By self-publishing, we've managed to maintain 100% creative freedom throughout every element of the storytelling process. We choose the subject matter, artistic style, the layout of every page, and every word and detail that fills them. Many of our illustrators are graphic design students or alumni from CSUN's prestigious program. It gives us great pleasure to provide eager young minds with the opportunity to bring their dreams to life, and they never cease to amaze us with their ever-advancing creativity.
We have no intention of stopping anytime soon. As long as our stories continue to inspire and entertain you and your children, we promise to continue making more. It's completely selfish, honestly. We love laying in bed at night with huge smiles on our faces, knowing that we're enriching the curious minds of the next generation.
Since our goals really do revolve entirely around you, we'd love to hear your feedback. If you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments, notes, questions, compliments, or things you want to get off your chest, please let us know at GrandpaHerbiesStories@gmail.com.
MEET THE TEAM
JESSE ORENSHEIN
CEO, Chief Author
Jesse graduated from California State University Northridge with a degree in Screenwriting, which is a passion he's been pursuing adamantly since he was 13 years old. He shifted his focus to children's books during his sophomore year in college and began collaborating with graphic design students at CSUN. Jesse founded Grandpa Herbie's Stories with the intention of creating a hub for rhyming, moral adventures, which are his favorite kind of children's books. To date, Jesse has written every book in our catalog. The company is named after Jesse's grandfather who is always reciting stories and poems by heart. We still have no idea if he's making them up himself. We've decided it doesn't matter.
Watch Jesse On American Ninja Warrior
Instagram: Grandpa_Herbies_Stories
LOUISE CALVENTO
Illustrator (The Boy Who Owned A Candy Store; A World Of Three Colors)
Louise Calvento, although born in the Philippines, spent most of her life growing up in California. She is an illustrator and animator who graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Arts. The Boy who Owned a Candy Store is Louise Calvento's debut into the illustration world. With the use of bright, colorful designs, adorable characters, and of course, a lot of candy, she was simply able to bring this exciting story about a little boy who loves sweets to life. This book, along with future projects, are just part of her journey in fulfilling her goal as an artist, which is to spread smiles around the world one creation at a time.
Instagram: Ouishie
MADISON LOVO
Illustrator (The Strongest Man)
Madison Lovo is an illustrator and graphic designer from Southern California. She loves spending quality time with her cat, traveling, and eating yummy food, ideally all at once. She loves pulling from all of her experiences and the natural beauty in the world and letting it inspire her work, as well as embracing and finding joy in the simple things. Please feel free to check out more of her work on her website: http://madisonlovoart.weebly.com/
ANNA COLEMAN
Illustrator (The Storm; Up And Away)
Anna Coleman is a Freelance Illustrator from Deltona, Florida who specializes in colorful, detailed illustrations. She works mainly in digital illustration, but has a long standing love for gouache paint as well. Anna graduated from Flagler College in 2011 with a BFA in Fine Art, and a minor in Illustration. She has been doing freelance work full-time since 2016. Her work includes stationery design, product design, branding, portrait commissions and children’s book illustration. Anna shares her home with her husband Zac, her dog Bridget, and her finches Orville and Wilbur. She’s also a coffee enthusiast and a collector of house plants.
ANDREA VEGA
Illustrator (Before Gravity; Before The Fear Of Spiders)
Andrea Vega is an illustrator and graphic designer from San Sebastián, Spain. She has been drawing since she could hold a pencil in her hand. She graduated in 2D and 3D modeling design and animation and soon after in Graphic Design and Illustration. Cartoon style is her favorite, which with its bright colors, brings her a sense of fun and happiness. Her work includes the design of corporate identity manuals, stationery, logotypes, stickers, and illustrations. In addition to illustrating, she also loves to watch movies, series, and spend time with her friends.
Website: https://www.andreavega.art/
DANNEL RESKALA
Illustrator (The Tallest House; The Firsts)
Dannel Reskala is an architect and illustrator from Jakarta, Indonesia. He has loved drawing since he was a kid. He also loves reading and collecting comic books, from western comics to Japanese manga, which has become a key component of his artistic foundation. He grew up watching lots of cartoons and animations, which also influence a lot of his art style. He currently loves to draw strange, colorful creatures, drawing inspiration from nature. Creating illustrations, for Dannel, is a way of influencing his architectural work, and vice versa. "The Tallest House" is his first professional illustration work. In addition to illustrating, he still works full time as an architect, and occasionally does product design.
YAYU
Illustrator (The Dragon Kings; The Pizza Monster)
Yayu is an illustrator and comic artist from Barcelona, where he studied a 3-year illustration course at Joso Comic School. Since his childhood, he has always been surrounded by pencils, markers, and any surface on which he could draw (including the walls of his parents' house). After working as an inker for Disney Comics of Holland and Denmark, he quickly focused his professional life on illustrating children's books, where he usually gets to draw nature and animals (his favorite things!). When he is not drawing, you can find him walking in the woods with his dog, petting one of his two cats, or watching a movie and petting the other one.
ALEX HEYWOOD
Illustrator (Making Dreams)
Alex Heywood is a freelance illustrator from Scotland. He graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design with a degree in Animation, but soon after pursued his childhood dream of illustrating. Drawing from home all day in your pajamas isn't the most active lifestyle, so Alex enjoys playing soccer, cycling and generally keeping active to balance out his otherwise stationary life. The natural world fascinates Alex. He can often be seen staring at trees, birds, and anything natural and wild. Although he might look inactive during this practice, he’s actually gathering vital visual information on how the world looks and works so that he can transfer that into his very detailed drawings.
Instagram: Alex.Heywood.Art
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