AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR

JOE CARTER is the husband to his wonderful wife Janelle and the father to three fantastic children: Michael, Hanna and Samuel. Joe grew up in the small, northern Iowa community of Hanlontown. He graduated from North CentralManly High School and later, Iowa State University with an Industrial Engineering degree. Joe worked as an engineer for General Motors and Rockwell International before he began a long career with MARSHALLTOWN, a U.S. manufacturer of high-quality construction tools.

Between times of working as an engineer, Joe graduated from law school at the University of Arkansas and practiced law with Strong and Associates in Springfield, Missouri. He returned to MARSHALLTOWN and moved to Marshalltown, Iowa. In 1998 Joe became the president of MARSHALLTOWN and later added CEO to that title.

Joe met the love of his life, Janelle Andersen, at Iowa State University where she also graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree. Janelle worked for General Motors, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, and MARSHALLTOWN. Today she works on the local school board, special business projects, and the Board of Directors for Farmers Savings Bank.

HANNA CARTER is an illustrator and graphic designer. She grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. She moved to Oregon after college in 2016.

Hanna has loved both books and drawing for as long as she can remember. In fact, her first job was at the Marshalltown Public Library, where she spent a lot of her time leafing through children’s books. She’s pretty psyched that she got to make her own books with her dad.

Hanna has worked on editorial illustrations, book covers, animations, comics, children’s books, brand merchandise, and exhibits her artwork in galleries. She makes illustrations and animations about food-related things for the Los Angeles Times, VinePair, and other publications.

Hanna lives in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend, Chris and many, many books.