Jennifer Thermes to illustrate "The Iciest, Diciest, Scariest Slide Ride Ever!"

Some days, there is nothing more thrilling than a good sled ride—the faster, the better. So, on a cold winter day when "the world was ice and we were skaters without skates," seven children set out an a sledding adventure that soon soars to epic proportions when Lizzie and her friends convince Grampa Bud to let them use his custom-built runner sled—a sled built for speed. This magical day comes to life in The Iciest, Diciest, Scariest Sled Ride Ever!, a children's book set for release in November 2012.

Connecticut illustrator Jennifer Thermes' vivid watercolors animate the winsome characters and joyous winter action. The children slip, slide, crawl, and scramble their way up an icy slope to finally fly down the highest, mightiest, iciest sledding hill on Old Mountain Road. The children's book was written by New Hampshire storyteller and author Rebecca Rule.

"We're thrilled to be working with Jennifer. Her artwork conveys such a strong sense of motion that makes it such a perfect fit for this book," says Melissa Kim, children's book editor at Islandport Press. "She also brings a lovely sense of humor and authenticity to the seven children; everyone will recognize or identify with someone in the story."

Jennifer, see an example of her work on this page, is a veteran illustrator who most recently finished illustrations for Maggie & Oliver, or A Bone of One's Own, a middle-grade novel by Valerie Hobbs, to be released by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers in October 2011. She is also the author and illustrator of Sam Bennett's New Shoes and When I Was Built. In addition to being an avid reader, an obsessed gardener, and an adorer of cats, Thermes also creates illustrated maps for publishing and  magazine clients. She lives in an old farmhouse in Connecticut with her family, two cats, one dog, and countless mice.

Becky, of course, is the author of Live Free and Eat Pie! and Headin' for the Rhubarb: A New Hampshire Dictionary (well, kinda). She is also  the author of three short story collections about New Hampshire, including "The Best Revenge," which was named Outstanding Work of Fiction by the New Hampshire Writer's Project.