Jill McDonald Books In Order

Publication Order of Hello, World! Books

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Suzanne Harper Children's Books

Jill McDonald is an illustrator whose colorful and cheery can be found in games, clothing, puzzles, fabric, stationery, bedding, and a variety of books for toddlers and babies.

Ever since she was a kid, Jill loved color and drawing came naturally to her. Growing up in the Midwest, her parents encouraged her to explore her talent.

When she was older, she majored in Textile Design at the Rhode Island School of Design then went on to work at Gap Inc, design in New York as a stylist.

After several years, she left that job and went back to the Midwest where Hallmark Cards had hired her as an illustrator. In 2004, she started her own design studio where she worked with all manner of clients.

Some of the clients that she has worked with include Target, The Land of Nod, C.R. Gibson, Pottery Barn Kids, Barefoot Books, The Company Kids, Scholastic, Oopsy Daisy, and Random House among many others.

She has now come to be known for her bold, bright, and quirky art with a touch of education. When she is not doing her illustrations, she can often be found drinking coffee, picking flowers, spending time with her husband, and doing yoga.

Surprisingly, Jill McDonald never imagined she would become a renowned illustrator and she says that it still feels strange today.

When she was in the first grade, she discovered that she had dyslexia given that she was confused and frustrated while her classmates developed and could read with ease.
Learning in grade school during the 1980s meant that she would be placed in learning-disabled classes for much of her day.

This was a good thing as it provided her with all the extra help and made her even more determined to make a success of herself. However, this made her stand out from the rest of her classmates as she felt less capable.
As such, she decided to focus more on something in which she was certain she was better than most of her classmates which happened to be art.

McDonald knew one could make a living as an artist since her father ran a busy graphic design agency throughout her childhood. She went to R.I.S.D. to develop her art skills and a few years after graduating, she started her own illustration studio.
For the most part, she focused on brightly colored collections for specific clients or to present at shows.

For a while, Jill McDonald illustrated works for publishers but never worked on her own works. In 2014, an editor from Doubleday Books contacted her when she came across a solar system wall art piece she had made.
The editor told her that she needed to discuss if she would be interested in discussing some nature-inspired and non-fiction science books.

She was terrified and also excited when the editor asked if she would write some of their fiction as simple board books. Something inside her told her to say yes to the offer.
Jill bet on herself since she believed that being an artist and having her own business was an opportunity to advance herself.

Her editor suggested they start with four books which were about Birds, the Solar System, Backyard Bugs, and Weather and these would form the backbone of the “Hello World” series.

Jill McDonald’s “Solar System” is the first novel of the “Hello World” series of novels that provides a basic understanding of the solar system to children.

It provides a description of how far each celestial body is from the sun, the temperatures, and the colors. It also gives the names of each so that children can learn them.

The work provides details of the planets in an easy-to-remember visual format. McDonald makes this a very book-friendly work with vibrant colors in the pictures.

There are also a few details that she adds such as colorful stars and flying comets that excite kids. She also makes this a very interactive work as she asks the kids to follow the stars in the night sky to see what shape they make.
She includes arrows in her illustrations making it possible for kids to learn the orbit of the planets.

It makes for an excellent informational work that makes science fun to learn for kids as it makes use of a lot of analogies.

“Ocean Life” is the second novel of the “Hello World” series of novels by Jill McDonald. This is a board book that teaches the interesting world of sea creatures to babies and toddlers.
It comes with all manner of colorful illustrations of crabs, octopuses, dolphins, and whales. It also comes with cool facts about sea creatures in a creative and fun way.
An engaging work, it not only exposes kids to the different types of sea creatures but also engages them in counting.

The board book comes with all manner of new information in the illustrations and even adults will learn new things in the simple boardbook.

For instance, she tells of the little-known fact that jellyfish glow in the dark and octopuses have blue blood, which is something most people do not know.
Beautifully written and organized, this board book is an easy guide to life underwater which informs young readers about sea animals and what makes them unique.
With great formatting, it is an instantly digestible and readable work that will make learning easy and enjoyable.

Jill McDonald’s “How Do Apples Grow” is the second novel of the “Hello World” series of novels. It shows how an apple goes from seed, all the way to becoming a sweet juicy fruit that you can take a bite from.
The seed comes from inside an apple fruit and goes into the ground, where it grows into an apple tree that will ultimately produce the apple fruit.

It is a work that helps kids learn about what plants need to grow, how to care for the tree/plant, and the parts of the plant.

It also looks into the different stages the apple tree has to go through to become mature due to the changes in season in a given year before it produces fruit.
Making use of illustrations, the author emphasizes and exemplifies the importance of seeds, plants, and trees in our world.
It is a good book for preschoolers that has been compared to “The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle.