Howdy! Growing up, Merrill Rainey spent most of his Saturday afternoons watching monster movies, drawing superheroes, and going on imaginary adventures with his brothers. Today, he is a cowboy-boot-wearing, award-winning illustrator, designer, and paper engineer. Merrill likes to experiment with tools and uses marker, cut paper, or water soluble graphite to create his illustrations. He has served on faculty at the Highlights Foundation and is currently the illustrator coordinator for the Northern Ohio chapter of the SCBWI. Merrill lives in the historic town of Maumee, Ohio, with his editor (his wife), subject matter experts (his kids), and very opinionated coworkers (two pups, two goldfish, and some crabby hermit crabs). Contact Information: +1 (440) 315.0598 • merrillr@littlerainey.com Represented by Teresa Kietlinski • Bookmark Literary teresa@bookmarkliterary.com • bookmarkliterary.com

Awards: 2017 Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) Magazine Merit Award - Letter of Merit • 2016 Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) Magazine Merit Award - Letter of Merit • 2016 Highlights Magazine Illustrator of the Month - June 2016 (Pewter Plate award) • 2015 Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) Magazine Merit Award - Two Letters of Merit • 2015 Highlights Magazine Illustrator of the Month - May 2015 (Pewter Plate award)

Clients: American Greetings • Highlights Magazine • Humpty Dumpty Magazine • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt • Jack and Jill Magazine • Kellogg's • Ladybug Magazine • Learning A-Z (Raz-Kids) • McGraw Hill Education • Picture Window Books (an imprint of Capstone) • Pockets Magazine • Ohio Art • Scholastic • Spider Magazine • Razorbill (an imprint of Penguin Random House)