Nancy Ekholm Burkert creates illustrations that are rich and realistic in detail, yet fanciful and timeless in content. Whether rendered in watercolor, or pencil and charcoal, or pen and ink, her work consistently demonstrates the meticulous research she brings to every endeavor, her ability to capture characters and settings, and her mastery of light, shadow, and depth. The first book she illustrated was James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Knopf). She followed it with A Child’s Calendar by John Updike (also Knopf). Then she turned her attention to classics such as The Nightingale and The Fir Tree, by Hans Christian Anderson, and The Scroobious Pip by Edward Lear (all HarperCollins). Valentine and Orson, which she wrote as well as illustrated, received a Boston Globe – Horn Book Award, and her best-known, best-loved title, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm, was a New York Times Notable Book and a Caldecott Honor Book. (Both Farrar, Straus).