Born in 1978 in Freiburg/Germany, Barbara Steinitz studied communication-design and illustration in Saarbrücken/Germany and Barcelona/Spain. After getting her diploma she completed a voluntary service in Granada/Nicaragua. Teaching workshops in arts and crafts for adults and children at the cultural institution Casa de los Tres Mundos, she started to explore and include puppet-theater within her work as an illustrator. She created various paper theatre shows in collaboration with the musician Björn Kollin and the Mexican ensemble Facto Teatro. Together with the dancer and choreographer Ruben Reniers she founded the ensemble rubarb dance & art. She has been touring Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Indonesia, Mexico, Canada and the USA, leading workshops and presenting her shows and books in schools, libraries and at renowned puppet theatre festivals. Barbara Steinitz received the Austrian Children’s Book Award, the Troisdorfer Picture Book Award and a nomination for the German Children’s Book Award. As a freelancing illustrator, author and puppeteer, she works for various customers, editorials and theatre projects and lives in Berlin and Mexico City.

"...below the book’s lighthearted surface is a resonant message about looking beyond appearances and appreciating differences."-Publishers Weekly