Kelly Dupre

Kelly Dupre lives on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, MN. She is a teacher, artist, and author. Inspiration for her art is gathered by the northern environments and the Arctic as well as the Native Americans and the Inuit people.

Her first children's book, The Raven's Gift: A True Story From Greenland, was both written and illustrated by Kelly. She used lino block-prints for the illustrations of this enchanting tale of a rare encounter her husband had with a raven on an extensive kayak journey in Greenland. The book captures the tenacity and vitality of all that is seen in the Arctic and subtly reveals what can be learned from a faraway place like Greenland.

Kelly next illustrated The Littlest Christmas Kitten, a tale of the animals who were at the manger in Bethlehem.

In 2006, Kelly illustrated The Lion's Share for the Minnesota Humanities Commission's Somali Book Project. She wrote another book for the Project, The Travels of Igal Shidad, which will be published in 2007.

Kelly is currently at work on a book set in Ethiopia for a Korean children's book publisher.

The Lion's Share
retold by Said Salah Ahmed
Minnesota Humanities Commission, 2006
Ages 4-8, ISBN 978-1-931016-13-1

The hungry animals of the Somali forest have worked together to kill a big fat camel. Now they must decide how to divide it. Will the portions be equal? Not with the lion in charge! Read this popular Somali fable and see why, as the other animals come to understand, "the lion's share is not fair!"

The Littlest Christmas Kitten
written by Leona Novy Jackson
Snaptail Press, 2005
Ages 4-8, ISBN 978-0-930643-18-8

The Christmas Star leads us to the place where Jesus was born. On this most Holy Night the animals sensed something important was about to happen. Here we can almost feel their excitement and unrest, while a mother cat searches frantically for her little lost kitten as two weary travelers enter the stable.

The Raven's Gift: a True Story from Greenland
Houghton Mifflin, September 2001
Ages 4-8, ISBN 978-0-618-01171-1

Reading Guide available from Minnesota Storytime

Home to the musk oxen, narwhal, polar bear, and raven, Greenland—the earth's largest island—seems to hold the magic and mystery of the far north. What would it be like to visit there? To kayak along its remote shores, dogsled through its tundra, visit its tiny villages? With charming linoleum block prints, Kelly Dupre follows the long, difficult journey of two men. In simple words, she captures the tenacity and vitality of all that they see—and subtly reveals to children what can be learned from a place like Greenland.